Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) reacts after a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in the second half in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
NFL: Super Bowl LVIII-San Francisco 49ers at Kansas City Chiefs
LAS VEGAS — Many NFL fans infuriated by Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce aggressively approaching and bumping head coach Andy Reid on the sideline during Super Bowl 2024.
The enraged fans clamored that the tight end crossed the line even though the champs downplayed the situation.
One player that knows the emotions of the high-stakes as well as anybody? Tom Brady. And he didn’t see anything wrong with Kelce’s actions.
“There’s always little family issues and of course I don’t mind seeing it ’cause I was a part of a lot of those things. Emotions are so high. You are definitely not centered and balanced. You’re not in a meditative state at that point. You are fully determined to go out there and to win,” Brady said on his Sirius XM Show “Let’s Go!” with Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.
“So I think a lot of the things that are said during the games, people should just let them fly off their back. And I actually think coach Reid handled it just awesome, like he always does, ’cause he just said, ‘I was a little off balance and Travis is such a competitor.’ And I love that because it just speaks to his leadership ability.”
Lip reader Jeremy Freeman told The Post that Kelce yelled to Reid: “Hey, come on, you f–ker, put me on.”
Fitzgerald said that “people you love the most” are the ones you have the most fights with, noting he has most often fought with his brother.
“You grow up with somebody sleeping in the same bed, sharing a room, there’s gonna be issues,” the former Cardinals receiver said. “You’ve been coached by the same guy for many years, he understands you, you understand him. If you go a little bit further than you probably should, they understand ’cause they love you.”
“It speaks to the self-confidence that coach Reid has in himself, too, ’cause he doesn’t take that personally at all,” Brady responded. “He doesn’t look at that and feel like someone offended him. He takes it for what it is and doesn’t make it more than it is and doesn’t see someone’s trying to belittle him. Travis is not trying to do any of those things. He’s just trying to be fired up and stay in the moment.”
The 34-year-old had just one catch for one yard in the first half and his frustrations clearly boiled over. Whether or not he crossed the line can be debated – but very few players other than Kelce would ever get away with it such nonsense.
As the end of the day, that what winning does. The incident didn’t get in the way of the team’s third Super Bowl win in five years so it’s all smiles for Kelce and the Chiefs.
