Travis Kelce opened the season by moving up the record book. The Chiefs tight end passed Jason Witten for second place on the NFL’s all-time tight end receiving yards list during Kansas City’s 31-10 win over the Denver Broncos on Monday night – and he did it in his first game since marrying Taylor Swift, with his new wife and Tom Cruise watching from his suite at Arrowhead Stadium.
The record
The milestone came on a long catch-and-run in the second half, a vintage Kelce play. Passing Witten – the Dallas Cowboys legend who finished with more than 13,000 receiving yards – leaves Kelce behind only Tony Gonzalez on the tight end list. Not bad for a player who spent the offseason fielding retirement questions before deciding to run it back.
The suite
Swift’s return to Arrowhead as Mrs. Kelce became the viral moment of the NFL weekend. Cameras caught her celebrating Kelce’s record-breaking play over the top, and ESPN later showed her yelling at a TV screen during the game – a clip Sports Illustrated analyzed frame by frame. She sat beside Tom Cruise, and the Kansas City Star noted the surreal arc of it all: a franchise that went 2-12 as recently as 2012 now hosts the world’s most famous singer and one of its biggest movie stars in the same suite. Kelce, for his part, flashed an engraved gold wedding band on the field.
The controversy
Not everyone was celebrating. A missed holding call on Kelce during Patrick Mahomes’ first touchdown pass lit up social media, with fans reviving the “Chiefs get the calls” chorus – and cameras later caught Kelce and head coach Andy Reid arguing with officials. Kansas City still cruised to a 31-10 statement win that closed out Week 1.
What’s next
Kelce is now 36 and chasing Gonzalez’s all-time mark. The gap remains steep, but nobody at Arrowhead on Monday night was betting against him. The Chiefs, meanwhile, look like the Chiefs again: 1-0, alone atop the AFC West, and impossible to ignore.
Sources: NFL.com; theScore; The Kansas City Star; People; Sports Illustrated; InStyle. Featured image: Travis Kelce 2017 training camp, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.