Is Andy Reid the best coach in football? He just might be… and the sideline altercation with Travis Kelce might’ve just proved that it goes beyond the x’s and o’s and the Super Bowl rings.
On the latest episodes of the Kelce brothers’ extremely popular New Heights podcast, Jason and Travis addressed the viral Andy Reid sideline moment that caught the attention of the entire world on Super Bowl Sunday. Of course, with Taylor Swift by his side, Travis Kelce is under the world’s biggest microscope, but for anyone who knows ball or has played sports, you know how fired up and competitive it can get in the heat in the battle.
People were quick to pass judgement, and Coach Reid himself even said that the world class tight end caught him off balance, but the Kelce brothers explained the whole thing, while also admitting that it crossed the line. Jason started the conversation by telling
“You crossed the line. I think we can both agree on that.”
To which, Travis said:
“I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping coach and getting him off balance. When he stumbled, I was just like, ‘oh s***’ in my head.”
Jason took it even further and called the screaming over the line too:
“Let’s be honest, the yelling in his face, too, was over the top. I think there are better ways to handle this, retrospectively.”
The two went on to discuss the motivation for the screaming, the relationship between Travis and his longtime coach, and the passion of the situation. Travis said:
“I’m a passionate guy I love coach Reid coach, Reid knows how much I’d love to play for him, how much I’d love to be a product of his coaching career here. I’m not playing for anybody else but Big Red. If he calls a quits this year, I’m out there with him.”
Of course, Andy Reid isn’t going anywhere. He already confirmed that he’ll be back next year to try for the three-peat”
“I got a certain relationship with him, he’s checked me a few times and I just wanted to let him know that I wanted this thing and that he can put it on me and I got him. It just it came in a moment where we weren’t playing very well I wasn’t playing very well and we had to we had to get some s*** going and sometimes those emotions get away from me, man. That’s been the battle of my my career.
I talked to Coach Reid about it today and we kind of chuckled about it and I couldn’t be you know more proud of being his product on the field and I couldn’t be more proud of where we’ve come as a team since I got here in 2013, and I just love playing for the guy man and unfortunately sometimes my passion comes out where it looks like it’s negativity but I’m I’m grateful that he knows that it’s all because I want I want to win this thing with him more than anything and that’s what fires me up.”
And Jason provided some more insight into what a relationship between a player and coach is like, and how he’s had similar confrontations with his coach, Nick Sirianni of the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Nobody knows your and Big Red’s relationship. He’s obviously made light of it already, you guys have already talked about it, I just love when people who don’t have anything to f**** do with the situation get all fired up like they’re offended, not the guy that actually was involved in it.
One of our weaknesses is our emotions and one of our strengths is our emotions. I was just talking about this I did a podcast actually with a Shaq this past week and on that podcast I talked about this one of our greatest downsides is that we’re not great at controlling our emotions and it’s something that I truly wish we were better at. I had a similar situation come up earlier in the year with Nick Sirianni where you see me yelling at him and I’m not happy at the optics of that or want that to happen, but Nick knows that it comes from a place of just heated competition.
And I know it’s not acceptable, but at the end of the day these emotions are also what make us so bought in and the teammates that we are. You know your coaches talked about the night before how emotional and passionate your speech was you don’t get that without also having this unfortunately that’s the that’s the the the crux of being a passionate individual.
You know obviously I wish we were better at controlling our emotions and hopefully you know you can be better next time, but Andy knows that when this happens the next thing he needs to do is fire a play up for you because you’re gonna come out there and you’re gonna take that aggression out on somebody.”
And perhaps the most interesting part of the entire reaction is Coach Reid’s response to Travis in the moment. Obviously, it wasn’t a good look for Travis, and the internet ran with it (some pretty funny jokes in there), but Reid had the wisdom in the heat of the moment to remind Travis that there are a lot of eyeballs on him right now.
Can you imagine that? Travis comes in hot, almost knocks his head coach to the ground (in the middle of the Super Bowl of all places), and Andy has the patience and mindset to remind Travis that cameras are everywhere and this situation is gonna get blown out of proportion… and then go win the game on top of it. That’s why he’s best in the business.
“I immediately wish I would have took it back. Coach Reid actually came right up to me after that and didn’t didn’t even have harsh words for me. I was ready to get an a** chewing, and for him to just tell me to be better, and he just let me know ‘hey man I love your passion, I got cameras on me all over the place man, you know, you don’t want things to come off [poorly]…’ and man it just fired me up even more to go out there and get a victory for him man because that’s how much I love that dude.
It wasn’t me mad at coach Reid… it was me showing my passion and frustration and letting coach know he can put it on me and I’ll make sure I get this s*** done that’s what that was it wasn’t me yelling at him to do something.”
He added that Andy is like a father to him, and I think this instance is the living proof.
To which Jason agreed:
“It was pleading with your head coach let you go out there and win this m***f*** that’s what it was me and you both know what it was. However that came across, it didn’t come across in the most correct way it should have, in a way that’s respectful to Andy, but Andy knows what you mean to him and what he means to you.”
There you have it, the full story:
