Travis Kelce & Patrick Mahomes: A Duo That’s Performing Wonders

It’s fair to say that the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense has garnered the most attention when it comes to the defending Super Bowl Champions (at least from a football on-field perspective). However, heading into Monday night, it would be foolish to discount the possibility of one of the most effective pass game combinations in recent memory. Despite what some of the raw metrics may suggest over the previous few weeks, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce remain one of the most dangerous duos in the game.

Travis Kelce & Patrick Mahomes: A Duo That’s Performing Wonders

They can beat you both inside the play structure and outside, which makes them extremely difficult to handle.

The Kansas City Chiefs have won the Super Bowl in both the LIV and LVII seasons because to their seemingly mystical bond.

Mahomes and Kelce have produced 550 completions and 6,895 yards for the Chiefs, and the 50 touchdowns they have achieved are the fourth-best total for a QB-TE tandem.

They trail only the 90 touchdowns scored by Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady, the 89 by Antonio Gates and Philip Rivers, and the 51 by Jimmy Graham and Drew Brees.

In the third quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears, tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs was intended to find himself in the back-right corner of the end zone, but instead he noticed the defense leave the center undefended.

Kelce instead came to a stop there. At that moment, quarterback Patrick Mahomes saw him coming and found Kelce, who scored a simple 3-yard touchdown with the ball.

Though it wasn’t exactly as the Chiefs had intended, Mahomes and Kelce managed to make the play work with hundreds of throws and many hours spent in the video room together.

“You’re talking about two guys that have the instincts that not many people have,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. “There’s a balance, because sometimes when you’re watching tape  with rookies or guys that come in, [they ask], ‘Why did Kelce do that or do this?’ Well, he has an innate ability to recognize defences. It’s on another level. What’s crazier is the fact that Pat knows it, too.

“Sometimes we don’t even practice it. They just do it. … There’s some stuff in there, DNA-wise, between those two guys, that a lot of people don’t have. They have that connection.”

In the victory over the Miami Dolphins two Sundays prior in Frankfurt, Germany, Kelce caught three catches for a mere fourteen yards. In a road defeat against Denver the previous week, he hauled in six passes for 58 yards. Since October 22nd against the Los Angeles Chargers, he has failed to score a touchdown. Don’t let that deceive you; fantasy managers everywhere are disappointed with the lack of output in recent weeks.

Kelce is exactly in line with 2022 when comparing this year’s efficiency figures to those of last year, which established a record. Kelce averaged 2.21 yards per route run in the previous year. This year, that figure is up to 2.45. He caught 81.1 percent of his targets this year compared to 72.3 percent last year. The unprocessed data (receptions,  yards, and touchdowns) are all down over the first 10 weeks, but remember that Kelce missed the season-opening loss to Detroit with an injury.

It’s one of the greatest quarterback-tight end relationships in NFL history, and it began in 2018 when Mahomes was named the starting quarterback for the Chiefs. Mahomes has given Kelce 50 touchdown catches, making them the fourth quarterback-wide receiver combination to accomplish so. Additionally, they rank fourth in yards (6,895) and receptions (550) for a tight end and quarterback.

Plays that were executed exactly as coach Andy Reid intended have yielded the majority of those catches, yards, and scores.

He also lacks a conclusive explanation for this, though. “There’s some stuff in there, DNA-wise, between those two guys that a lot of people don’t have. They’re connected that way,” he said.

However, Travis Kelce is clear that he doesn’t always go off the script planned by head coach Andy Reid. “All that creative stuff is fun. But for the most part, I would say about 99% of the time, I’m doing what Coach wants me to do,” said the tight end.

When the two players improvise, things don’t always go according to plan. In Week 4, Mahomes came dangerously close to throwing an interception against the New York Jets when Kelce halted a route in the center of the field and Mahomes sent the ball to where Kelce was going.

Yet when it does function, significant outcomes are possible. On the Chiefs’ last offensive play of the fourth quarter, as they were rushing to get into field goal range, Kelce instructed Mahomes he would change his route to run up a seam in the pass coverage in the 2021 AFC divisional round against the Buffalo Bills.

The field goal that put the game into overtime was set up by Kelce’s 25-yard reception. The Chiefs advanced to the championship game.

For his part, Mahomes says it was all down to diligence: “It just took a couple of years of just working with him,” he said. They both gained an understanding of one another’s perspectives on the field throughout that period. “Not only did I get a feel for how he runs routes, but he got a feel for how I was seeing stuff,” the quarterback stated.

The Chiefs fan base and the locker room are not the only places where these athletes are admired; their opponents are also aware of how talented the talented Kansas City pair is.

“I think the thing that is tough is just the chemistry that he (Travis) and Patrick have,” head coach Brandon Staley of the Los Angeles Chargers said.

This season, Mahomes completed 28 straight throws to Kelce during a three-game span. Based on completion probability, the odds of all 28 throws being completed were 1 in 3,000, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

These kinds of numbers are the reason Nagy gave the following advice to young receivers who want to join the Chiefs and develop a similar relationship with Mahomes as Kelce did: It will take a while, so avoid doing what Kelce does in the meanwhile.

 

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