Travis Kelce concerns become unavoidable with Taylor Swift nowhere to be seen
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce turned in yet another underwhelming performance during the team's win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday
by Matthew Neschis · The MirrorTravis Kelce, the tight end for Kansas City Chiefs, delivered another disappointing performance against the Atlanta Falcons, continuing his early season struggles.
In Sunday's match, the Chiefs narrowly secured a 22-17 victory over the Falcons on their home turf, maintaining an unblemished 3-0 record for the season. However, Kelce contributed little to the Chiefs' success, ending the game with just four catches for 30 yards.
To make matters worse, this yardage was almost a season-high, second only to the 34 yards he gained in the air against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1. He was unable to even surpass that lowly figure, with concerns over his decline now becoming unavoidable in the early stages of the season.
Kelce's lacklustre presence on the field was further highlighted by the absence of his biggest fan. Taylor Swift was noticeably missing from the crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as the NBC broadcast failed to show the singer in the stands and there was no evidence of her arriving at the stadium.
Sunday night's match marked the first Chiefs game this year that Swift did not attend. The pop superstar had previously been spotted cheering on her boyfriend at Arrowhead Stadium during the Chiefs' first two victories of the season against the Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
Despite Taylor Swift's absence from the action, the Chiefs honoured the pop star before the game got underway. In a cheeky reference to Swifts affectionate words for NFL star Travis Kelce during her MTV Video Music Awards speech, Kansas City took to social media to share a snap of Kelce with the caption: "Happiness. Fun. Magic."
The start of the season has been less than stellar for Kelce, who's usually known for his on-field prowess. The 34-year-old tight end has hauled in a mere four catches across the first couple of games, accumulating just 39 yards and no trips to the endzone.
His output was especially disheartening against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, where he finished with just one catch for five yards and a solitary rushing attempt that gained a meagre yard.
However, Kelce is staying level-headed despite the frustration of a slow start. Speaking on the New Heights Podcast, he remarked, "There's a lot of things that have to go right for anyone to get the ball," recognizing the nature of the game has led to his reduced figures recently. "These past two games it hasn't gone that way for me. That's football, man.
"I'm not going to sit here and get frustrated. I used to get really, really [...] off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success, knowing I demand that out of myself and I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it's tough for me to deal with being mediocre or having stats that represent that."
At this stage in his NFL career, Kelce revealed that he no longer focuses on his statistics. "I stopped caring about stats about four or five years ago and I just went out there and started to just play free and wanted to play for my guys, and sure enough I think that's a better mentality," he said.