If there’s one player that Patrick Mahomes can’t afford to lose for extended time, it’s undeniably Travis Kelce. And during the first half of Sunday’s Week 5 game against the Vikings, the Chiefs had a massive scare about their star tight end.
But there’s no denying Kelce’s toughness: He was ready to get back into the game even if he had to sneak onto the field.
Kelce suffered the injury in the second quarter after he appeared to slip on the U.S. Bank Stadium turf and roll his ankle. Despite Tony Romo’s over-the-top reaction to the play, Kelce came back in the second half with a heavily taped ankle. He was back in the game for the second drive of the third quarter.
Yet, if it was up to Kelce, he would have been in the game right away.
Got to love the effort from #TravisKelce to try and sneak back in after ankle injury. pic.twitter.com/VN3tHaOqF3
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) October 8, 2023
When the Chiefs had a first-and-goal opportunity on their first drive of the third quarter, Kelce started to run back onto the field before coaches had to call him back.
The Chiefs scored a touchdown a couple plays later, but on the following drive, Kelce was back out there.
And now, finally, Travis Kelce is back in the #Vikings game.
Really toughing it out for his team despite a painful injury. https://t.co/ntDKYBWYCW pic.twitter.com/n7f0IhvIwQ
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 8, 2023
Nobody was calling him back that time around.