Travis Kelce Says He Isn't Getting 'Opportunities to Make Plays Down the Field': 'Not Playing Our Best Football'

Mar. 15, 2025

Travis Kelce.Photo:Kevin Sabitus/Getty

Kevin Sabitus/Getty

Travis Kelceis once again addressing his recent NFL stats taking a slump, and touching on his lack of opportunities to make plays down the field.

Travis opened up on the latest episode of hisNew Heightspodcast with brotherJason Kelceabout the situation as a whole. “Pat said it. Coach Reed said it. You know, we’re finding ways to win games, and we’re not playing our best football. Everybody can clean it up. I think everyone saw my drop on in the Q4, that crucial third down, just trying to do too much before putting the ball away,” he shared.

TheKansas City Chiefstight end added, “I think, with how defenses are playing us right now, I’m not really getting a lot of opportunities to make plays down the field, but not using that as an excuse moving forward, still trying to, you know, make sure that I can help the team out in that regard, knowing that I’ve been that weapon for us in the past.”

Travis Kelce.David Eulitt/Getty

David Eulitt/Getty

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“I’ve had a lot of catches in this league, man. I’m not worried about, you know, the catches and the yards and all of that. I have the most fun when I get the ball thrown my way. I mean, who doesn’t?” Travis continued.

On Monday, Sept. 23, after the Chiefs pulled off a win against the Atlanta Falcons, where Travis once again had a slow game, quarterbackPatrick Mahomesweighed in on the situation.

Travis Kelce.Kevin C. Cox/Getty

Kevin C. Cox/Getty

“It’s crazy because the respect factor teams have for Travis is unreal, and it’s well-deserved,” Mahomessaid during media availabilityfollowing the team’s third consecutive win, this time against the Atlanta Falcons. “We’re calling a lot of plays for Travis and it’s like two or three [defenders] are going to him. That’s the great thing about him is he wants to make an impact on the game but he wants to win at the end of the day.”

Mahomes continued, “I’m going to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s open. I think the more Rashee [Rice] makes plays, the more we’re able to run the football, the more we can get [Xavier] Worthy involved, I think that’s going to open Travis up more. People are really emphasizing taking him away and that’s getting other guys open.”

On last week’s episode ofNew Heights, Travis explained that he has learned not to stress about early-in-the-season, underwhelming performances.

“I used to get really, really pissed off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success knowing that I demand that out of myself and I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it’s just tough for me to deal with being mediocre or having stats that represent that,” Travis said at the time.

He continued, “For whatever reason, these past two games it hasn’t gone that way for me and that’s football, man. I’m not about to sit here and get frustrated about it.”

source: people.com