KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jason Kelce could feel his brother’s pain.
One of the Kelce brothers had to win on Monday night and the other had to lose.
This time, it was Travis Kelce’s turn to come up short as the Philadelphia Eagles rallied to a 21-17 comeback victory.
Afterward, Travis, the All-Pro tight end, was short with the media in the Kansas City Chiefs locker room. According to the estimate of one reporter, Travis talked for all of 40 seconds.
Jason, the Eagles All-Pro center, had his own sort of brief exchange with his brother after the game.
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“Whenever, after the game, one of the guys is not going to want to talk much,” Jason said. “I think, if he’s anything like me, in some ways you’re happy for your brother. Knowing how the game ended for him, he’s probably beating himself up pretty good right now.”
Travis caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes late in the second quarter that put the Chiefs up, 14-7, but also coughed up a fumble in the red zone in the fourth quarter that squandered a scoring opportunity. Also, blanketed by double-coverage throughout the game, he didn’t catch a pass in the first quarter and finished with seven catches for 44 yards. And he dropped a pass on Kansas City’s final drive.
“We’ll talk later in the week,” Jason said. “It was a hard-fought game. Both sides made plenty of mistakes. The clock ran out. It could have gone either way.”
Big brother knows. The last time the brothers played against each other, Jason had to deal with a loss in Super Bowl 57. Jason recalled that days after that setback, he had to join his brother on the popular “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce” podcast that they co-host.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Jason said.
And now there’s another page in the saga.
First appeared on www.usatoday.com