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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs once again saw the shift in Travis Kelce as they began the postseason and Kelce became what Mahomes called “Playoff Trav.”
“This is what he lives for, is playing in these moments, having the chance to make big-time plays,” Mahomes said after Kelce provided almost half of the Chiefs’ receptions and more than half of their receiving yards in a 23-14 win over the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“He goes out there and does that, and it seems like he does it in every single playoff game.
“He doesn’t let the moment be bigger than what it is. He just goes out there and executes at a high level just like he does in a regular-season game. He just does that with a little bit higher intensity.”
Kelce caught seven passes for 117 yards and an 11-yard touchdown from Mahomes in the fourth quarter. It was his first 100-yard game of the season and the ninth of his playoff career, the latter setting an NFL record.
Kelce exceeded his regular-season average for yards per game in the playoffs every year since 2020. Against the Texans on Saturday, Kelce more than doubled his season average of 56 receiving yards per game.
Kelce said he had no explanation.
“I wish it was some type of switch or something like that that I just turned on in the playoffs,” Kelce said.
Kelce was one of several Chiefs players who until Saturday hadn’t played since the team’s Christmas Day win over the Pittsburgh Steelers clinched the AFC’s top playoff seed. Kelce, 35, said he felt much more refreshed for having a break of more than three weeks heading into the playoffs, and Mahomes agreed.
“It helped Travis a ton just because he’s an older guy and he plays a very, very tough position on the body,” Mahomes said. “It’s not like he’s just sitting on the couch. He’s working out and kind just taking those reps off, so for him it’s just been getting himself ready to go. We’ve been practicing, we’ve been working at practice and then we go out there and he plays fast and takes his game to a new level.”
Kelce’s biggest play was a 49-yard catch that set up the Chiefs’ first touchdown. He had 36 yards after the catch. Most of those yards came after he ran around a defender who had a shot at Kelce right after the catch.
“It just felt good to finally make a guy miss this year,” Kelce said.
Kelce was finally brought down at the Houston 6. Wide receiver Xavier Worthy said that early in Kelce’s career the tight end would have scored a touchdown on the play. Kelce said Worthy was correct.
As far as making defenders miss, Mahomes said, “Those tacklers that tackle him in the regular season don’t tackle him in the playoffs.”
The Mahomes-to-Kelce touchdown pass gave the Chiefs a 20-12 lead. It was the 20th career playoff touchdown for the two, but few if any were this spectacular. Mahomes found Kelce as the quarterback was falling to the ground after being hit and seemingly about to be sacked.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones has been with the Chiefs for all of the 20 touchdown passes from Mahomes to Kelce and wasn’t surprised at this one.
“Just when you think you’ve got them, you don’t,” Jones said.