Chiefs' Travis Kelce recounts getting body slammed by Chargers' Derwin James
Thu, Sep 22, 2022
NFL News (AP)
One of the many highlights from the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 2 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night football was Travis Kelce getting slammed to the turf on a tackle by Derwin James. On his 'New Heights' podcast, Kelce explained what it was like to be driven into the turf by James.
Kelce, the Chiefs' star tight end, gave credit to James for being the best "all-around" safety in the league before detailing what happened on the play.
In the third quarter of the game, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes found Kelce over the middle of the field. Kelce said that, after the catch, he didn't even see James coming. Once James wrapped up Kelce's lower half, the tight end knew he was in for a world of hurt.
In case you missed it, here's James landing his finisher on Kelce:
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"I made a cutback, and he is on me like lightning," Kelce said. "He surprised the s--t out of me. Lower man always wins in football. When I felt him wrap his arms around my legs, honestly, I'm chuckling in my head. I'm like, 'This is not about to end well for me right now. I'm going up. What goes up must come down.'"
Kelce did note that James checked on him after the drive was over.
"The body slam was funny, but what was even more comical was the fact that he asked me after that drive, 'Bruh, you good?'" Kelce said. "What a great guy, man."
After reviewing the film, Kelce realized he also played a role in getting himself slammed. Kelce explained that he was unaware of where he was on the field. Kelce said he could have scored if he ran for the corner of the end zone, but he just to cut upfield. Because of that, he ran right into the clutches of James.
"I catch the ball thinking that [Mahomes] threw me short when the reality is that I could have just turned up and ran to the pylon and gotten to the end zone," Kelce said. "When you watch film, you're just kicking yourself in the head. I kind of deserved to get my ass powerbombed in that situation for not getting it into the end zone. Shoutout to everyone who grabbed on fantasy. It was kind of like Derwin James powerbombed your entire fantasy team with me not getting into the end zone."
Kelce and the Chiefs did come away with a big 27-24 win, even if Kelce was a little more sore than usual the next day.
