Furious Travis Kelce kicks opponent’s ball away and throws helmet off field in pre-game spat
The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in the AFC Championship game on Sunday night with a place in Super Bowl LVIII up for grabs. It’s about as high stakes a game as it gets in the NFL and things are already getting chippy ahead of kick-off.
Footage went viral of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce clashing with Ravens kicker Justin Tucker after the Baltimore man was warming up dangerously closely to Patrick Mahomes.
Tucker was in the same area as the Chiefs pair and looked to be playing mind games while doing some pregame stretching. Kelce reportedly told Tucker he needed to move but the Ravens man wasn’t budging and stuck to his guns with a smile on his face.
An irritated Kelce then proceeded to kick Tucker’s helmet and ball away which were on the floor near the end zone where Mahomes was practising.
“Travis Kelce told Justin Tucker he needed to move because their QB Patrick Mahomes had to warm up. So Kelce kicked his ball away and threw his helmet,” NFL Network’s James Palmer tweeted. The short clip did the rounds on X, formerly Twitter, with some fans joking that Tucker was going to seek revenge later in the game.
“Man’s gonna hit 70 yard kick today!,” one person said.
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“Nothing like a lil drama before a championship game,” one fan wrote.
“Justin Tucker’s going to kick a 70-yard FG today and then boot one right into T-Swift’s suite for good measure,” another joked.
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“Tucker gaming them with a 57 yarder with all due respect,” another fan added.
That wasn’t the end of it though as Mahomes and Tucker reportedly continued to go at it. A clip showed the pair engaging in a war of words following the Kelce incident. Mahomes repeatedly kicked Tucker’s stand out of the way as the Ravens star attempted to practice.
“Patrick Mahomes and Justin Tucker going at it pregame. Mahomes keeps kicking Tuckers holder away,” the same account on X posted. The bad blood didn’t stop there either as Ravens cornerback Arthur Maulet got into it with the Chiefs defensive backs on the sidelines prior to kick-off.
The NFL Today TV cameras picked up the the heated exchange where Maulet appeared to throw a punch at Jaylen Watson.
It comes after Kelce recently praised Mahomes for being at the centre of their success together.
