OT: Travis Kelce shoving Andy Reid: acceptable or unacceptable?
Question for the board: I got into a discussion with someone about that moment in the first quarter when Travis Kelce yelled at Andy Reid and shoved him. The person, who claims to have worked in the NFL for 25 years but is a woman so not in a coaching or playing capacity, said those types of things are accepted in the NFL. I disagreed and said if they have that kind of relationship, it's best kept in the locker room because it's a bad look. And if it was so acceptable, why doesn't it happen more often? Football is a game of aggression and tempers flare all the time.
I'm curious what people here think.
February 12th, 2024 at 9:48 PM ^
Bless Allah for Kelce and the Chiefs Dynasty!!!!
February 12th, 2024 at 10:38 PM ^
Throw Kelce in jail for life.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:01 PM ^
Bush league shit he gets away with since his persona has risen above the team.
I can’t imagine doing that to a coach or any kind of authority figure
February 12th, 2024 at 11:36 PM ^
Kelce’s behavior in the world’s biggest stage is just piss poor:
- lack of respect for authority of his coach
- sends the wrong message to young fans who may be or become athletes
- makes one wonder how he is behind closed doors when things get tense.
February 13th, 2024 at 12:18 AM ^
Reid should've got Kelce a Snickers.
February 13th, 2024 at 12:59 AM ^
Not a fan - signed a Chiefs fan. I can’t think of similar incidents but there may have been some. Most of the NFL shenanigans seem to be in massage parlors, dog fighting rings, Brentwood, etc.
February 13th, 2024 at 6:02 AM ^
I honestly wish they would just beat the hell out of each other.
February 13th, 2024 at 6:48 AM ^
If your answer somehow mentions Taylor Swift you are probably wrong
February 13th, 2024 at 7:04 AM ^
Unacceptable
February 13th, 2024 at 8:13 AM ^
It's bad but acceptable in context. It was caught on TV in the Super Bowl and featured the most famous player and his head coach. I imagine similar shouting and close physical contact occur nearly every game between a player and position coach or coordinator or teammate. It's a passionate game and I would expect pretty much any player short of JJ McCarthy to have it in him to lose it sometimes.
WRs are famous for being "divas" for demanding the ball. I assume this is a similar situation. Not that Antonio Brown retiring midgame is the minimum standard, but we've seen worse behavior from receivers who feel wronged for whatever reason.
I did think it was odd how early it was, from what I recall it was after the second drive. I think they were probably still in the opening game script so I'm not sure what he got so upset about and why he was taking it out on Reid instead of Mahomes. But all's well that ends well, Kelce ended with a bunch of yards and KC won.
February 13th, 2024 at 8:21 AM ^
Never acceptable to disrespect your coach. Nor is it acceptable for a coach to disrespect a player. This kind of nonsense is getting out of control and sends a bad message to our youth. Not that there are too many great role models these days.
February 13th, 2024 at 10:00 AM ^
This really feels like a generational difference tailor-made for people who love to feign outrage about "softness" and such.
Reid and Kelce seem fine after what happened. Why is this even still being talked about?
February 13th, 2024 at 10:18 AM ^
This is less about Reid and Kelce and what their specific relationship might be (and for the record, I could care less about Travis Kelce, he just happens to be the player who did this) and more about the hierarchy of authority. If this happened between two players on the same team, it would be a non-story. This is about getting in your coach's face during a game. I think it challenges his authority in a way that's undermining. Something a coach once said to my kid: never show up a coach or official (my kid questioned an ump's call, so the coach made him run laps for 30 minutes after the game).
February 13th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
Again, I think this is a generational thing. In today's NFL (and, really, college too!), coaches and players blur that line of authority all the time. You're more often to hear a player refer to a coach by his first name now than the old-school "Coach X" stuff.
So while you see a breakdown of administrative norms, I see two adults having a disagreement during the highest-profile game of their lives. Neither of them seem particularly concerned about the grand meaning of it all. It's something that happened in the moment, the camera happened to catch it, then they both moved on and won the game.
In other words, a big old nothingburger.
February 13th, 2024 at 10:50 AM ^
So you think all the Michigan players were calling Harbaugh "Jim" during games?
February 13th, 2024 at 11:56 AM ^
Probably a difference when you get to the professional level. Kelce is in his 30s. I think it's fairly common for players, especially older ones, to use the coach's first name.
Having said that I thought Kelce was a little over the top
February 13th, 2024 at 12:32 PM ^
I asked my son, who's 24, what he thought. He works on the coaching staff of an MLB team and spends all his time around coaches and players. He said it was "frowned upon, not acceptable, but it's more acceptable in the NFL than in other sports." I would assume because football is a sport of aggression and tempers flare more regularly than they would in a sport that is more controlled. But his take is that the coach/player relationship has to be a hierarchy or else the players would stop listening and do whatever they wanted (which is a challenge anyway with pro athletes).
February 13th, 2024 at 12:41 PM ^
I was referring specifically to the use of the first name, not the physical aggression. Personally I thought Kelce looked way too amped up and over the line. At that point what could Reid do? It's the last game of the year and he can't afford to be disciplining a star player in that situation - winning that game was all that mattered. If they had lost I think this may have been looked upon differently
February 13th, 2024 at 10:19 AM ^
My preference would be any “shoving” - not be on camera. It’’s impossible to understand any given relationship - and the expectations they have of each other.
Football is a team game - and KC has been very successful lately. So, if that’s a form of communication that works for them - it’s their approach.
February 13th, 2024 at 10:49 AM ^
Not great, Travis!
February 13th, 2024 at 11:34 AM ^
Kelce is a piece of garbage, not for this.
February 13th, 2024 at 5:53 PM ^
It doesn't seem very Christian-like to refer to Kelce as a "piece of garbage" and then upvote your own comment.
But go right on ahead with you being you...
February 13th, 2024 at 11:34 AM ^
When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything!
February 13th, 2024 at 11:35 AM ^
Do you know what Chief's fans and Covid 19 have in common?
7 years ago no one had heard of either of them
February 13th, 2024 at 1:14 PM ^
I say it’s unacceptable. Kelce seems to have become more arrogant and privileged based on his dating life, which I’m also tired of hearing about. I’d trade him to Carolina for draft picks and find someone who can be a team player.
February 13th, 2024 at 1:59 PM ^
If I was Reid, I would have benched his ass for trying to knock me over. Fuck that!
February 14th, 2024 at 12:07 AM ^
Unacceptable
February 14th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^
Our basketball coach hit another basketball coach in the face and he's still our basketball coach. So who are we to judge?
February 14th, 2024 at 10:32 AM ^
lotta Swifties ITT
February 14th, 2024 at 4:45 PM ^
Even though Travis Kelce said today on his podcast that it was unacceptable, the actions of both him and his coach say it is. Not that it is a big deal - no one was hurt, didn't cost them the game, etc. But if you are going to say it is unacceptable, then Coach Reid should throw in some consequences but appropriate to the minor thing it is.
100 Pushups at the parade celebration Kelce. That will settle it.
February 14th, 2024 at 4:51 PM ^
Forget this - there was a shooting at the KC Chiefs Super Bowl Celebration and at least 1 dead. Horrible.