Good luck finding a better kicker than Justin Tucker. While you may find a few contenders, the same goes true for Travis Kelce, as one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Both Tucker’s excellence and Kelce’s stellar play are big reasons why the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs got as far as they did in the NFL Playoffs as some of the best competitors in the game today.
Last Sunday, we witnessed just how far those competitive juices reached when Tucker and Kelce had a very public incident, leading to the Chiefs All-Pro tossing Tucker’s practice footballs and helmet aside to get out of Patrick Mahomes’ way. Amazingly, cameras caught the entire interaction on video, and both teams haven’t been able to stop talking about it since. On this week’s New Heights podcast, it was Kelce’s time to speak up.
Travis Kelce still hasn’t gotten over pre-game incident with Justin Tucker
Previously, Patrick Mahomes noted that Justin Tucker was just trying to get under the skin of the Kansas City Chiefs. According to Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles but has strong ties to the Chiefs thanks to his brother Travis’s presence, Tucker did end up getting under Kansas City’s skin.
From seeing the comments made by Travis, it’s hard to disagree with Jason’s statement. Here’s what Travis had to say about Tucker.
“But, it’s always — if you’re trying to go onto the other team’s designated area, you kind of stay out of their way. You know? You don’t interfere with what they have going on,” Travis said. “That’s the unwritten rule. If you want to be a f—ing dick about it, you keep your helmet and your football, and your f—ing kicking tee right where the quarterbacks are warming up. And they’re dropping, eyes are looking left and they’ve got a helmet down by their feet.”
Travis Kelce discussing Justin Tucker pre-game incident
Travis went on to say, “I love how I’m getting painted as the bad guy for this.”
Yet, as Jason said, Tucker is far from the only kicker who tries to play mental games with their opponent.
“He’s a legendary kicker and he knows how to poke the button. He does this. And there’s other kickers that will do it, too, other punters. You know, it’s definitely unwritten that you stay out of the way of the other team when they’re trying to utilize the field. You find a way to work on the other side of the field when it makes sense. That’s part of the game within the game. You can tell he’s playing it in these clips, you can see his facial expressions — he knows what he’s doing.
“He got under your skin and listen, it worked,” Jason added. “It got under your skin but it worked the wrong way because it was the record day for the Yeti.”
Related: Travis Kelce vs. George Kittle: Who’s the better tight end in Super Bowl LVIII?