KC Chiefs' Travis Kelce Tells Origin Story Behind Record-Breaking TD vs. Bills

On this week's New Heights, Kelce shared where his red zone touchdown from Sunday's game came from.

The Kansas City Chiefs' offense was back on track against the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round, and so was the Patrick Mahomes-Travis Kelce duo. 

Mahomes tossed two passing touchdowns on Sunday, with both of them going to his superstar tight end. The second one meant a ton both in the game and the history books, as it gave the pair a record for most postseason touchdown connections of all time. With 16 scores between them, they stand alone and broke a tie with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski (they tied it earlier in the game). 

This week, Kelce dove into his touchdown and revealed that it was a call that's been in head coach Andy Reid's playbook for quite a while.

Speaking on a new episode of the New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, Kelce told the origin story behind his touchdown deep in the red zone. 

Chiefs start the 2nd half strong. @tkelce has another TD to give KC the lead!

📺: #KCvsBUF on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FR6a2VkD33 pic.twitter.com/Yv4IlHu0Zm

— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2024

"This was my London touchdown, if you remember me scoring in London," Kelce said. "We have a big-time run package in the goal line out of the 13-personnel and we brought that one back from when I played the Lions in London back in 2015, 2014, something like that. Man, everybody just got a guy and I had one man to beat. Luckily enough, 52 (A.J. Klein) had just got caught up inside just enough to where I could beat him to the pylon, man." 

Kelce is indeed right about his record-breaking touchdown. In Week 8 of the 2015 campaign, Kansas City blew out the Detroit Lions 45-10. In the third quarter of that contest, they lined up in 13-personnel (one running back, three tight ends) with a receiver on the opposite side of the formation. Kelce was the outermost tight end, supported by Demetrius Harris and Brian Parker as blockers. The Chiefs got him the ball with a bit of wiggle room, allowing him to find his way into the end zone. Sunday's play is essentially a carbon copy, just with different non-Kelce players on the field.

Kansas City's heavy personnel helped tremendously in the Divisional Round. On 11 plays, they had a 64% success rate and gained nearly 100 yards. Reid has unveiled that as a new wrinkle in the playoffs, in addition to a few other tweaks to his offensive approach. What he's doing has worked through two playoff games, and this weekend's outing against the Baltimore Ravens will serve as yet another test. What's the next play from nearly a decade ago that could pop up? If the 2024 postseason is any indication, the AFC Championship Game may feature one.

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