Travis Kelce paid homage to Tony Gonzalez on Wednesday after breaking the Chiefs’ touchdown record – as he mimicked the franchise legend’s iconic touchdown celebration.
Kelce’s fourth quarter touchdown grab was the 77th of his career in the regular season – surpassing Gonzalez’s 76 with Kansas City.
And the new record holder honored Gonzalez after the 12-yard-catch by ‘dunking’ the ball through the uprights after, as Hall of Famer so often used to do.
Gonzalez congratulated Kelce afterwards on X and was clearly thrilled to see his celebration re-created.
‘Congrats to my man @tkelce on becoming the all time @Chiefs leader in touchdowns! Keep blazing trails my friend! [by the way] nice dunk,’ he wrote.
‘You know I had to show love to the greatest of all time!!,’ Kelce replied. ‘you did mention you’d help me with the fine tho.’
Travis Kelce dunked the ball through the uprights in an homage to Chiefs legend Tony Gonzalez
Gonzalez, now an analyst with Prime Video, congratulated Kelce on X for breaking his record
The 35-year-old also had his 1000th career catch in the game, still third on that all-time list
Kelce was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following his celebration during the Chiefs’ 29-10 win.
Tight end Jimmy Graham was previously fined $30,000 for a pair of goal-post dunk celebrations in 2014, so Kelce is likely correct to expect a fine of his own as well.
Kelce also had his 1000th career catch in the game, though he’s still third all-time on that list – far behind Gonzalez and former Cowboys star Jason Witten.
The 35-year-old had eight catches for 84 yards in the game, bringing his season total of receptions to 97. He also has 1,004 catches in his career.
Gonzalez has still outpaced Kelce in that category with 1,325 career receptions. Witten is in between the Chiefs’ legends with 1,228 catches.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champions (15-1) raced to an early 13-point lead and were never really threatened by the Steelers (10-6), who have dropped three straight as their chances of capturing the AFC North took another hit.
Mahomes connected on first-half scoring tosses to Xavier Worthy and Justin Watson and Kansas City´s defense did most of the rest even with perennial All-Pro defensive end Chris Jones sitting out while nursing a calf injury.
The Chiefs sacked Russell Wilson five times, forced two turnovers and hardly looked gassed while playing for the third time in 11 days.
