Facing their biggest road test of the Patrick Mahomes era, the Kansas City Chiefs went back to their ol’ well.
The longest-tenured-Chiefs player, tight end Travis Kelce, responded with a game-high 75 receiving yards — his most since a Dec. 10 game, which was also against the Buffalo Bills — and his first two-touchdown game of the year while leading Kansas City to a thrilling 27-24 win at Buffalo.
“We always emphasize getting Travis the ball,” Mahomes said. “He did a great job of getting himself open.”
Kelce stepped up when it mattered most despite some detractors.
It was his first season since 2015 in which he failed to record 1,000 receiving yards, and some said he had lost a step. Retirement rumors have even swirled for the 34-year-old star after longtime sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya’s comments went viral.
But Kelce not only keyed the divisional playoff win against the Bills, he also broke records.
His touchdown to cap the first drive of the third quarter gave him and Mahomes 16 touchdowns — the most between any quarterback-to-receiver combination in NFL postseason history. It surpassed Tom Brady’s 15 touchdowns to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
“Passing anything that has Brady and Gronk in it is special because those are two of the greatest players,” Mahomes said. “To be mentioned in that and passing that, you appreciate that, and it speaks to Travis and his work.”
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The Bills used cornerback Siran Neal against Kelce with another defender over the top.
But once they started devoting more attention to Kelce, Mahomes said it opened things up for other players, including wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who had one of his best games of the season.
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Though sitting Kelce in Week 18 cost him a chance to surpass 1,000 receiving yards for a whopping ninth consecutive season, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said it paid off against Buffalo.
“That time off,” Reid said, “helped him. He benefitted from that. He was banged up a little bit. He was able to kind of get over that and get himself back.”
It enabled the Chiefs to win the rubber match between the Bills.
It was the seventh game between the Bills and Chiefs since the start of the 2020 season, and each team had won three.
But the Chiefs continue to dominate the postseason against the Bills, having gone 3-0 against them in the playoffs.
The Bills were hopeful Sunday’s game would be a different story because it was the first playoff game in Buffalo, and the last five meetings (in the regular season or playoffs) were all in Arrowhead Stadium.
That includes the previous divisional playoff between the two — a memorable 42-36 contest in which the Chiefs sent the game into overtime on a remarkable field-goal drive with just 13 seconds left.
This game also was epic and featured six lead changes.
“(An) all-time classic again,” Reid said.
Kelce gave the Chiefs their first lead in the back-and-forth game with 3:33 left in the second quarter, scoring on a wide-open, 22-yard touchdown play.
“I knew I couldn’t miss that one,” Mahomes said. “I threw it right at his face.”
As exciting as Kelce’s play was on the field, it might have been topped by the goings on by his supporters in a luxury box at Highmark Stadium.
Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes and a shirtless Jason Kelce — pictures of which were everywhere on social media — cheered him on.
Are they cheering on Travis Kelce’s last ride? He has two years left on his four-year, $57.25 million contract.
Kelce recently and vehemently denied this would be his last season.
“I have no reason to stop playing football, man. I love it,” he said. “I just love the challenge that it gives me every single day to try and be at my best. Like I said, I have no desire to stop anytime soon.”
At the very least, Kelce and the Chiefs’ journey continues for one more Sunday when they will play in the AFC Championship Game for the sixth straight season.
