The Chiefs opened Monday Night Football with a break they probably shouldn’t have gotten, and Travis Kelce knew it.
Kansas City’s first touchdown drive nearly ended before it started. Denver’s Bo Nix threw an interception on third down to rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane, handing the Chiefs the ball at the Broncos 46-yard line. A few plays later, Patrick Mahomes scrambled in for a five-yard touchdown, only for the score to come off the board because rookie left tackle Khalil Benson was flagged for holding.
Then came the next snap, and the play that set off the biggest reaction of the night.
Mahomes took off again, this time from 15 yards out, and Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga was in position to stop him short of the goal line. But Travis Kelce was clearly holding him, and the officials let it go. Mahomes dove into the end zone, and the touchdown stood.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman pointed out the foul on the broadcast, but the flag never came. Kelce later acknowledged exactly what happened when he talked with his brother Jason Kelce on the New Heights YouTube show.
“It was definitely a questionable play," Travis Kelce said with a smile while his brother guffawed out loud. "That’s one of those where you get up slowly like, 'Please don’t be any laundry on the field.'
Had the man up by his neck. Can't do it.
Almost cost us. And to be honest, that would have been Pat Mahomes's second rushing touchdown called back in two plays because he literally did the same thing...
And that would have taken us out of the red zone."
Had the officials thrown the flag, Kansas City would have been pushed back to a 2nd-and-goal from the 25-yard line. Instead, the touchdown counted, the extra point made it 7-0, and Mahomes had a score in his first game back after his multi-ligament knee injury.
Denver answered with a strong 68-yard drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass from Nix to tight end Evan Engram, but that only brought the Broncos even instead of giving them a lead. From there, things unraveled.
The Broncos were flagged seven times and struggled on both sides of the ball. Kansas City was also penalized seven times, though Kelce’s hold wasn’t the only missed or ignored issue in the game. Benson, the source article noted, held Broncos rush linebacker Nik Bonitto on almost every pass-rushing snap.
Even with that missed call hanging over the night, Denver still made too many mistakes to survive. Sean Payton’s team spent most of the game beating itself, and the Chiefs took advantage.
For Broncos fans, though, the Kelce hold will linger as another example of the benefit of the doubt Kansas City seems to get on a week-to-week basis. Denver now turns to Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, with the game set for Empower Field at Mile High, though that didn’t help them last year in a 34-20 Week 16 loss to Jacksonville.
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