Travis Kelce now has double the playoff TDs in last 6 years as the next closest player
Kelce #Kelce
© Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Travis Kelce has been so dominant in the playoffs that not even an injury to Patrick Mahomes could stop him on Saturday, as the eight-time Pro Bowl tight end already has two touchdowns in the first half. Certainly the Jacksonville Jaguars stand little chance of slowing down the NFL’s most dangerous receiving threat in the modern era.
With two more scores in Saturday’s Divisional Round matchup, Kelce now has 14 postseason touchdowns since 2017. That’s twice as many as second-place Cooper Kupp, who has seven playoff touchdowns in that same period of time, with six of those coming in four postseason games last year. The currently retired Rob Gronkowski and Gabe Davis of the Buffalo Bills each have six.
No other players have more than five playoff touchdowns in the last six years, but Travis Kelce is closing in on three times that amount with 30 minutes of game left on Saturday.
It didn’t even slow down the Chiefs when Mahomes, the 2018 MVP and one of the frontrunners to win the award again right now, left the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter. Kelce caught four passes for 15 yards and his second touchdown when backup Chad Henne led a 98-yard touchdown drive against the Jaguars in place of Mahomes.
That makes Henne the third quarterback who Kelce has caught his 14 postseason touchdowns from in the last six years, after Alex Smith in 2017 and Mahomes for the past five years.
This is also Kelce’s third playoff game with at least two receiving touchdowns, the second-most such games for a tight end in NFL history after Rob Gronkowski, who did it four times. Kelce has now caught at least one touchdown pass in each of the last six postseasons, the only player to do so. No other player has had more than three postseason appearances with a touchdown since 2017.
Travis Kelce might literally be twice as good as any other offensive weapon right now.