Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and head coach Andy Reid have both addressed Kelce’s viral moment during Super Bowl LVIII, when he appeared to body-check his 65-year-old coach and scream in his face.
As highlighted by The Daily Wire, the play Reid called at the time did not involve Kelce, who took issue with being briefly pulled from the field. Notably, the play included Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco fumbling the ball deep into San Francisco 49ers’ territory.
WATCH:
Travis Kelce looked less than enthused pic.twitter.com/yncKhjtNl4
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 12, 2024
The moment went viral online, with many finding Kelce’s antics unacceptable. Kelce seemed to address the episode by heaping praise on Coach Reid, though no apology was offered publicly.
“He’s one of the best leaders of men I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kelce told the press post-game, The Daily Mail reported. “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.”
“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
Reid, too, addressed the moment. The coach said he “understands” Kelce more than anyone else and downplayed the interaction as his player’s passion for the game interacting with Reid being physically “off balance.”
“He caught me off balance,” Reid said. “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,” Reid continued. “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.”
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The Chiefs ended up winning the game in overtime, 25-22; the team won last year’s Super Bowl, too.
The game was just the second time a Super Bowl went into OT and the first time with the newly adopted sudden-death rules.
“The current rules give both teams the opportunity to possess the ball at least once in overtime,” the rules say, according to the NFL. “Although, during the regular season, if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown on the opening possession, they win.”
Related: Travis Kelce Body-Checks Coach Andy Reid, Screams In His Face
