The “New Heights” podcast starring brothers Travis and Jason Kelce continues to grow its audience since debuting earlier this season. The guys were invited as guest commentators Monday night for the ManningCast with the other power brothers in the NFL — Peyton and Eli Manning — to discuss the game and answer some burning questions.
The Monday Night Football game featured the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals as both Kelce brothers have strong Cleveland roots and shared their experiences growing up in the city. Travis went into detail about his praise for the Chiefs coaching staff in weekly red zone preparations and his favorite pass he’s ever thrown in his NFL career.
“I would say in Kansas City, man, we have the ultimate coaching staff,” Travis said. “The creativity that goes on in that building is so much fun to play with. I get excited every Friday when the red zone install comes in, and coach (Andy) Reid goes up there, and he starts pulling. ‘Now this is what we’re going to do, this is where we’re going to go,’ and it’s almost like we’re a show, like a Vegas show or something like that. Like you know you’re gonna put on a few extra wrinkles or some type of confusing aspects of it. Even just got to make the defense react to everything that we’re doing.”
As the brothers continued their interview, the Browns scored a touchdown following a turnover. The third-quarter moment opened the door for another revelation from Travis while he shared his comments during the action.
“Nothing better than scoring a touchdown after throwing a pick, boys, I’ll tell you what,” Travis said. Eli then asked if Travis had ever thrown an interception, and the Chiefs’ all-pro tight end responded with a smile.
“Is this because I threw it against you, Eli? You don’t remember?” Travis said. “Meadowlands, baby, it was one of my favorite throws ever. It was coach Reid who installed the play as I had one guy to throw to, and it was Tyreek Hill. I just peaked backside, and I was like, ‘he’s open!’ I wasn’t supposed to have a read or progression on the play. But man, I’ll tell you what, sometimes those football instincts just take over. And yeah, we punted on second down, basically.”
The game Travis and Eli were referring to was in Week 11 of 2017 as the Chiefs fell short to the Giants in overtime 12-9. Travis threw his interception to safety Landon Collins in a throwback defensive battle with rookie QB Patrick Mahomes watching from the sidelines.
