Travis Kelce has joked that he’ll conquer the freezing cold conditions for Chiefs vs. Dolphins tonight by ‘going out and headbutting somebody’ in the game at Arrowhead Stadium. The temperature in Kansas City is set to plunge to around 0 with a brutal wind-chill factor of -30 on Saturday night, as last year’s Super Bowl winners host the Miami Dolphins in the playoffs.
Speaking on the bonus episode of his New Heights podcast, Kelce told his brother Jason that he is relishing competing in the blistering cold. ‘I don’t think anybody is really weighing in on weather, at least I’m not. I don’t give a rats a**,’ Kelce said. ‘I try not to even think about, that way I don’t make an excuse. I know in cold weather games, the hand gets a little stiff and the body can get a little stiff.
‘You just gotta stay warm on the sidelines, get a few claps in, get the hand stinging, get the blood-flow going in the hands and then just go out there and headbutt somebody man, cos that gets the blood-flow going a little bit more than usual. It’ll be a cold one and you know what, hopefully that slows down the speed on the Miami offense. That’s world class speed right there.’
It snowed in Kansas City in the week but that, at least, is expected to clear before the game on Saturday. Kelce was pictured driving through a flurry of snow on his way to practice on Friday as his team finalized their plans for the Dolphins game. Kelce heads into Saturday’s night game having missed last week’s final regular season game in Los Angeles against the Chargers to rest up.
He had only been 16 yards away from a eighth straight 1,000-yard season but opted to sit it out after being limited in practice in the build-up. The Chiefs played the Dolphins once in the regular season, beating them 12-14 in Germany. ‘It’s hard to beat anybody twice,’ Kelce said. ‘That was proven when we lost to the Raiders and the Broncos second time around.
‘It’s never easy. But at the same time the playoffs usually bring out a little bit more creativity and determined focus. It’s almost as if you’re playing the team for the first time, for me. ‘Just the mindset is a little bit more tactical, a little bit more locked in on everything. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge.’ Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, is expected to make it to Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night for the game.