Apart from the commercials and the halftime show, the most viral clips of the Super Bowl involved Travis Kelce, from the presence of his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, to the meme-yielding moment when he confronted Kansas City Coach Andy Reid on the sideline while yelling at him during the Chiefs’ poor first half.
On his weekly “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, Travis called his behavior “definitely unacceptable” as they also discussed how a surreal game transitioned into a surreal postgame experience.
End of carousel“As [Reid] said, I got him with a cheap shot,” Travis Kelce said. “People are all over this, and I get it. I can’t … ”
“You crossed the line,” big brother/co-host Jason said.
“I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping Coach and getting him off balance and stuff. When he stumbled, I was just like, ‘Oh, s---’ in my head,” Travis said.
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“Let’s be honest: Even the yelling in his face is over the top,” Jason replied. “I think there’s better ways to handle this, retrospectively.”
“I know. I’m a passionate guy. I love Coach Reid,” Travis said. “Coach Reid knows how much I love to play for him, how much I love to be a product of his coaching career. I’m not playing for anybody else but Big Red. If he calls it quits this year, I’m out there with him, man.”
Of course, Reid — whose career record places him among the greatest coaches in NFL history — said he isn’t retiring, so that is a moot point. Travis Kelce went on to explain that he and the coach who drafted him in 2013 have “a certain relationship.” At the moment when the two tangled — and the 65-year-old Reid nearly sprawled on the turf — the team was struggling offensively and trailing the favored San Francisco 49ers.
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“He’s checked me a few times [over the years] and I just wanted to let him know that I wanted this thing and that he could put it on me,” Travis Kelce said on the podcast. “It came at a moment when we weren’t playing very well and I wasn’t playing very well. We had to get some s--- going. Sometimes those emotions get away from you, and that’s been a battle for my career. I don’t give a s--- what anybody else says.
“I talked to Coach Reid about it [later] and we kind of chuckled about it. I couldn’t be more proud of being his product on the field, and I couldn’t be more proud of where we’ve come. … I just love playing for the guy. Sometimes my passion comes out and it looks like negativity, but I’m grateful that he knows it’s because I want to win this thing with him.”
Travis Kelce had only been targeted once in the first half, catching that pass for one yard, but, while Jason Kelce noted that the “optics of it looked really bad,” he went on to say one of the brothers’ weaknesses “is our emotions,” something that can also be a strength.
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“Our downside is controlling our emotions,” Jason said, pointing out that he tangled with his team’s coach, Nick Sirianni, during the season.
After the Super Bowl incident, Reid approached his record-breaking tight end on the sideline and, Kelce said, “I was ready to get an a-- chewing,” but Reid just “told me to be better. … It was me showing my passion and frustration and that he could put it on me.”
That was only the start of a surreal night that involved Swift cheering for the Chiefs in a suite packed with music and movie stars as well as the Kelce and Swift families. It was chaotic because, “it turns out, everyone wants to meet Taylor,” Jason joked.
“It was my first real understanding of the things that she has to deal with. … There were so many star-studded people there and … the suite is only so big,” Jason said. “It was overwhelming, to be honest with you. ”
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Travis shot back: “It was a Vegas Super Bowl, baby. The stars are out. You’ve got to love it, man. Taylor thrives in those situations. She’s been in them countless times in her life.”
Swift was larger than life on the Allegiant Stadium videoboard, which featured her chugging a beverage and slamming her cup down. Even Jason Kelce, known for his ability to drink beer, was impressed. “I’m not going to lie: I didn’t know what was going on at first,” he said. “I was sitting behind them and I saw them go for the drinks, and then — ‘Oh, oh this is happening. Chug. Chug.’ She’s getting plastered — pretty cool.”
Added Travis: “This was on the Jumbotron. Nice. Oh, and the slam down!”
“She’s done this before,” he continued in admiration. “She’s a pro.”
“I mean, not her first rodeo,” Jason joked.
It was a whirlwind experience that Jason admitted left him a little worse for wear after a week spent “yelling, playing craps — and, when your brother wins the Super Bowl, it takes it out of you a little bit.”
He managed to keep his shirt on, unlike during Kansas City’s divisional-round win at Buffalo, because the overalls he chose in Chiefs colors provided “straps to hold my shirt on when I felt the desire to [take it off],” Jason said. Although Travis told his brother, “Nothing would be better than to see your nipples on the field,” it was not to be.
The postgame parties might have had something to do with Jason’s difficult recovery. He admittedly “flanked,” tagging along as the party went into Monday and adding a luchador mask to his outfit.
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“Something about finding that mask [on the floor] transformed the night,” he said.
Boy, did it ever.
The combination of Swift’s presence, a Super Bowl and Las Vegas meant there were indeed stars aplenty, mingling with football players unaccustomed to dealing with them.
“I kept saying I don’t know what to say [to Adam Sandler],” Jason said. “I got nothing to offer this dude.”
And then there was the moment when, as Jason was watching the game and “talking ball” with actor Miles Teller, Swift said, “Jason, turn around.”
There stood Paul McCartney.
As Travis Kelce would put it, “It was a Vegas Super Bowl, baby.”
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