Before I start this week’s “Anatomy of a Touchdown” let me say a couple of things. First, while I sometimes find tight end Travis Kelce’s antics immature and I could certainly do without the 15-yard penalty per game clip he’s on, I do not want him to change. Did it annoy me last year when he was ejected from a game for throwing a “flag” at an official. You betcha. Did the ref deserve a “B.S.” flag for “unsportsmanlike blindness?” You betcha. Am I mad that Kelce got flagged for taunting in game one for hitting his opponent in the “no-no square” with the ball after a tackle? Yes. However, to watch that who affair, you would see that opponent nearly choking Kelce with his forearm right before that. So, I guess, turnabout is fair play, and they always catch the offender.
The point here is, Kelce is going to do things that make you “what the hell were you thinking right there?!?” Every game he’s going to do that. The grain of salt you have take is realizing that for everyone of those bonehead moves, there’s something like this play that happens where you go, “damn, I’m glad he’s on our team.”
With that out of the way, let me say that this was a fun “AoaT” to write this week. I love this play. I love this play because it shows the genius and originality of Andy Reid’s offensive mind. I love this play because it shows the brainpower and wiliness of Alex Smith, I love this play because it uses the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive aggressiveness against themselves, and I love this play because it shows the athleticism, and greatness that is Travis Kelce.
Here it is:
This is a formation we should all get pretty familiar with because there are so many variations of plays that can be run out of it. The Chiefs line up Kelce tight to the line, with wide receiver Tyreek Hill in the slot and DeAnthony Thomas in the backfield off of Smith’s right hip.
By sending Hill into motion, two things are being accomplished. First, Smith is checking the defense for a man-to-man alignment to see who follows the speedy wide receiver. Second, he is playing with their emotions, because now there is uncertainty on whether this is a pass play or a run play. The Eagles know, as most other people know, that Hill is the fastest player in the National Football League. They know how dangerous he is with the ball in his hands, and therefore do not want to loose sight of him on this play.
As Hill reaches the left side of the offensive formation, he turns around and starts back the opposite direction. This is where the defense gets concerned. Drawn up in this screenshot is not where this play is headed. This is actually a play ran earlier in the game from an identical formation where Hill took the handoff from Smith on his return trip in a “jet sweep” and took it upfield for more than a 10 yards. On that play, Kelce moved outside to block, providing one of the keys to that play which sprung the cheetah loose. The defense thinks the Chiefs are going back to the well, and respond appropriately.
But as we know, that is not the plan on this play. Hill continues to the right, and instead of stepping out to block on the play, Kelce moves to the inside of the formation. To make matters worse for the defense, Smith fakes a little inside handoff to Thomas–who also has been known to run pretty fast–in the backfield, which freezes them in their place a little more.
Looking at the play from Smith’s point of view makes it even clearer how genius this play call. Honestly, the worst case scenario is this play sets the Chiefs up with first-and-goal at the five yard line. The blocking scheme works perfectly as the hole opens up, clearing the way for Kelce. Smith knows where he is going with the ball the entire time, as he just waits for his boisterous tight end to get into position before he flips him the ball on a shovel pass.
Before I go on to the next shot, I would like to take a moment and discuss the level of difficulty required to execute the shovel pass. While it is considered a forward pass by the league, and therefore this counted as a passing touchdown for Smith’s stats, and a receiving touchdown for Kelce’s, keep in mind, it is nothing more than the quarterback pushing the ball forward with one hand. It is not an underhand throw, as in a pitch to running back sweeping around the line, but more of a push. It is one of the more difficult throws to make as a quarterback, and Smith executes it perfectly.
As I said earlier, the worst case scenario for this play is, it ends right here. It should have. By all rights, Kelce should have been brought down right here with a 15-yard catch and the Chiefs would have four tries to punch it in from the five-yard-line. There are four defenders around the tight end who should have brought him down. This is a good defense. But that’s not what happened. That’s not what Kelce wanted. He was hell bent on reaching the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Maybe it was his way of redeeming himself after getting flagged for taunting on the previous score when running back Kareem Hunt scored from 53-yards out. In the post game press conference, one reporter asked Kelce about his score and he shrugged it off.
“Well, I failed to hurdle a guy two plays before that so I just dusted myself off and tried it again.”
-Travis Kelce
Just in case anyone was confused, I put the math up on the screen for you. Five yards equals 15 feet. Granted, Kelce was assisted into he end zone by a couple of Eagles defenders, but he launched himself into the end zone. He was going to score, no matter what. It was probably one of the most amazing plays I have seen in a long time, where a player just refused to be beat.
.@TKelce just jumped 5 yard line…
And landed in the END ZONE.WOWOWOWOWOW. #ChiefsKingdom #PHIvsKC pic.twitter.com/TasZHdfqNS
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2017
And that is why I am more happy than not that Kelce is on this team. He wants to win. He loves this team, he loves his teammates, and he wants to win. So I will deal with his antics; I might even laugh about them if they strike me the right way. But I do not wish he was on another team any way, any how. Kelce is a Chief, and he will keep this team leaping forward towards the Super Bowl.
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