KANSAS CITY, Mo. — So much has changed since the last time the Brothers Kelce met on the field in 2017, when Travis and the Chiefs played host to Jason and the Philadelphia Eagles at Arrowhead Stadium in a 27-20 Chiefs victory.
The game was punctuated by Travis’ preposterous vault into the end zone from five yards out to complete a 15-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith, and sealed with the kiss Travis planted on his wincing older brother, the Eagles offensive lineman, as they exchanged jerseys afterward.
Safe to say the image is indelible in family lore even if Travis said he doesn’t have it in his household.
“I made sure I sent it to him, though,” Travis said Thursday with a smile as the Chiefs prepared to take on the Eagles on Sunday in Philadelphia.
Playful taunt notwithstanding, that Eagles team went on to win the Super Bowl over New England with Travis in the stands crying as his older brother reached “the mountaintop.”
And that launched a sequence in which each of the animated personas has since become a Super Bowl winner … not to mention a headliner act in the celebrations: That included Travis and his Beastie Boys-inspired anthem (“You’ve got to fight for your right to … Lombardi”) and Jason’s jaw-dropping performance(s) in Mummers garb.
“It’s been cool to see him become who he is, and people get attracted to that,” Travis said. “Because he’s a fun guy to be around.”
Anyone would still say the same about Travis, two years younger than his 33-year-old brother.
But part of the reason he’s grown into one of the greatest tight ends ever to play the game (632 catches for 8,170 yards and 51 touchdowns) is a fundamental maturation since the last time he played against his brother.
Because that 2017 day in some ways was the most exasperating point of his career, a day that epitomized his inability to control his emotions and left even ever-patient coach Andy Reid seething after a fourth straight game over two seasons in which Kelce’s volatility was an issue.
In this case, Kelce incurred a personal foul after running to the Eagles’ sideline to taunt players (and perhaps Jason himself) after Kareem Hunt’s 53-yard touchdown run.
A frustrated Reid, who barked at Kelce immediately after the penalty, could hardly utter a word about his star tight end after the game, saying, simply, “He can’t do that, right? He can’t do that.”
It wasn’t a good sign of Reid having reached him that Kelce later in the game risked another penalty when his touchdown celebration included flapping his arms to mock the Eagle’s “Fly Eagles Fly” routine. Or that afterward he repeatedly deflected direct questions about it by generically talking about the offense.
In the moment, you could only wonder if he’d ever be able to find that right balance of fire and poise.
“Sharing Travis’ journey can be a great opportunity for our school-age children to see that getting control of our emotions is something we all work on through life.”
But we can see it through a fresh lens now, too, even if Kelce still doesn’t quite have a specific ah-ha moment to reference.
“Just, you know, being more accountable,” he said. “And that … when you think about doing something stupid, don’t do it.”
With a laugh, he added, “Just being able to control that emotion, man.”
When I asked him if he was proud of that part of his growth, he said, “You have to be. What I’m more proud of is that I’m representing the team the right way. That’s the biggest thing. Because I wasn’t doing that when I was doing those silly things and (getting) those stupid penalties.”
Not that he wasn’t realizing it in real time even then. He called that towel bit against Jacksonville something he regrets to this day, something he seemed to feel all the time over his transgressions.
“Every time I did it,” he said. “I mean, as soon as I did (something), I’m walking off the field (thinking), ‘Shouldn’t have done that.’ ”
That all seems different now, though he also hasn’t been tested in a game against his brother since then. But there hasn’t been any trash talk between them this week, he said, and he is perhaps more apt now to admire his brother’s work (picking up blocking hints from him) than to inject theatrics into this game.
In fact, when he was asked if he would be extra-amped for the Eagles again, Kelce said “sort of” but focused on the fact the Eagles had drafted tight end Zach Ertz ahead of him in 2013 and kept him from playing with his brother, who also was his college teammate at Cincinnati.
“I thought it would be so cool to play at all three levels with my brother,” he said. But I’m happy I landed here in Kansas City, I can tell you that much.”
And has long-since arrived as a player by learning to fuse his passion into his talents … four years after you could only hope that would ever happen.
