Patrick Mahomes on Travis Kelce, Justin Tucker Exchange: ‘I Was Gonna Let It Slide’

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he wasn’t going to let Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker warming up in the same area as him bother him ahead of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game until Travis Kelce took things to another level.

“He does that little stuff, I think to try to get under our skin,” Mahomes said of Tucker on The Drive on Audacy’s 610 Sports Radio (h/t Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk).

“I asked him to move his stuff. He got up and moved it, I think, two inches but didn’t move it out of the way. I was gonna let it slide, but Travis got in and moved it for me. And after that, I wasn’t gonna let him put it back down. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, one of the best kickers of all time, probably the best kicker of all time. But at the same time, you’ve got to have respect for each team, and we all share the field, and we try to do that in a respectful way.”

Video showed Kelce throw Tucker’s helmet and his kicking balls away from Mahomes. What’s more, the quarterback then tossed the kicker’s holding tee away from the same area:

James Palmer @JamesPalmerTV

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. 😂

James Palmer @JamesPalmerTV

Patrick Mahomes and Justin Tucker going at it pregame 😂. Mahomes keeps kicking Tuckers holder away.

Mahomes’ comments come after Tucker addressed the situation on Monday.

“I find it kind of silly that we’re even having to address it or talk about something that happened before the game that I really don’t see as a big deal,” the kicker told reporters. “I think you can just see the whole interaction and then you see us at the coin toss, we’re all dapping each other up and then we just get on with the football game.”

Jerry Coleman @sportswcoleman

He also said he didn’t do anything outside of his normal pregame routine and thought he moved his helmet far enough away until Kelce came up and kicked his stuff.

“I thought it was all just some gamesmanship, all in good fun but they seemed to be taking it a little more seriously,” Tucker added.

Any attempted gamesmanship on Tucker’s end did not work.

Kansas City came away with the 17-10 victory thanks in large part to Kelce’s excellent game. He tallied 11 catches for 116 yards and one touchdown as the game’s leading receiver on either side. Mahomes was 30-of-39 for 241 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions, while the Chiefs defense was excellent throughout the game.

Tucker didn’t get many chances to impact the outcome, but he delivered when called upon and made his only field goal and extra point. It was more of the same from someone who is widely considered one of the best kickers in NFL history.

Still, it is Kansas City that is on its way to its fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years. A victory over the San Francisco 49ers would give it back-to-back titles and three Lombardi Trophies in that span.

San Francisco kicker Jake Moody might have to pay attention to where he is warming up before the game.