KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Television cameras showed Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce seemingly shoving offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy during an incident in the first quarter of the team's 19-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts Sunday night, but head coach Andy Reid downplayed any issues.
“Listen, you see that every week, everywhere,” Reid said. “That’s football. It’s an emotional environment.”
The incident took place during an official replay review with 1:20 left in the first quarter. Kelce seemed to catch a 13-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes, but Colts cornerback Pierre Desir forced the ball from his hands for an apparent fumble. George Odum returned the ball for 41 yards to the Kansas City 26-yard line.
But the replay official overturned the call on the field, determining that Kelce had not completed the catch before Desir forced the ball out. At that point in the game, Kelce recorded just one 11 yards with two drops and a false start penalty.
It was during the review that Kelce appeared to react to a comment from Bieniemy. Teammates quickly stepped between the two.
The NBC broadcast later showed Kelce and Bieniemy sharing a hug.
“Travis had had a couple of potential fumbles going on where they had the ball,” Reid said. “He was mad at himself and (Bieniemy) got after him a little bit. Those kind of things happen, but it all worked out alright afterwards. That happens, you just don’t have as many cameras normally as you do on a Sunday night game.”
Kelce finished the game with four catches on 10 targets for 70 yards. He did not speak to reporters after the game.
Reid dismissed any concerns by claiming similar incidents take place around the league when emotions get too hot on the sidelines.
“You see grown men up here that have tears in their eyes after a game, so you know that also carries on the field,” Reid said. “They all want to do good. Coaches want them to do good and then the players want to do good. You get emotions get involved sometimes.”
