'We know what's real and what's in this building' – Travis Kelce on criticism from ESPN analyst Rex Ryan

We've reached the time of year when people try to come up with reasons why the Kansas City Chiefs will fail during the playoffs. Last season's narrative was that Kansas City didn't have enough firepower offensively to win another championship. Not only did the Chiefs go on to win the Super Bowl, but they beat […]

Nick Roesch — NFL Trending News Writer
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Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on the Pat McAfee Show.
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We've reached the time of year when people try to come up with reasons why the Kansas City Chiefs will fail during the playoffs.

Last season's narrative was that Kansas City didn't have enough firepower offensively to win another championship. Not only did the Chiefs go on to win the Super Bowl, but they beat the top two seeds in the AFC on the road (the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens), and the top seeded San Francisco 49ers in the big game.

Among the criticisms this year are that the Chiefs play too many close games, the defense isn't quite as dominant, and the offensive line isn't good enough to hold up. One person in particular who has been vocal in discrediting the Chiefs' 15-2 season is analyst Rex Ryan, who claimed on ESPN's First Take a few weeks ago that he would sign up to play against K.C. any day of the week.

"They are the least explosive offense in the national football league," Ryan said. "That's a crazy stat. You have the one of the greatest quarterbacks we've ever seen, and you don't have any explosives on offense. Now, part of that is because they don't protect the quarterback. And so, to me, you're still not protecting the quarterback. I've had to stop a lot of teams as a coordinator, head coach, whatever. I'd sign up any day of the week to play against Kansas City right now."

Those comments did not go unnoticed by Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce. While joining the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, Kelce was asked how this year's team differs from last year, and if the team hears all of the outside noise. Kelce mentioned Ryan specifically in his answer.

"We're finding different ways to win and more ways to win early on and throughout the season," Kelce said. "I think last year we dealt with finding ways to lose. And you know, you can learn from both, but learning from the games you win is a whole lot more fun. And I think we got a lot of confidence in this team and a lot of guys are willing to go that extra mile, man."

"And we've definitely heard all the all the chatter, and guys like Rex Ryan, saying that this team can't win in the playoffs, and he's seen it before," Kelce said. "And you know, we hear everything, but at the same time, we know what's real and what's in this building. And that's guys that want to be accountable for the one next to him, and are going to keep finding ways to be accountable week in and week out."

We've seen many examples over the years of Chiefs players taking note of criticisms and trash talk – such as the Cincinnati Bengals infamous "Burrowhead" comments, or the Houston Texans questioning quarterback Patrick Mahomes' health and mobility. This kind of bulletin board material keeps players motivated, and the Chiefs usually get the last laugh.

As for Ryan, he was recently put on blast by fans over his take on the Texans' chances against the Los Angeles Chargers during the Wild Card round, stating that the game was basically had a bye week for Los Angeles. Now, Ryan is trying to make nice with Houston by saying that the Chiefs should be on upset alert against the Texans in the divisional round.

It's certainly not out of line to say that the Texans could knock off K.C. as anything can happen in the postseason. However, for Ryan to do a complete 360 on how he feels about the Texans as a team in just few days is pretty telling. Will he do the same with the Chiefs if they beat Houston? Probably so, because hollow hot takes are what so many of what these talk show analysts are all about.

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