Chiefs 2024

[twocoach]

Nick Bolton, I forgive you for attending Mizzou.

Well played

It helps that I love that he always says the name of his high school in the player introductions instead of saying "Missouri".

[Sparko]

Best run defense I have seen in some time. Those are great backs.

[pdub]

I’m starting to think Bijan is overrated.
Watching him tonight I didn’t see anything special.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Nick Bolton, I forgive you for attending Mizzou.

Well played

It helps that I love that he always says the name of his high school in the player introductions instead of saying "Missouri".

"always"? Maybe now, but hasn't been "always".

52 second mark. "Nick Bolton, Missouri"

[DeletedUser]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

[jfish26]

I’m starting to think Bijan is overrated.
Watching him tonight I didn’t see anything special.

We never let him get into space. Really an excellent Spags show.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Good. I'll take that and being 3-0. Let him heat up if/when it is needed.
I'm thinking a relatively healthy Chiefs team should be 15-2 or 14-3 heading in the playoffs.

On a much different note....
If I start a rumor on X/Twitter/TikTok/whatever and say that I hear Carson Steele is banging Brittany Mahomes, do you think more people will call me an asshole or more people will believe it?

[AlOerter]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Good. I'll take that and being 3-0. Let him heat up if/when it is needed.
I'm thinking a relatively healthy Chiefs team should be 15-2 or 14-3 heading in the playoffs.

On a much different note....
If I start a rumor on X/Twitter/TikTok/whatever and say that I hear Carson Steele is banging Brittany Mahomes, do you think more people will call me an asshole or more people will believe it?

Very different note. I vote a-hole. Nothing personal.

[DeletedUser]

Well that's a different route than I saw this convo going.

[JKLivin]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Too much time running around with TayTay. To me, he looks heavier and more out of shape than past years. Maybe the competitive fires are dampened?

[jfish26]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Too much time running around with TayTay. To me, he looks heavier and more out of shape than past years. Maybe the competitive fires are dampened?

I tend to think the story is much more boring than that.

Last year, in his Age 34 season, Kelce had 93 catches on 121 targets, averaging 10.6 yards per catch. Five touchdowns, 50 first downs.

Corresponding numbers for a few guys in their Age 34 seasons:

Gonzalez - 70/108, 9.4, 6, 40
Gates - 69/98, 11.9, 12, 44
Witten - 69/95, 9.8, 3, 34
Sharpe - 61/88, 11.2, 3, 32
Gronkowski - [out of football after Age 32]

Gonzalez would go on to have a few more seasons at about this level of production. Gates and Witten fell off gradually over 2-3 years. Sharpe had one more decent year. Gronk is only a few months older than Kelce and hasn't played since 2021.

In other words...I don't think we need to go looking around for reasons to explain what we're seeing.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Good. I'll take that and being 3-0. Let him heat up if/when it is needed.
I'm thinking a relatively healthy Chiefs team should be 15-2 or 14-3 heading in the playoffs.

On a much different note....
If I start a rumor on X/Twitter/TikTok/whatever and say that I hear Carson Steele is banging Brittany Mahomes, do you think more people will call me an asshole or more people will believe it?

Very different note. I vote a-hole. Nothing personal.

No doubt it makes me an asshole more than it's believable but we live in a country in which A LOT of people believe complete bullshit - simply because they heard/read it on the inter-webs.

Back to Kelce. He's had 12 balls thrown in his direction. He's caught 8 of them. He looks/seems fine to me. Running routes, blocking, catching the ball.
JK seems to disagree. One of us is wrong.

[pdub]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Too much time running around with TayTay. To me, he looks heavier and more out of shape than past years. Maybe the competitive fires are dampened?

I tend to think the story is much more boring than that.

Last year, in his Age 34 season, Kelce had 93 catches on 121 targets, averaging 10.6 yards per catch. Five touchdowns, 50 first downs.

Corresponding numbers for a few guys in their Age 34 seasons:

Gonzalez - 70/108, 9.4, 6, 40
Gates - 69/98, 11.9, 12, 44
Witten - 69/95, 9.8, 3, 34
Sharpe - 61/88, 11.2, 3, 32
Gronkowski - [out of football after Age 32]

Gonzalez would go on to have a few more seasons at about this level of production. Gates and Witten fell off gradually over 2-3 years. Sharpe had one more decent year. Gronk is only a few months older than Kelce and hasn't played since 2021.

In other words...I don't think we need to go looking around for reasons to explain what we're seeing.

I'm saying 75% your explanation and 25% Psych's.
Travis definitely went all in on fame and put that very high on his priorities - he's in ads, tv shows, movies, podcasts, and touring the globe with Taylor.
That time no doubt could have been spent training -- I would put money that he had his lightest offseason in terms of hours spent prepping for football ever.

[jfish26]

Too much time running around with TayTay. To me, he looks heavier and more out of shape than past years. Maybe the competitive fires are dampened?

I tend to think the story is much more boring than that.

Last year, in his Age 34 season, Kelce had 93 catches on 121 targets, averaging 10.6 yards per catch. Five touchdowns, 50 first downs.

Corresponding numbers for a few guys in their Age 34 seasons:

Gonzalez - 70/108, 9.4, 6, 40
Gates - 69/98, 11.9, 12, 44
Witten - 69/95, 9.8, 3, 34
Sharpe - 61/88, 11.2, 3, 32
Gronkowski - [out of football after Age 32]

Gonzalez would go on to have a few more seasons at about this level of production. Gates and Witten fell off gradually over 2-3 years. Sharpe had one more decent year. Gronk is only a few months older than Kelce and hasn't played since 2021.

In other words...I don't think we need to go looking around for reasons to explain what we're seeing.

I'm saying 75% your explanation and 25% Psych's.
Travis definitely went all in on fame and put that very high on his priorities - he's in ads, tv shows, movies, podcasts, and touring the globe with Taylor.
That time no doubt could have been spent training -- I would put money that he had his lightest offseason in terms of hours spent prepping for football ever.

Let's see how the rest of this season goes - and if you think there are other comparables to add to the mix, by all means go ahead. But if his decline is around the midpoint of his peers'...then I have a very hard time pinning a quarter of his decline on non-shared factors. Especially given that four of Kelce's six most recent seasons have ended in the Super Bowl and the two that didn't ended in the conference title game.

[pdub]

Tony had 3 seasons of 850+ yards after the age of 34.
Travis is on pace for 368 yards in a 16 game season.
I agree we should let the season play out but I do think his offseason has played a factor ( take note of what the word factor is here ) in his start.

[twocoach]

Well played

It helps that I love that he always says the name of his high school in the player introductions instead of saying "Missouri".

"always"? Maybe now, but hasn't been "always".

52 second mark. "Nick Bolton, Missouri"

Good grief.

[JKLivin]

Slow start to the year for Kelce.

Too much time running around with TayTay. To me, he looks heavier and more out of shape than past years. Maybe the competitive fires are dampened?

I tend to think the story is much more boring than that.

Last year, in his Age 34 season, Kelce had 93 catches on 121 targets, averaging 10.6 yards per catch. Five touchdowns, 50 first downs.

Corresponding numbers for a few guys in their Age 34 seasons:

Gonzalez - 70/108, 9.4, 6, 40
Gates - 69/98, 11.9, 12, 44
Witten - 69/95, 9.8, 3, 34
Sharpe - 61/88, 11.2, 3, 32
Gronkowski - [out of football after Age 32]

Gonzalez would go on to have a few more seasons at about this level of production. Gates and Witten fell off gradually over 2-3 years. Sharpe had one more decent year. Gronk is only a few months older than Kelce and hasn't played since 2021.

In other words...I don't think we need to go looking around for reasons to explain what we're seeing.

Age does catch up with us all, eventually. I would contend that the loss/lessening of competitive fire is one aspect of that.

[jfish26]

Tony had 3 seasons of 850+ yards after the age of 34.
Travis is on pace for 368 yards in a 16 game season.
I agree we should let the season play out but I do think his offseason has played a factor ( take note of what the word factor is here ) in his start.

There's no doubt whatsoever that the start of the season has been poor, and that if he maintains anything like this pace he'll fall well below the median decline phase (for his comparables).

[jfish26]

Too much time running around with TayTay. To me, he looks heavier and more out of shape than past years. Maybe the competitive fires are dampened?

I tend to think the story is much more boring than that.

Last year, in his Age 34 season, Kelce had 93 catches on 121 targets, averaging 10.6 yards per catch. Five touchdowns, 50 first downs.

Corresponding numbers for a few guys in their Age 34 seasons:

Gonzalez - 70/108, 9.4, 6, 40
Gates - 69/98, 11.9, 12, 44
Witten - 69/95, 9.8, 3, 34
Sharpe - 61/88, 11.2, 3, 32
Gronkowski - [out of football after Age 32]

Gonzalez would go on to have a few more seasons at about this level of production. Gates and Witten fell off gradually over 2-3 years. Sharpe had one more decent year. Gronk is only a few months older than Kelce and hasn't played since 2021.

In other words...I don't think we need to go looking around for reasons to explain what we're seeing.

Age does catch up with us all, eventually. I would contend that the loss/lessening of competitive fire is one aspect of that.

Especially when you don't really have anything more to prove, from a team and personal success standpoint. It is true that, from our chairs, we can say things like "he needs X more yards or Y more touchdowns to pass Player Z."

But the reality is that, because he started his career so much later* than his comparables, counting stats like that are likely out of reach, even if he would (say) age 10% better than Gonzalez.

And in that case, maybe you DO make a business decision to enjoy your offseason life more, and build more of a foundation for your post-playing career. In which case, the arrows are inevitable (and not necessarily unreasonable or unfair). All to say - I'm not saying that what we're seeing is definitely NOT lifestyle-related. I just don't think there's yet enough evidence to project where (in comparison to his historical peers) his Age 35 season will fall.

* His first full season was at Age 25. In order, those peers' first full seasons were at Ages 21, 23, 21, 22 and 21.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Now let's do Mahomes!
Worst combined first 3 games to start a season of his career?
What excuse/s do you guys have for him?
Age? Taylor Swift? Lazy? Lost competitive fire? Didn't go to Missouri? His wife is sleeping with his undrafted RB?