Travis Kelce, 37, has 33 catches for 482 yards and three touchdowns through eight games as the Chiefs sit at 6-2. (Imagn Images)
Travis Kelce is 37, in his 14th season, and the Chiefs are 6-2. Kansas City beat the Jets 35-12 and ended a two-game skid. Through eight games, Kelce has 33 catches for 482 yards and three touchdowns, the team lead in receiving yards. Plenty of people wrote him off after last year’s 6-11 season. He had nine catches for 101 yards and a score in Week 2, then two for 15 in Week 4. Even in the two losses before Sunday, he had 44 and 67 yards, so the skid was not about him. On fourth-and-1 to open the second half, Mahomes shoveled the ball to Kelce, who got into the end zone.
That made him the oldest tight end to score a rushing touchdown in NFL history. Retirement talk followed him all summer. The numbers disagree. It hasn’t been a straight line. Then came the goal-line call. Officials ruled it a handoff, so it counted as a rushing score, only the third of his career. He broke Taysom Hill’s age record by nearly two years, in his 200th game.
On Sunday, he scored a one-yard touchdown on a shovel toss from Patrick Mahomes that officials ruled a run.
He came back and finished with 242 passing yards and two touchdowns, both to Kenneth Walker III.
“Just a fearless leader,” Kelce said of him afterward. The night had a scare in it, too. Mahomes took a hard shot to his throwing arm from Jets defender David Bailey in the second quarter and walked to the sideline in visible discomfort.