Getty Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce were joined on their “New Heights” podcast by former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski.
On the January 16 edition of the podcast, a story about Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was detailed by Travis, who revealed how poorly his pre-draft interview went with the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach.
“So I’m interviewing with the Patriots, and there’s like probably like five people, this is like the lowest amount of people that were in one of the rooms,” Travis explained. “Like, everybody had their front office, all [of] the coaches, there was like 10-15 people in all the other teams’ rooms, but in the Patriots room, just a handful of people, Coach Belichick being one of them.
“And I’m sitting there, and he’s interviewing me, and I’m talking the most straightforward interview I had ever been a part of in my life. It was, I don’t want to say stale, but it was a little static in there. So I tried to lighten it up a little bit. He asked me if I like to go into bars and if I liked to party — that was kind of like the red flag [for me] was that I didn’t take football serious. I believe it was right after you [Gronk] had elbow surgery, and I was like, ‘Yeah, you know, I like to party, and this and that, I don’t know if I’m gonna be in the bar with a sling on, but I’ve never been in the NFL, so I don’t know,’ and when I tell you I didn’t get a single glimpse up [from Belichick] — he just kept writing, dude, just absolutely nothing, and that interview ended pretty early.”
Chiefs to Face Jaguars in Divisional Round
The Jacksonville Jaguars overcame a 27-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers on Super Wild Card Weekend to advance and face the Chiefs in the Division Round of the AFC Playoffs.
The Chiefs have already faced the Jaguars this season. The result of the first outing was a 27-17 victory for the Chiefs on November 13. In that game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 26-of-35 pass attempts for 331 yards, 4 touchdowns, and also had 1 interception. Kansas City’s rushing attack averaged 5.7 yards per attempt in that game and had a total of 155 rushing yards.
Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence was overall efficient in the passing game, completing 29-of-40 passes for 259 yards and 2 touchdowns versus Kansas City. Yet, Lawrence struggled to find explosive plays (averaged 6.5 yards per attempt) and was consistently pressured inside the pocket (pressured 13 total times, sacked 5 times per PFF), which led to the Jaguars’ third-lowest point total of the season in Week 10.
That game leaned heavily in Kansas City’s favor from the jump; the Chiefs took a 7-0 late in the first quarter and didn’t look back. However, that loss for Jacksonville seemingly awoke a giant.
After losing to Kansas City in Week 10, the Jaguars went 6-1 to close out the regular season after starting the season 3-7. During the last 7 games of the regular season, Lawrence had 14 total touchdowns (12 passing, 2 rushing), and turned the ball over just 3 times.
Trevor Lawrence DEALING
Jaguars Had Epic Win Over Chargers
The Jaguars continued their hot streak into the postseason but didn’t do so without some drama.
The Chargers, a division rival of the Chiefs, took a 27-0 lead on the Jaguars in the second quarter of their Wild Card matchup, which was sparked by 4 first-half interceptions by Lawrence. However, Lawrence rebounded with 4 touchdowns and guided Jacksonville to a 31-30 win over Los Angeles. Jaguars kicker Riley Patterson made a 36-yard field goal as time expired to win the game for Jacksonville.
Riley Patterson’s game winning field goal is better with Titanic music.
So, although the Chiefs already beat the Jaguars handily once this season, Kansas City will be facing a different Jacksonville squad the second time around.
The Chiefs-Jaguars game will take place on Saturday, January 21 at 3 p.m. Central Time at Arrowhead Stadium. The game will be available to watch on NBC.