The Kansas City Chiefs will soon take on the Houston Texans in the No. 1 seed’s first playoff contest of the 2024 season, and tight end Travis Kelce is preparing for the matchup with some quintessential ball clichés.
In the most recent episode of New Heights (which also features an interview with NBA legend LeBron James), Kelce and his brother Jason jokingly listed a bunch of football platitudes as the “keys to victory” for Saturday’s game.
“Play phyiscal. Don’t turn the ball over,” Travis begins. “Get out to a fast start,” Jason adds, as the pair laugh.
“It’s like the head coach, for the keys of victory, just has a running seven list of what it could possibly be, and it’s like, ‘How do I rearrange into three keys?'” the former Philadelphia Eagle goes on. “Turnovers is always there, take care of the football. … Gotta control the line of scrimmage.”
“Gotta play complementary all three phases, gotta play together,” Travis then quips, as Jason leans back in laughter. “Like, it’s football. It’s not that hard, ladies and gentlemen. Everybody knows that those are the things that you gotta do.” Says Jason: “Ok, so the same thing that works every week for victories? Ok, got it.”
To round out the exchange, Travis then attempts to answer the question seriously before realizing he has once again fallen victim to buzzwords.
“Obviously, this team [Texans] plays very, very well together, man, and it’s gonna take all 11 on the field …” he says, before stopping and smiling. “I just said another one of ’em right there. … It’s just the same thing every single time.”
Watch that back-and-forth in the video below, starting at 59:22:
The last time Kansas and Houston met, the Texans put up a valiant effort until the team was shaken by a scary injury to wide receiver Tank Dell. They’ll get another chance to get it right—and do Dell proud—on Saturday, though it will likely be an uphill climb; as of Wednesday afternoon, Kansas City was favored by more than a touchdown.
