Andy Reid led off his postgame press conference talking not just about the KC Chiefs 19-14 win over the Jaguars but also Travis Kelce’s ejection and Marcus Peters punting the ball into the stands. The former resulted in an ejection and the latter wasn’t noticed by the refs.
“I’m disappointed with our discipline out there,” Reid said via quotes from the Chiefs. “Starting with Travis Kelce, I didn’t appreciate the way he handled that. It’s been addressed. Obviously, you can’t punt the ball in the stands after the nice play we made down there on a turnover.”
This is a tough spot for Reid. On the one hand, he has said before this is an emotional game and he wants his players to show their personality. We hear that all the time from players. On the other hand, you can’t throw stuff at the refs and you can’t punt the ball into the stands. I mean, there’s really no other way to put it ... you just can’t do that.
“You can’t do it,” Kelce said echoing his head coach. “As soon as the referee took off his hat, I knew I was out and I felt like an idiot. I can’t do that to my teammates and I can’t do that to Chiefs Kingdom. It was a terrible decision. I’ve got to learn from it and keep moving forward.”
Former KC Star sportswriter reminded us that Lamar Hunt suspended Derrick Thomas one game for the Monday Night Meltdown in 1998.
When #Chiefs D Thomas melted down and was ejected, Lamar Hunt suspended him to a game. What will Clark Hunt do about Kelce's transgression?
— Randy Covitz (@randycovitz) November 6, 2016
I don’t see this situation as comparable. This felt like a one-time outburst while DT’s was repeated. It just doesn’t feel like the same to me. Plus, Clark is not Lamar.
Kelce could face some sort of fine, however. As Terez Paylor points out, it could be just under $25,000 for a first offense or up to nearly $50,000 if the NFL counts both fouls as two offenses.