Travis Kelce still smarting over upset loss to Broncos: ‘Embarrassing’
Travis Kelce still isn’t over the stunning upset the Kansas City Chiefs suffered at the hands of the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos, an AFC West rival of Kansas City’s, came into Sunday with only two victories on the season. Denver had also lost its 16 previous matchups against the Chiefs.
‘That’s embarrassing, man,’ Kelce said during an episode of his ‘New Heights’ podcast that published Wednesday.
Kelce said he thought the Broncos ‘just had a lot more energy’ after he re-watched film from the loss. The Chiefs offense failed to score a touchdown and put up only nine points on a Denver defense that has struggled this season, including a Week 3 game in which the Dolphins ran up 70 points on the Broncos.
‘It felt awkward during the game, like we couldn’t get anything going,’ Kelce added. ‘You talk about that sense of urgency on the sideline; it didn’t feel like we had too much of that. And when we finally had that sense of urgency, we turned the ball over and get it ripped right out of our hearts.
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‘Our defense is playing their tail off, man, and for us to keep turning it over and keep putting them in bad positions and them saving our tail, it’s getting real one-sided. I don’t think I’ve been in a situation where we’ve stalled this much as an offense, throughout the year, definitely at this point in the season.’
The Chiefs are 6-2 and tied with the Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars for the best record in the AFC. Despite Kelce’s comments, Kansas City’s offense ranks fourth in total offense (381.5 yards per game), yards per play (5.85) and third down efficiency (47.06%), and ranks third in passing offense (276.4). The Chiefs, however, rank 12th in scoring offense, producing just 23.4 points per game.
By comparison, Kansas City led the entire NFL last season with 29.2 points per game.
Kelce, for his part, led the Chiefs in targets (nine), receptions (six) and receiving yards (58) against Denver, but he faulted himself for missing blocks, dropping passes and running the wrong route at times.
‘That was a pretty embarrassing game, at least for myself,’ Kelce said. ‘My coaches and teammates don’t deserve that out of me for sure.’
The Chiefs will play the Dolphins up next in a game that could have massive implications in the playoff picture in the conference. The game is set for a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany.
‘We got a lot of guys who usually figure out how to get this thing going,’ Kelce continued. ‘Not putting up touchdowns week after week after week is − it’s getting old. It’s getting old to watch, Chiefs Kingdom, I know it is. It’s not like what we’ve been in the past. We’ve got the best offensive mind in the game and we’ve got the best quarterback so this is unacceptable. And we all feel that way. So don’t think that we’re in this thing and not feeling the urgency. We’ve just got to go out there and freaking do it.’