Kansas City Chiefs’ star Travis Kelce had nothing but praise for his long-term coach Andy Reid after the tight end was seen screaming at the 65-year-old as the team was losing at half-time to the San Francisco 49ers.
Kelce, 34, told the media in the aftermath of the team’s victory that his rage was down to the fact that he ‘wanted the score to be different’ and that Reid is ‘one of the best leaders of men I’ve ever seen in my life.’
Reid later told ESPN that Kelce embraced him after the victory. ‘He came over and gave me a hug, said “Sorry about that.” He just wants to be on the field and he wants to play. There’s nobody I get better than I get him… He makes me feel young.’
The pair’s interaction set off a social media firestorm of memes as viewers speculated about what was said. At one point it appeared as though Kelce nearly knocked Reid off of his feet.
‘He’s one of the best leaders of men I’ve ever seen in my life. And he’s helped me a lot with that, with channeling that emotion, with channeling that passion. I owe my entire career to that guy and being able to kind of control how emotional I get and just love him,’ Kelce said.
For his part, Reid also down played the altercation.
‘He caught me off balance. I wasn’t watching. He was really coming over [and saying], ‘Just put me in, I’ll score. I’ll score.’ So, that’s really what it was. I love that. It’s not the first time. I appreciate him.’
‘The part I love is he loves to play the game and he wants to help his team win. It’s not a selfish thing. That’s not what it is. I understand that. As much as he bumps into me, I get after him and we understand that. He just caught me off balance.’
"I got the greatest coach this game has ever seen … he's one of the best leaders of men I've ever seen in my life.:
Travis Kelce on Andy Reid 🫶 pic.twitter.com/6frfVnuvxd
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 12, 2024
It was one of the first instance in which Kelce went viral and it didn’t involve his girlfriend.
One night after Swift earned her fourth career Grammy for album of the year last week, Kelce said he told her he’d ‘have to hold up my end of the bargain and bring home some hardware, too.’
Swift flew halfway around the world to watch her boyfriend, who also said during the Super Bowl week’s opening night on Monday, ‘I want this one more than I’ve ever wanted a Super Bowl before in my life.’
‘I’m going to go ahead and enjoy this and everything that just happened,’ he said. ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’ve been able to go through three times now. It gets sweeter and sweeter every time.
‘You know the goal has always been to get three. But we couldn’t get here without getting that two, and having that target on our back all year.’
This was the second sideline incident involving Kelce and Reid this season.
During a game against the Raiders on Christmas Day, an angry Kelce spiked his helmet on the sideline, and when a staff member tried to hand it back to the tight end so that he could take the field, Reid grabbed the helmet and refused to give it back.
