“You crossed the line,” Jason Kelce said.
There was regret expressed.
“It’s definitely unacceptable and I immediately wished I could take it back,” Travis Kelce said.
There were some justifications offered.
“You don’t become the best tight end in the world by being a f— reasonable, like, level-headed f— person. That’s not how it f— works, all right?” Jason Kelce said.
Oh yeah, and there was cursing between the brothers. Lots of it.
The NFL stars spent seven minutes of this week’s edition of their “New Heights” podcast discussing a heated incident between Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his coach, Andy Reid, on the sideline during Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday in Las Vegas.
The Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in a 25-22 overtime thriller for their third Super Bowl title in five seasons.
Earlier on, however, things weren’t going Kansas City’s way. At one point early in the second quarter, CBS cameras caught Kelce screaming at Reid and making contact with him, knocking the 65-year-old coach off balance.
“You crossed the line,” Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, 36, told his younger brother. “I think we both agree about that.”
“I did,” Travis Kelce, 34, said. “I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping coach and it’s getting him off balance and stuff.”
The older sibling continued: “I mean, let’s be honest — yelling in his face, too, is over the top. I think there’s better ways to handle this, retrospectively.”
“Yeah,” the younger Kelce sighed. “Oh yeah, I know. I’m a passionate guy. I love Coach Reid, Coach Reid knows how much I love to play for him, how much I love to be, you know, a product of his coaching career.”
The episode dropped Wednesday morning, hours before Travis Kelce, Reid and the rest of the Chiefs celebrated their latest NFL title with a parade and rally in Kansas City. Kelce attended with his mother, Donna. His superstar girlfriend, Taylor Swift, has a concert in Australia on Friday and wasn’t immediately spotted among the revelers.
(Reed Hoffmann / Associated Press)
On the podcast, Kelce emphasized that the physical contact he made with Reid was accidental and said that any anger he felt at the moment wasn’t toward the coach with which he has now won three Super Bowls.
“It wasn’t me mad at Coach Reid, as it looks,” Kelce said. “It was the frustration of our team not having success, turning the ball over and me being on the sideline. … Like, it was me showing my passion and frustration and letting coach know he can put it on me and I’ll make sure I get this s— done. That’s what that was. It wasn’t me yelling at him to do something.”
Travis Kelce, left, is interviewed by CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz as coach Andy Reid watches following the team’s 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
Reid, who played football at John Marshall High in Los Angeles and Glendale Community College, made light of the incident following Sunday’s game at Allegiant Stadium. He said Kelce had apologized afterward.
Also during the podcast, Kelce stated that keeping his emotions in check has been “the battle of my career.”
“Unfortunately, sometimes my passion comes out where it looks like it’s negativity,” he said, “but I’m grateful that [Reid] knows that it’s all because I wanna win this thing with him more than anything.”
Jason Kelce told his brother that he’s the same way, and sometimes you just have to take the bad with the good.
“We both know that one of our weaknesses is our emotions, he said, “and one of our strengths is our emotions.
“You know, your coaches talked the night before about how emotional and passionate your speech was. You don’t get that without also getting this, unfortunately. That’s the crux of being a passionate individual. And obviously I wish we were better at controlling our emotions and hopefully you can be better next time, but Andy knows. Andy knows that when this happens, the next thing he needs to do is fire a play up for you because you’re gonna come out there and you’re gonna take that aggression out on somebody.”