After their 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans in Week 16, there have been loads of observers who anticipated the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs would roll proper over the Texans within the Divisional spherical of the playoffs; there’s a notion that the crew can simply throw a change and beat any squad in entrance of them.
However in Saturday’s 23-14 win over the Texans — a victory that sends the crew to its seventh consecutive AFC Championship — we noticed that Houston was a harder opponent than we would have imagined.
“When you’re going to step out right here on the soccer area, you’ve at all times received one thing to show,” Kansas Metropolis tight finish Travis Kelce instructed ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after the sport. “I want it was only a flip of a change — [that] I might simply flip it on like that. However I feel it was all people in that constructing all week lengthy — actually, the previous two or three weeks — determining find out how to get our our bodies the perfect relaxation and [be] prepared for the playoffs for a run like this.”
It was simply what head coach Andy Reid anticipated from a Houston crew coached by DeMeco Ryans, who performed for Reid throughout his remaining season with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Photograph by David Eulitt/Getty Pictures
“This isn’t a simple factor,” he instructed reporters after the sport. “That’s a great soccer crew. DeMeco’s achieved an outstanding job with that crew. I had him as a participant, [and] now I get to see him as a coach. He’s doing nice issues as a coach, so [I have] a ton of respect for him and what he’s achieved.”
Kelce was additionally impressed with the Texans.
“They’re extraordinarily robust people,” he maintained, “and after they play collectively like that, it may be actually arduous to beat them. I feel that has quite a bit to do with their head coach and the way that trickles down together with his management and mentality.”
“[It’s a] phenomenal protection that they’ve received,” famous Reid, “so I’m happy with our guys for the way they dealt with it. We knocked slightly of the rust out. Everyone stayed constructive and with one another — and that entire bit — and right here we sit with a championship recreation.”
Nobody performed an even bigger position within the win than Kelce, who recorded seven catches for 117 yards — together with a 49-yard catch-and-run that arrange the crew’s first landing. However the play from Saturday’s recreation that we’ll be speaking about for years to come back was quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ 11-yard landing cross to the tight finish — which he by some means managed to throw as he was being tackled.
“The landing throw to Trav was unimaginable,” declared Reid. “For him to have the ability to get his physique in place to make that throw? [It] was nice.”
The top coach by no means loses sight of how a lot it means for Mahomes to be a part of his crew.
“We’re very fortunate to have him right here,” stated Reid. “The stuff he’s doing simply doesn’t occur. That’s why he’s the best at doing what he’s achieved in a comparatively younger profession right here.”
“He places in a lot work from the psychological facet all through the week,” stated Kelce of his quarterback. “After which on high of that, whereas we’re out on the sector, he makes positive he will get all of the throws. I simply attempt to match that vitality for him and attempt to be there for him always — as a result of it’s Patrick Mahomes, man! Something might occur at any level.”
Mahomes, after all, thinks many of the credit score belongs to Kelce.
“It’s [that] big-time gamers make big-time performs in big-time video games,” he stated after the sport. “That’s simply how easy it’s — and he’s a type of guys. He didn’t let the second be greater than what it’s. He simply goes on the market and executes at a excessive degree — similar to he does within the common season. He simply does that [at] slightly bit greater depth.”
In Saturday’s recreation, Kelce was one among solely 4 Chiefs who caught passes. Xavier Worthy had 5 receptions — however fellow wideouts Hollywood Brown, DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster mixed for 4 targets and no catches. Mahomes famous that the Texans labored arduous to restrict his broad receivers — which created alternatives for Kelce — however he nonetheless needs to get extra manufacturing from all of them.
“Clearly you wish to get these guys concerned,” he defined. “That makes your offense even higher — and clearly, there have been occasions after we stalled out on drives. In order that’ll be one thing that we work on [playing] one other nice opponent this subsequent week — whoever that’s. However they’re a part of the offense. They know that — and so they’re going to maintain going on the market and competing.”
However the quarterback additionally acknowledged that spreading the ball round is only one a part of the larger image.
“Within the playoffs, as at all times, you by no means know the way it’s going to go,” he reminded his listeners. “It’s about discovering methods to win. We discovered a strategy to win right this moment — however we’re going to should get these guys concerned if we wish to get to our final objective.”
