Ravens kicker Justin Tucker said the pregame incident between him, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was “kind of silly.”
In a radio interview, Mahomes said it was an instance of Tucker trying to “get under our skin.”
In this week’s episode of the New Heights podcast, Kelce took that a step or two — or three — further. He started off the segment with his brother, Jason, by saying, “I love how I’m getting painted as the bad guy for this.”
Travis then explained that during pregame, the two teams have their designated sides but specialists get a chance to kick on both sides of the field to gauge the wind and the elements.
“But, it’s always — if you’re trying to go onto the other team’s designated area, you kind of stay out of their way. You know? You don’t interfere with what they have going on,” Travis said. “That’s the unwritten rule. If you want to be a fucking dick about it, you keep your helmet and your football, and your fucking kicking tee right where the quarterbacks are warming up. And they’re dropping, eyes are looking left and they’ve got a helmet down by their feet.”
“It’s actually kind of dangerous, really,” Jason said.
“Like if you’re not going to pick that up, I’ll happily move that for you,” Travis said.
Travis noted that he saw what Tucker said about the incident and understood where the kicker was coming from.
“I mean, he was kind of winking at me, being a dick about it, trying to get under the skin,” Travis said. “I get it. But me and Pat? We’ve been having the same mentality for this game all week long, man. And it was a, you’ve got to go in there and have the right mind frame, right mind set, and we just weren’t in a joking mood. We were ready to get after it.
“So, Justin, sorry if we took it to a level that you didn’t think it’d get to that way, but if you’re going to be a dick, I promise you, I can one up you every time, dude.”
In Mahomes’ radio interview, the quarterback said the only time he’s had an issue with something like this has been when the team’s played Baltimore. Jason added that while Tucker is the greatest kicker of all time, he’s “known for this.”
“He’s a legendary kicker and he knows how to poke the buttons,” Jason said. “He does this. And there’s other kickers that will do it, too, other punters. You know, it’s definitely unwritten that you stay out of the way of the other team when they’re trying to utilize the field. You find a way to work on the other side of the field when it makes sense. That’s part of the game within the game. You can tell he’s playing it in these clips, you can see his facial expressions — he knows what he’s doing.
“He got under your skin and listen, it worked,” Jason added. “It got under your skin but it worked the wrong way because it was the record day for the Yeti.”
In the 17-10 victory over the Ravens, Travis caught all 11 of his targets for 116 yards with a touchdown — breaking Jerry Rice’s all-time postseason receptions record in the process.