How Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes Established Their Backyard-Football Bond

Together for seven seasons, the Chiefs have won two Super Bowls and experienced numerous roster changes. But their improvised, almost psychic connection has put their team on the verge of a championship once more.

Seven years and two titles into their partnership, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce appear to constantly be in agreement. Not only have they rewritten the Kansas City Chiefs record books on the field, but Mahomes claims that they have grown closer off the field as well. Prior to a crucial third-down conversion in the second quarter of the AFC championship game last month, though, the two were not in agreement.

LINKED

The Fifteen Classic Plays That Characterize Patrick Mahomes Ranking The Most and Least Valuable Units of This Super Bowl
The Strategies That Could Determine the Chiefs vs. 49ers Game Super Bowl Super Bowl Cheat Sheet: The 25 Essential Pieces of Information Regarding the Chiefs vs 49ers Game

As the Ravens were facing a third-and-five play from their 32-yard line, Mahomes noticed something about their defensive alignment that led him to decide to call an audible, even if his star tight end did not cosign. “I was thinking, ‘Maybe we should modify this play,'” Kelce said on last week’s New Heights podcast. You don’t play football like that, ladies and gentlemen. Coach Andy Reid is the one you have to pay attention to. He possesses the car’s keys. He is in charge of the ship.

Kelce ought to have been running a crossing route across the middle in Mahomes’ audible. But he didn’t act in that manner. Kelce ran more of a stop route instead. Indeed, he’s pump-faking his way across the middle of the field in an attempt to locate me. Kelce remarked, “[and] I’m over here fucking picking my nose on the numbers.” He eventually reached a position where a scurrying Mahomes could deliver the ball to him. And he atoned for the unlucky start to the play with an incredible play to finish it, extending what would ultimately prove to be the game-winning drive with a diving catch.

Reid called it it a play, which Mahomes interpreted differently, and Kelce made his own plays. That’s not how you play football, ladies and gentlemen, as as the tight end stated. Furthermore, that’s definitely not how championship football is played. Not usually, anyway. However, Mahomes and Kelce have already claimed two championships by kind of going it alone—with Reid’s approval, of course—and they will compete for a third on Sunday in the Super Bowl against the 49ers.

The bond between Mahomes and Kelce has grown over the course of almost ten years. It began when Kelce had to split targets with Tyreek Hill, progressed through middle success when the tight end became his quarterback’s go-to guy on third downs, and finally reached its current state—a near telepathic understanding of each other’s location on the field and their respective needs on any given play. For Mahomes, it has always been a crucial connection since any developing quarterback could use a solid tight end. This season, however, the Chiefs have relied more than ever on the bond between Mahomes and Kelce because they have an inexperienced receiving corps that is still figuring out how to get along with the finest quarterback in the world. And it might help the squad win its most unlikely Super Bowl ever.

Numerous well-known quarterback-pass-catcher tandems have existed in NFL history, including Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, and Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. However, Mahomes and Kelce’s combinationss appear distinct. Not necessarily better. Simply put, distinctive. What Mahomes and Kelce do feels less artificial, in contrast to those other duos, who were mostly recognized for timing and precision developed through demanding (and repetitive) exercises on the practice field. Not as staged, but equally powerful.

A touchdown pass of three yards against the Bears in Week 3 may be the best example of how special this relationship is throughout the whole NFL.

Like in the previous AFC championship game, Kelce did not run the play that was called in the huddle. Reid intended for his tight end to take a route to the end zone’s back corner. Mahomes anticipated a corner route as well. However, Kelce executed a pass, which goes completely against the plans his quarterback and coach had. This would typically be disastrous for the offense. This group of guys found it to be an easy point.

Regarding Kelce’s route improvisation during the Bears game, Mahomes remarked this week, “He’s always kind of done it.” “However, the one where the path was completely changed was rather extreme.”

My dears, that is not the way you play football.

Every path in a play has a certain function. Reid combined Kelce’s deeper corner route with two shorter routes to the perimeter on this play. The intention was to tie up the defenders underneath. The shorter paths would be accessible if they dropped beneath Kelce’s route. The short routes would leave Kelce exposed. That high-low stretch is essential to the play’s success. If Kelce moves to a different area of the field, it shouldn’t work. But it did in this instance.

It’s backyard football, but Mahomes and Kelce are playing a better version of it. It’s not as though Kelce merely roams the field aimlessly in search of himself. That would throw off the passing game of the Chiefs. There are always four additional eligible receivers on the field, after all. Kelce cannot simply veer into their domain. Rather, he’s exploiting gaps in coverage while keeping the offense’s spacing appropriate, and he’s doing it mostly with his coach and quarterback’s blessing.

Mahomes stated this week that “he has a solid feel for the defense.” “And I believe that’s what makes it even more exceptional—he has a terrific sense of both the quarterback’s timing and the whole idea of the play. He won’t shield other individuals when he gets himself out of the window.