“He felt good about it,” a source tells Page Six of what the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 34, thinks of how he played against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. “That’s the Travis that he always is and was.”
The insider shares that Kelce’s teammates and those around him are not surprised that the star player has once again returned true to form, adding, “That’s not anything new to anybody.”
According to NBC, Kelce had five catches for 74 yards in the first half alone and then completed the game with 89 yards on seven receptions. The Chiefs ultimately beat the Chargers 17-10.
Prior to Sunday, the Super Bowl champ had not caught more than 34 yards in any game this season.
“He had a rough start to the season,” our source admits, “but he’s back in his groove. He’s going to kill it.”
Kelce is not naive to the criticism he’s recently gotten, and admitted on the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast that he has been “struggling in terms of stats.”
However, he pointed out on his Wednesday show, “I was still playing winning football, and that’s all that f–king matters,” as the Chiefs are undefeated so far this season.
Kelce added that he thought he was “accountable” when playing against the Chargers on Sunday.
10“I didn’t have any drops –– which was what happened in Atlanta to make me feel like I had a bad game, but I still didn’t have an outstanding game,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes into having a great game.”
When Kelce was in the midst of his slow start, many sports analysts blamed the athlete’s “jet-setting lifestyle” with girlfriend Taylor Swift for his performance.
“Every show I watch, every pregame show, halftime show, postgame show, weekday show, every broadcast I watch for the last few weeks, it’s like, are we not allowed to say that he’s out of shape?” ESPN analyst Todd McShay said in September.
“That he’s been partying all offseason? He’s been jet-setting around with the most famous person probably in the entire world.”
Since the backlash, Swift has skipped out on attending two games in a row — a stark contrast to the enthusiastic support she displayed in the first two games.
However, a source exclusively told Page Six Tuesday that the Grammy winner’s absence was due to her busy schedule, as she’s set to resume her Eras Tour again soon, not any romance woes.
We were also told Swift, 34, felt safer when the Chiefs had home games at Arrowhead Stadium, as she’s worked with the team there “so many times” and they made her “feel at ease and comfortable.”
The insider pointed out, “Going to all kinds of different stadiums, you need to send a team in advance.”
The Chiefs’ next game is scheduled for Oct. 7 against the New Orleans Saints at Arrowhead Stadium.
