The Kansas City Chiefs claimed a hard-fought win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on ‘Monday Night Football,’ with Andy Reid‘s men emerging victorious in overtime thanks to a touchdown from Kareem Hunt. It was a great night from the offense, with Travis Kelce posting season-high numbers only a week after delivering a strong performance against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Still, the veteran tight end had room for self-criticism after the game. Speaking to Scott Van Pelt of ESPN, Kelce lamented his fumble in the first half, crediting Reid for the Chiefs’ ability to overcome his turnover.
“I almost handed it away today a few times, and I’m lucky that my guys were right there for me,” Kelce said, as quoted by Chiefs Wire. “It’s a culture, man. It’s a culture set from the big man (Andy Reid) down, and everybody just believes at all times that we’re gonna get it done because we’ve done it in the past. We keep doing it on nights like tonight. I’ll tell you what when Arrowhead (Stadium) is rocking like it was tonight. Man, it’s hard to lose in this place.”
With the overtime victory over the Bucs, the Chiefs extended their winning streak in the 2024 NFL season to eight games, being the only undefeated team in the league this year.
Despite his fumble, Kelce played a key role in the game, catching 14 passes in 16 targets for an impressive 100 yards. While he couldn’t find the end zone like he did against Las Vegas, the 35-year-old improved his numbers from last week.
Kelce’s performance vs Bucs draws praise from Mahomes
While Kelce had time to look at what he could’ve done better, his strong outing didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates. Speaking at his postgame press conference, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had nothing but praise for the tight end.
“I didn’t realize he had that many catches,” Mahomes said. “I mean, he just does a great job of finding space. I think having DeAndre out there, it takes pressure off him to where all the eyes aren’t on him the entire time. Then, I know it was out of bounds but then the deep shot to Xavier (Worthy) down the field and then being close with that one to J-Wat (Justin Watson), it spreads the defense out and you let guys like that work underneath. I’m almost positive he had a game with 16 receptions. It might have been a playoff game, though. But yeah, whenever he gets going, he’s hard to stop.”
Andy Reid’s full support for Kelce
Kelce knows that the Chiefs owe much of their success to Reid, but the head coach has always mentioned how important the tight end is for the team. Especially at the start of the 2024 NFL season, when the player received criticism for his stats.
After a breakout performance in the win over the Raiders, Reid warned the rest of the NFL that Kelce cannot be stopped for too long. He was right, as the 3x Super Bowl champ had another great game on Monday.