An interaction between Jason and Travis Kelce after Monday’s contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs was interesting partly because of a story on Travis that dropped earlier in the day.
Their mother, Donna, said understanding her 34-year-old son Travis meant getting to know his older brother and the frustrations that come from being a younger sibling who could “never quite catch up.”
“He was always just second, just searching to be the best and never quite getting there,” Donna told The Wall Street Journal.
That hasn’t been the case in the NFL, of course. Travis and the Chiefs were 4-0 against Jason and the Eagles before Monday’s game. Still, Travis’ frustrations were evident after the Eagles beat the Chiefs 21-17 on a particularly frustrating evening for Kansas City.
“Hell of a f***ing win,” Travis told Jason as they met near midfield. “That was a grinder right there…. That was a late birthday present for you. Love you, big guy. Get home safe.”
Jason looked ready to talk, but Travis quickly excused himself. Later, his postgame press conference lasted roughly 40 seconds before a Chiefs staffer cut things short.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Travis is generally verbose in press conferences, but he was notably subdued.
How would he diagnose the offensive problems? “I’ve got to be better,” he said. “Just not playing up to the level I have in the past. I’ve got to be better.”
Did the Eagles make any second-half adjustments?
“No,” he said. “Turnovers. Turnovers and penalties on our half. It’s nothing they did. It’s all us.”
Why did the second half go so poorly?
“I just mentioned the turnovers in the second half, I just mentioned the flags,” Kelce said with a hint of annoyance. “It’s all fixable. We’ve just got to do it.”
Did the game mean anything extra?
“No,” he said, cutting off the question in a way that suggested the opposite.
And that was that.
Jason understood Travis’ frustrations. The younger Kelce brother was one of several Chiefs players who dropped a potential first-down throw from Patrick Mahomes in the fourth quarter, and while Travis made up for it on the next two plays from scrimmage (unlike teammates Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson), he couldn’t make up for a second-half fumble in the red zone that cost the Chiefs an opportunity to score in a game they lost by 4 points.
“Whenever, after the game, one of the guys is not going to want to talk much,” Jason said. “I think, if he’s anything like me, in some ways you’re happy for your brother. Knowing how the game ended for him, he’s probably beating himself up pretty good right now.”
The media attention certainly won’t help. Travis is constantly filmed throughout every Chiefs game, and cameras caught every facial expression after the fumble. Photographers station themselves outside his house in Kansas City, according to the Journal, and he is often followed by drones buzzing overhead. That was all inevitable as soon as he started dating Taylor Swift.
“We’ll talk later in the week,” Jason told reporters. “It was a hard-fought game.”
Family can help someone get through tough moments, of course. But presumably, it’s harder to accept familial support after family beats you on Monday Night Football.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.