“It’s Playoff Trav,” Mahomes said after the Chiefs fans saw the Travis Kelce of the old against the Houston Texans. At the start of the season, the TE struggled to get going and it took him over six weeks to record his first 10 receptions in a game. The following week, he notched his first 100-yard game to finally get his season moving. But, he never managed to reach those figures again by the end of the regular season, and with the emergence of rookie receiver Xavier Worthy and TE Noah Gray, questions about Kelce’s importance to the team were rising. But he answered them in emphatic fashion in the first playoff game.

Kelce’s opening catch against the Texans gave an indication that we were going to see a vintage performance from the veteran TE. He was wide open to catch and run for 23 yards. This play also indicated how the Chiefs have worked with him to improve his form from the regular season. Throughout the season, the narrative from the Chiefs has been that the opposing players are teaming up on Kelce to reduce the effectiveness of Patrick Mahomes, but against the Texans, the defending champions found a way out, and Andy Reid opened up on what changed.

Hopping on the Kansas City Chiefs’ official YouTube channel. Reid was quick to appreciate Kelce and pointed out how less attention and more quality players around him aided his performance. “I’m happy for him with the seven catches and all that, but I think more of it is just we have a variety of guys around him,” Reid said.

Against the Texans, Kelce put up his best performance of the season as he tallied seven catches for 117 yards and one touchdown. He also had the longest postseason catch of his career, gaining 49 yards on one play. Reid dismissed concerns about age catching up with Kelce and added how the strength of the team is helping him thrive.

“The opportunities that he’s had he’s done well with, and I don’t think it’s his play that has been reduced. When everybody asks about age, by age or physical ability or anything, I just think that you have a variety of guys that we’ve been able to use around him. When we didn’t, teams were ganging up on him. It’s a good problem now because guys are healthy, and we’ve got choices out there and they can’t really just focus on him,” the HC said.

What Reid is trying to convey here can be understood when dissecting his 23-yard run and the subsequent catch. On that occasion, it was Worthy who got doubled team as he was streaking downfield and the safeties bracketed him to prevent a big play. As Mahomes rolled out to his right, the QB hinted that he would target Gray, leading to two Texans linebackers stepping away from Kelce at once and going after Gray. The end result was Mahomes easily finding his old ally for a big gain.

Moreover, the Chiefs are getting their team fit just in time for the business end of the season. Hollywood Brown returned from a ternoclavicular joint injury during the preseason to take the field against Houston. Isiah Pachecho and JuJu Smith-Schuster are healthy, after being sidelined at various points in the season. Moreover, the Chiefs added DeAndre Hopkins in a trade at midseason, giving them more options in the offense. The three-peat is on.

Kelce’s 11-yard TD early into the 4th quarter proved to be decisive for the Chiefs to win 23-14 and Mahomes was all praises for the TE. “Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. … This is Playoff Trav,” Mahomes said after the game.

He added, “He’s a leader, man. This is what he lives for, is playing in these moments, having the chance to make big-time plays. He goes out there and does that, and it seems like he does it in every single playoff game.” Last year Kelce struggled during the regular season, before turning up the heat in the playoffs and it seems he is following the same script this time around.

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The start of the season was widely in contrast compared to what we saw in the divisional game. On his podcast “New Heights,” Kelce said it’s “f—ing frustrating” that he and Mahomes are “not on the same page” when it came to scoring, as the 35-year-old continued to replicate his best form.

In Week 3, when Kelce only caught four passes for 30 yards, Patrick Mahomes gave a similar assessment to what Reid gave today, “It’s crazy because the respect factor teams have for Travis is unreal, and it’s well deserved. We’re calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it’s like two or three defenders are going to him. That’s the great thing about him.” He then went on to mention how having more involvement from Rashee Rice (now injured) and Xavier Worthy benefits the Chiefs as a whole, “I think that’s going to open Travis up more. People are emphasizing taking him away, and that’s getting other guys open.” It turns out that is exactly what is happening.

Through 16 games in the regular season, Kelce tallied 97 catches for 823 yards and three touchdowns, his worst statistical output since 2015. But as the Chiefs prepare for the AFC championship game for a seventh straight year, he is coming into his own.

Meanwhile, with playoff Trav in full flow, the Chiefs will get another boost in the form of their Super Bowl LVIII hero, Mecole Hardman.

Andy Reid teases the return of Mecole Hardman

Mecole Hardman burst onto the Chiefs roster when he scored that game-winning overtime TD against the Niners in last year’s Super Bowl. His TD meant the Chiefs won two consecutive Super Bowl titles and now have found themselves agonizingly close to a third. So, will their hero manage to return before the Chiefs do reach the Super Bowl? Well, Andy Reid gave an update on his potential return, “We’ll see how that goes here. I haven’t made any decisions on that yet, but he’s worked hard to try and get himself back. We’ll see how that all works out.” See, here’s the full picture: Hardman had been on the injured reserve since his knee injury suffered in practice in week 14.

Following that knee injury, he needed a cleanup surgery before the Chiefs opened his 21-day practice window on New Year’s Eve. Talk about a possible New Year’s gift. Slowly, Hardman was found practicing while staying a limited participant for the last three days. However, it seems like he could enter the active roster before the Chiefs take on the Bills this weekend.

Before his injury, Hardman had already racked up 90 yards on 12 receptions. Besides that, he also has incredible numbers against the Bills. In his last 3 playoff appearances against them, Hardman has eight catches for 112 yards and two red zone scores. So, his return could probably mean a lot for the Chiefs’ chances of securing that first-ever three-peat.