Picture this: A gridiron where grass didn’t stretch from end zone to end zone. Lushes of green didn’t cover the football field. Like at some junctures, infield dirt used to be present. Yes, it was a thing during the Oakland Raiders era in the NFL. Before the Silver and Black moved to their new Allegiant stadium in Las Vegas. The NFL’s Raiders had to share its stadium with MLB’s Athletics. And this caused a few problems for some players who weren’t used to playing in the dirt. One of them was apparently Travis Kelce, who Raiders icon Maxx Crosby believes used to hate playing at Oakland Coliseum.
Hopping on the Rush pod, Crosby recalled a moment from the 2019 season when the Chiefs traveled to Oakland, “I’ll never forget we played Kansas City in Oakland where Kelce was bit—– so much about the f——- dirt on the field. He’s like, why the f— do you play on this s—? He caught a nasty crossing route and landed straight on his elbow. It’s literally like landing on concrete.” See, going back to the play that Crosby is referring to Kelce had just caught a TD from Patrick Mahomes. That 27-yard dagger from the Chiefs’ QB led to Kelce falling on a portion of dirt at the Coliseum elbow first.
Maxx Crosby, on how much #TravisKelce hated playing in Oakland with the dirt on the field.
via | @TheRushWithMaxx pic.twitter.com/rkc6BmsvWD
— Starcade Media (@StarcadeMediaKC) February 21, 2025
Looking back at the footage, you can easily guess Kelce was not at all pleased to see himself scrambling in the dirt. It’s something he wasn’t familiar with. Like none of the players in the NFL were leaving the Raiders. Then Raiders’ head coach Jon Gruden once called the Coliseum’s harsh playing field an advantage to them—of course, sarcastically. “It’s a big advantage. Our guys love it so much.” Well, not really. Just listen to what then Raiders QB Derek Carr had to say about the unforgiving nature of playing on that dirt. “When you hit. If you look around it, our guys are all patched up. They have stuff on their knees, taped up today and things like that. That stuff is like road rash, for real.”
See, whatever the problems were, the Raiders weren’t able to give Coliseum a proper goodbye themselves. They didn’t just lose to the Chiefs 10-28 to open their last season in Oakland. The Silver and Black were also booed off the Coliseum for the very last time when they lost to the Jaguars 20-16. And fast forward to the 2024 season, Kelce also didn’t have a great end to his season. And losing in the Super Bowl LIX led to an NFL analyst calling for his retirement.
Travis Kelce urged to hang up his cleats after the 2024 season
At 35, there are going to be talks of retirement about Travis Kelce. And the constant failure to prove himself last season only ignited those talks. No.87 just wasn’t himself all season. Dropped catches, lack of offensive flair, diminished signs of an explosive TE. Everything just went against Travis Kelce last season. Like it was his worst season ever, recording only 8.5 receiving yards per game. Even in the Super Bowl, Kelce only finished with 39 receiving yards—his fewest out of the 5 Super Bowls he has played in.
Maybe that’s why ESPN’s Booger McFarland believes it is time for the 10-time Pro Bowl athlete to move on. “His physical skills are diminishing a little bit. I thought he played his worst football game that I’ve ever seen him play in the Super Bowl. I get it. You don’t want to go out on that note. But at some point, let’s not tarnish the legacy that you built.” There’s absolutely no doubt Kelce’s will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer once he retires from his gridiron duties. Even in his worst season, Kelce surpassed Jerry Rice’s Super Bowl reception record (35). He also proudly wears the Chiefs’ all-time reception crown (1,004), moving past Tony Gonzalez’s 916 record this season.
While everyone is entitled to their opinions of Kelce. No one can actually take away the things he has given to Kansas City in his 13 seasons. Yes, he couldn’t achieve a 3-peat with them. But going out with tears in his eyes and a Super Bowl loss to ponder upon is not something Kelce would surely prefer. Neither will the Chiefdom.
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