Chiefs TE Travis Kelce live-tweeting Week 16 game, hyping up his teammates

The Kansas City Chiefs are without star TE Travis Kelce this week as he remains in the league’s COVID protocols following a positive test on Monday.

This is the first game that Kelce has outright missed since his rookie season, during which he dealt with a knee injury. He’s missed a few Week 17 games during his career where the starters sat, like during Patrick Mahomes’ first start in 2017, but those have been his lone absences.

While Kelce might not be playing in the game, he’s definitely been there in spirit and he’s been the team’s biggest cheerleader during the first half against the Steelers. At every big moment on offense, especially when the tight ends have had a big play, Kelce has tweeted out some encouragement for his fellow teammates.

Kelce got his live-tweeting started when Blake Bell caught an 11-yard reception to move the sticks on a route that Kelce runs for the team on a regular basis.

Every step of the way he’s congratulated his offensive teammates on scoring plays too. He was impressed with this Clyde Edwards-Helaire run.

… and this Pringle touchdown had Kelce excited too.

On the third touchdown of the first half, he said what every Chiefs fan was thinking.

Kelce has to feel pretty good knowing that, in the face of uncontrollable adversity, his teammates are picking him up in a big way. That’s what the “next man up” mentality that the Chiefs preach is all about, and they’re proving right now that they’re fully capable, even without one of the team’s biggest stars.

List

Key takeaways from first half of Chiefs vs. Steelers Week 16