Sunday’s AFC championship game didn’t come down to a last-second field goal attempt, but the storyline might have been a lot more interesting if it did.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said in a radio interview Tuesday that a pregame squabble he and tight end Travis Kelce had with Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker was a case of Tucker “trying to get under our skin.”
Speaking with 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City, Mahomes said he was going through his normal pregame warmup routine, but Tucker had several footballs and a kicking tee in the area.
“I asked him to move his stuff and he got up and moved it I think two inches but didn’t move it out of the way,” Mahomes said. “I was going to let it slide but Travis moved it for me and after that I wasn’t going to let him put it back down.”
An agitated Kelce tossed the footballs, along with Tucker’s helmet, out of the way so Mahomes could go through his routine.
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Tucker characterized the incident as a bit of gamesmanship between the two teams. But Kelce said on Wednesday’s edition of his “New Heights” podcast that he and Mahomes “just weren’t in a joking mood” before the big game.
“If you’re not going to pick that up, I’ll happily move it for you,” Kelce said. “If you’re gonna be a (expletive), I promise you I can one-up you every time, dude,”
Tucker said on Monday that it’s typical for kickers to warm up on both ends of the field before the game to get a feel for the conditions. He even said he had a conversation with Mahomes before the incident and thought they had worked things out.
However Mahomes told a slightly different story on Tuesday.
“I’ve had seven years of doing that same warmup routine and there’s only been like three occasions where there’s been a kicker that wasn’t … moving out of the way,” he said. “It was in Baltimore all three times.”
