Patrick Mahomes Weighs In on Criticism of Travis Kelce’s Performance

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is weighing in on teammate Travis Kelce’s uncharacteristic start to the NFL season.

“Teams still — I mean, the respect factor they have for Travis is just unreal. It’s well-deserved but, I mean, we’re calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it’s like two or three people are going to him,” Mahomes, 29, told reporters on Sunday, September 22. “He understands.”

Mahomes’ comments came after the Chiefs beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 on Sunday. Despite their win, which brought the Chiefs to 3-0 so far this season, fans are missing the magic between Mahomes and Kelce, 34, on the field. Kelce caught four passes for 30 yards on Sunday and has just eight catches overall this season. He has yet to score a touchdown.

“The great thing about him is he wants to make an impact on the game, but he wants to win at the end of the day,” Mahomes continued. “I’m gonna try to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s open.”

Mahomes emphasized that opposing teams’ defenders are doing their best to cover Kelce, which gives the chance for other Chiefs players to be open. He also spoke candidly about his own performance this season.

“I feel like I haven’t played very well, and that’s not a stats thing,” he admitted. “I just feel like I’m missing opportunities whenever they’re out there and not throwing the ball in the exact spot I want it to be at. So, it’s about me getting back to my fundamentals, putting our guys in the right position, and then we’ve got to execute at a higher level offensively.”

Patrick Mahomes on Travis Kelce’s low output through three games:

“The respect factor [teams] have for Travis is unreal…we’re calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it’s like two or three people going to him” pic.twitter.com/jxv7udBiZq

— Landon Reinhardt (@landonian87) September 23, 2024

Fans have been disappointed with Kelce’s three underwhelming weeks after the record-breaking numbers he put up last year. The tight end, however, appears to be unbothered.

“I stopped caring about stats about four or five years ago,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast earlier this month. “I just went out there and started to play free and play for my guys. Sure enough, I think that’s the better mentality. You think about it more play by play and what your job is on that specific play.”

The comment came after the Chiefs game on September 15 against the Cincinnati Bengals, which was the first time since September 2018 that Kelce did not have three or more receptions in a game. (The Chiefs beat the Bengals 26-25, and Kelce caught one pass for a total of five yards.)

“For whatever reason, these past two games it hasn’t gone that way for me,” Kelce continued during the September 18 podcast episode. “That’s football, man. I’m not about to sit here and get frustrated about it. I used to get really, really pissed off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success knowing I demand that out of myself. I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it’s tough for me to deal with me being mediocre or having stats that represent that.”

Kelce praised his team’s defense for “playing their asses off” during each game.

“Getting turnovers, finding a way to make opposing quarterbacks uncomfortable,” he said. “They’re really making it hard for them to throw the ball downfield with the type of pressures that we’re getting and how good our coverage is right now.”