KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are downplaying a pair of emotional on-field outbursts, including one that involved star tight end Travis Kelce, that marked their season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil last week.
The first came when Kelce got into the face of right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who was penalized four times in the 27-21 loss. The second came late in the game, when Kansas City was trying to make a stop and get the ball back, and linebacker Drue Tranquill had words with defensive tackle Chris Jones, who had lost containment and allowed the Chargers to get a first down.
That mistake ultimately allowed Los Angeles to run out the clock.
“It’s an emotional game. That’s part of it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday. “The guys pull for each other, they get after each other. That’s all part of it. When guys do good, they jump around. It’s all part of it. Time and place for everything.”
Reid would like to see some of that emotion a little earlier in the game.
Preferably directed at the other team.
Reid acknowledged that his team came out flat last Friday night, even though the Chiefs had vowed all offseason that they would bounce back from a lopsided Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles — who, by the way, visit Arrowhead Stadium for the rematch Sunday. But rather than come out with a sense of urgency against a division rival, the Chiefs fell into an early 13-3 hole, struggled to deal with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and ultimately never led in the game.
“There are no excuses, for any of us, what took place,” Reid said. “We’ve got to do better bringing energy for sure.”
What may be most concerning is that the early effort in Sao Paulo was strikingly similar to the languid way Kansas City started the Super Bowl. In that case, the Chiefs dug a 24-0 halftime hole against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles, and they trailed 34-0 late in the third quarter, before a couple of late touchdowns resulted in a 40-22 final margin.
“You have to learn from the mistakes you make. That’s part of playing the game,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “You learn from your failures, just like you learn from the positive things you do, and then you come back and play better football this week, and it’s going to take our best football to go out there and get a win.”
Mahomes also downplayed last week’s on-field disputes among teammates, saying simply: “It’s football.”
“It’s passionate. We love the game,” he said. “I’d rather have guys that are passionate about it and want to win than the other way around. And we hold each other accountable, and at the end of the day we love each other. And when you have that you can hold each other accountable, and then push forward the next time you step on the field, there’s no ill will anywhere.
“It’s just a bunch of guys that want to win, and want to do whatever they can to win. And so whenever that happens, sometimes passionate moments — outbursts — stuff happens. At the end of the day, we love each other and we’re going to push each other.”
NOTES: WRs Jalen Royals (knee) and Xavier Worthy (shoulder) did not practice Wednesday. Worthy was hurt when he collided with Kelce early in last week’s game. “I just gotta be better, man. I’m 13 years in the league. There is no excuse running into my own guys like that,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast. … Reid said that surgery is not a consideration for Worthy at this point, nor are the Chiefs considering putting him on injured reserve.
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