Although Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker labeled a pregame incident between himself, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and quarterback Patrick Mahomes before Sunday’s AFC Championship Game as “not a big deal,” his Chiefs counterparts apparently have a different opinion on the matter.
During a recent appearance on 610 Sports Radio’s “The Drive,” Mahomes explained his side of the story in which he believes Tucker’s behavior was deliberately antagonistic.
“He does that little stuff, I think to try to get under our skin,” Mahomes said. “I asked him to move his stuff and he got up and moved it, I think two inches. But didn’t move it out of the way and I was going to let it slide, but Travis got in and moved it for me. And after that, I wasn’t going to let him put it back down. … I have a lot of respect for him as a player, one of the best kickers of all time — probably the best kicker of all time. But at the same time, you’ve got to have respect for each team, and we all share the field, and we try to do that in a respectful way.”
The incident occurred near the end zone during warmups before Sunday’s matchup. Mahomes was trying to get some practice throws in, but Tucker’s equipment as well as the stand Tucker used to hold the ball in place for his practice kicks was in Mahomes’ way.
After asking him to move his gear, Mahomes said Tucker moved it slightly out of the way but not enough to sufficiently accommodate his request. That’s when Kelce took matters into his own hands, chucking Tucker’s helmet and a few footballs toward the sideline directly in front of Tucker as he stretched.
