Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce dominated the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday to the tune of 179 yards and a touchdown on 12 catches in the 31-17 divisional victory
Head coach Andy Reid noted that the 34-year-old keeps "getting better with time" but allowed room for the Taylor Swift effect. Swift was in attendance in Kansas City again on Sunday, her fourth Chiefs game this season.
"Taylor can stay around all she wants," Reid quipped, laughing, via the official transcript.
Reid jokes, but tracking how Kelce and the Chiefs do in games with and without Swift is becoming funny.
2023 Chiefs with Swift in attendance:Â 4-0 record, 28.5 points per game, 432.3 total yards per game; Kelce: 108.0 receiving yards per game.
2023 Chiefs without Swift in attendance:Â 2-1 record, 21.3 points per game, 349.3 total yards per game, Kelce: 46.5 receiving yards per game.
Over the past three weeks, the Kelce-Patrick Mahomes combination has been otherworldly.
Targeting Kelce over the last three games, Mahomes has gone 31 of 33 for 377 yards, two TDs and a 134.5 passer rating. Mahomes had 29 consecutive completions when targeting Kelce during that span, tied for the sixth-longest streak by a QB targeting a single pass catcher and the longest streak by a QB targeting a single TE since at least 1991, per NFL Research.
The mind meld between the QB and TE makes them nearly unstoppable.
"I think the main thing is the way he's able to recognize coverage and adjust on the fly," Mahomes said of Kelce. "We always talk about it, but it's something that you can't take for granted. It's almost like he's playing Madden like he can read the coverage and stop in the windows and be open and be on the same page as me at all times. He did a great job, it seems like he does it week in and week out, and that's why he's the player he is and why he'll be a Hall of Famer one day."
Sunday marked Kelce's second consecutive 120-plus-yard game, the only TE to hit the mark in 2023. Sunday's 179 yards were the second-most in a game in his career (191 in Week 15, 2021 at the Chargers).
Kelce dominated the first half, generating nine catches for 143 yards (the most receiving yards in a half in his career) and a TD. In Week 6 against Denver, the star had 109 receiving yards in the first half, making him the only player among all positions to have 100-plus receiving yards in a first half in back-to-back games over the last five seasons. Kelce (2) and Tyreek Hill (3) are the only players to have 100-plus receiving yards in a first half in multiple games this season.
Mahomes joked that Kelce's first half should have been even bigger if he'd finished a 53-yard catch-and-run in the end zone.
"Younger Trav would have scored on that one touchdown, I'll say that," Mahomes quipped. "But other than that, I think he's doing a great job of finding ways to get himself open and having these monster games."
