Travis Kelce has been feeling bad about the Kansas City Chiefs’ season opener, and not just because the team lost.
On the first drive of Kansas City’s 27-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil, Kelce collided with teammate Xavier Worthy as the two were running their routes on a 3rd-and-6 play. Worthy bore the brunt of the hit, leaving the game immediately.
The second-year wide receiver suffered a dislocated shoulder, leaving his status in doubt for Week 2
“He’s rehabbing and working his shoulder, we’ll see where it goes, day by day,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Worthy.
As for Kelce, the veteran tight end admitted on this week’s “New Heights” podcast episode that he “felt like s–t” after the play.
“I wasn’t ready that first drive, I ran into one of my guys and offed him out of the game, I literally took one of my players out,” Kelce said, via TMZ. “That’s one of the most frustrating parts, and it’s hard to get your juices back going knowing you just hurt a guy.”
While Kelce clearly did not mean to intentionally run into and injure his teammate, the 35-year-old All-Pro explained that the collision was his fault.
‘I’ve just got to be better’
Travis Kelce told his brother and co-host Jason that he needed to be more precise with how he ran his route on the play in order to avoid running into Worthy.
“I’m supposed to be running my route at depth for Worthy,” Travis said. “So it’s frustrating for me. I was trying to kind of set up my guy to be able to get in a position and it all just happened pretty quick. And I’ve just got to be better, man. I’m 13 years in the league. There’s no excuse for me running into my own guys like that and being able to play fast and help him out.”
Kelce eventually did settle into the game and make an impact, catching a 37-yard touchdown from Patrick Mahomes in the fourth quarter to cut the Chargers’ lead to 20-18.
However, the ensuing two-point conversion pass failed, and the Chiefs would get no closer.
No time to dwell on the past
As bummed as Kelce may be about what happened last week, he and his teammates need to have all their focus on Sunday.
The Chiefs will host the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX). Philadelphia, which blew out the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59 back in February, is coming off a 24-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys in their Week 1 matchup.
