KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A special element of the Chiefs offense has made head coach Andy Reid smile many times this season.
“He’s been doing this for a few years,” Reid said of tight end Travis Kelce on Monday. “We do it every day in practice. It’s not just something we throw away on game day. It’s something we do. Anything goes – as long as you get them done.
Kelce is a 12-year veteran with an undisputed resume. He is a future Hall of Famer, a three-time Super Bowl champion and the tight end with the most touchdown catches in Chiefs history (76, along with Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez).
This season, however, Kelce has added another piece of the puzzle to his game: He’s perfected the lateral pass.
Kelce’s most memorable highlight of Friday’s Chiefs win over the rival Las Vegas Raiders came when he passed the ball back over midfield to running back Samaj Perrine to avoid was intercepted, and the latter then got the crucial first attack.
“Yeah, man, right place, right time,” Kelce said Wednesday on “New Heights,” the podcast he co-hosts with his brother, Jason. “I’m glad it worked out. … It was just my instinct and I’m lucky that we were able to go through a new set of setbacks.
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Kelce has given Reid no trouble this season, as he successfully completed two lateral attempts, each time getting the ball to Palin to help the Chiefs get to the red zone.
“It started as a joke,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of Kelce’s combination of skill and boldness. “Now, it has become a thing. As long as he gets it done, the coach will keep letting him get it done.
Horizontal regression‼ pic.twitter.com/tdHOScHOLH
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 29, 2024
That thing Helped the Chiefs score their only touchdown against the Raiders before the two-minute warning in the second quarter. On third-and-10 outside the red zone, Mahomes completed a short pass to Kelce, who immediately made eye contact with Perrin, who was released out of the backfield into the flat. In an unusual move, Kelce leaped forward and delivered a perfect, Mahomes-like spiral pass to Palin.
The Arrowhead Stadium crowd cheered as Palin finished with a 15-yard score. Palin acknowledged Kelce by referring back to him, much like NBA players acknowledge his point guard after a fast-break assist.
“Don’t forget, he’s a (high school) quarterback,” Amazon Prime analyst Kirk Herbstreit said of Kelce after the big performance. “It was a no-brainer (pass). It’s just a feeling. It’s something you mess up in practice and it becomes so comfortable that you’re suddenly able to uncover it and do it in the game. That pitch was thrown perfectly.
Three plays later, Mahomes threw a perfect lob to receiver Justin Watson for a six-yard touchdown.
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After the game, some analysts and fans wondered whether Kelce’s lateral offense was part of the Chiefs’ plan.
“It wasn’t by design at all,” Mahomes said. “(Kells) is the only guy who can do that. I know sometimes it looks like (designed), but it’s more that he’s been in the offense so long that he knows those running backs. Where are the people on different routes.
Mahomes said he wanted Kelce to gain at least eight yards on the play so he could convince Reid to keep the offense on the field for a fourth down.
A similar situation occurred during the Chiefs’ game against the New Orleans Saints in early October. In the second quarter, the Chiefs suffered a 21-game losing streak in the third quarter. Mahomes threw a short pass to Kelce, who drew three defenders to midfield before throwing an underhand pass to Perine.
Kelce on 3rd and 22😂
📺： #NOvsKC on ESPN
📱: Live broadcast #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PW8dXNhIrx— NFL (@NFL) October 8, 2024
“I saw it and I thought, “Dang Dang!”“Right guard Trey Smith said after that game. “That’s classic Kelce, just making plays when the team needs it. It’s really bad, man. It’s cool every time you see something like that.
The Chiefs gained 20 yards on the drive, leading Reid down the field to continue the drive with a fourth-and-1 snap.
“It’s not a script, I’m telling you that much,” Palin said with a smile. “I saw him do it a few times in training. I just stayed in just in case. Sure enough, I saw him switch the ball to his right hand and then take his arm back. I was ready.
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Kelce’s first foray into lateral play came during the Chiefs’ 2019 championship season comeback against the Detroit Lions. As the Chiefs near midfield, Mahomes rolled to his right early in the fourth quarter and connected with Kelce, who caught the ball in the middle of the field. Kelce realized after the catch that he was about to be intercepted before he could gain any yardage, so he passed the ball back to running back LeSean McCoy, who gained an additional 23 yards to cap a 33-yard play. Score. The Chiefs capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.
According to TruMedia, Kelce has passed the ball to teammates five times since the start of the 2019 season, not counting desperation at the end of games. Aside from the Chiefs, only six teams have had more lateral plays during that span than Kelce himself. Only four teams scored more points in the first half than Kelce’s four teams.
“It’s the most underused rule in the game,” Kelce said of the horizontal rule on his podcast. “I think I heard (NFL network broadcaster) Rich Eisen mention this early in my career. I was like, “Damn, he wasn’t lying, man, it would be awesome if we just flipped it every game here.” This is what football used to be.
Travis Kelce is very dangerous in the midfield because he can predict where defenders should be and gauge the distance between defenders and teammates. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Kelce knows the best scenarios to pull off his trick. He’s experienced enough to predict when opposing defenses will run soft zone coverage. He’s also caught enough passes in midfield during his career to predict where certain defenders should be and how close they are to their teammates.
“Or you catch them one-on-one (man-to-man) and you beat your defender and now, all of a sudden, you know all the other routes around you are just one guy,” Kelce said on the podcast explain. “Ironically, that’s what happened last year (against) Buffalo.”
It doesn’t count, but Kelce’s lateral assist late in the fourth quarter in last season’s loss to the Bills might have been his greatest assist of the game.
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Kelce surprised everyone at Arrowhead by throwing a cross-field pass to receiver Kadarius Toney, who appeared to score a touchdown, and fans roared Unbridled cheers. However, the viral highlight was marred by a penalty: Toni was offside as he lined up in the neutral zone.
“Honestly, man, it was a bomb call,” Kelce said on his podcast a few days after the game. “I caught (the ball), turned downfield, saw the single-high safety, knew it was man coverage and knew I was breaking the angle of the guy chasing me.
“When I broke the safety angle, I knew there was only one (back) left on that side of the field. I knew from the route Tony was running that he was there, I saw him in a lateral position out of the corner of my eye. I knew if I could throw the ball to him, I knew he had room to score a touchdown.
Travis Kelce was recalled next to Tony 😭
(via @NFL)
https://t.co/KIYYNAopAy— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 11, 2023
The next time Kelce tried lateral training was during training camp in late July. During his time with the team, Kelce tried different arm angles — an underhand throw, an end-to-end throw and a two-handed chest pass — on lateral passes to running back Isaiah Pacheco.
Palin, a seven-year veteran, joined the Chiefs on Aug. 30, less than a week before the Chiefs’ season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. In his first practice with the Chiefs, he was stunned when Kelce passed the ball lateral to Perine.
“He was playing football in the backyard,” Palin said with a smile. “Just experiencing it, it’s crazy. But it’s fun.
(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)
