'Actually Kind of Dangerous!' Travis Kelce Speaks on Justin Tucker Incident Before AFC Championship Game
Anyone who watched the pregame portion of the AFC Championship game on Sunday saw the video of an interaction between Ravens kicker Justin Tucker and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Tucker was practicing field goals on the Chiefs' side of the field during pregame warmups - which is allowed by NFL rules - and was working right where Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was trying to warm up.
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Mahomes said later in a radio interview that Tucker was just "trying to get under our skin." But on his podcast, New Heights, Kelce disagreed and pressed the matter further.
“I love how I’m getting painted as the bad guy for this," Kelce stated to his brother, Jason.
“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****** dick about it, you keep your helmet and your football, and your f****** 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.”
“It’s actually kind of dangerous, really,” Jason said.
“Like if you’re not going to pick that up, I’ll happily move that for you,” Travis said.
Travis commented on Tucker's reaction later when he was downplaying the situation.
“I mean, he was kind of winking at me, being a dick about it, trying to get under the skin,” Travis said. “I get it. But me and Pat? We’ve been having the same mentality for this game all week long, man. And it was a, you’ve got to go in there and have the right mind frame, right mindset, and we just weren’t in a joking mood. We were ready to get after it.
“So, Justin, sorry if we took it to a level that you didn’t think it’d get to that way, but if you’re going to be a d***, I promise you, I can one-up you every time, dude.”
Jason also indicated that Tucker is known for this around the league.
“He’s a legendary kicker and he knows how to poke the buttons,” Jason said. “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.”
It might've backfired for Tucker as Kelce caught 11 passes on 11 targets in the game for 116 yards and a touchdown while also breaking Jerry Rice's all-time postseason receptions record.
