The Chiefs are heading to the AFC championship after defeating the Bills via a Travis Kelce walk-off touchdown in overtime on Sunday in what will be remembered as a classic duel for the ages. Kelce's walk-off grab is one of his top career highlights, but a prior catch from Kelce has perhaps a more interesting backstory.
The Chiefs had just eight seconds left in regulation and were down 36–33. All Buffalo had to do was keep Patrick Mahomes from getting his offense within field goal range, so the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL decided to protect the sidelines. Seeing this, Kelce and Mahomes elected to go off-script with their next play as Kelce took the ball up the middle of the field for a 25-yard gain. Kelce's catch set up the eventual Harrison Butker 49-yard field goal to force overtime, and the clutch grab wasn’t in the original playbook, per Kansas City's quarterback.
“He wasn't necessarily supposed to do that,” Mahomes said postgame. “But after the timeout, we got a look at what the defense was doing and he actually said it to me, he's like, ‘Hey if they do it again, I'm going to take it right down the middle between both the guys guarding me.’”
