10 January 2024 , 23:01
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Travis Kelce has expressed his feelings after missing a personal milestone. Before the final regular season game, he needed just 16 yards to record an eighth season with over 1000+ receiving yards.
However, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was rested during the 13-12 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers and didn't reach the landmark. In fact, Kelce made the decision not to play despite quarterback Patrick Mahomes trying to convince him to take to the field to get to 1,000 yards.
He's now explained his decision. On his New Heights podcast with his brother Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, Travis said he wasn't bothered about the record.
"No it wasn't even about the record," he stated. "I don't give a s**t about the record. It was a record I had broken four times already."
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He added: "It's cool to have that record but at the same time I've never sat here and said 'If I don't get 1000 yards my season was a failure'. I already had it in my mind that if I lose a Super Bowl, that's a failure.
"It just didn't feel right to try and go out there for 16 yards. So I thought I'd just bring the energy on the sideline and let my guys go out there and rock, and sure enough they did."
Chiefs' star player, Patrick Mahomes, didn't play in the game with Blaine Gabbert stepping in. The last time a different quarterback started a regular season game for the Super Bowl champions was two years ago when Chad Henne played against the Chargers.
Travis Kelce missed the final regular season game ahead of the NFL Playoffs (Getty Images)There was lots of chatter about whether Kelce would play at the weekend and why he didn't. On his podcast, Kelce cleared up any confusion about why he didn't play.
"It never felt right," he said. "It had nothing to do with my health, it had nothing to do with whether I was going to get injured. It was more so that it just didn't feel right in my gut and it didn't feel like I should be playing the game that way.
"If I could get some rest going into next week and stay off the turf out there in LA and avoid some hits, I was all for that to gear up for the playoffs." The Chiefs will kick off their playoff campaign in the Wild Card round against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.
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