Travis and Jason Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ Episode 28: Getting emotional about Super Bowl week

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his older brother — Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — have a podcast called "New Heights." The title is an homage to the Cleveland Heights, Ohio neighborhood in which they grew up. New episodes drop each Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Kelce brothers dropped Episode 28 — where they break down Super Bowl LVII from each sideline and locker room's perspective, and discuss how the game unfolded and what it meant to play against each other.

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"New Heights" with Jason & Travis Kelce | Jukes Original Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment | You can also listen to the show on Spotify.

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1. Post-Super Bowl feelings

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Even when you are one of the greatest ever to play your position and you are at the top of your game — with the greatest quarterback to ever step on the field throwing you the ball — you will find people who doubt you.

But none of that matters — you're not competing against the haters. When you're the best in the world, the only competition is yourself. The Philadelphia Eagles gave the Kansas City Chiefs all they could handle in one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. But the Chiefs knew that if they could strain and fight to the bitter end, they had enough in the tank to come out on top.

It's not going to be an easy ride, but if you stay true to your mission, it's going to be a fun one. Kelce spoke about this on the latest episode of “New Heights.”

"You have all these goals and all these mindsets, it makes you feel like you're on top of the world and the best at what you do," said Travis. "Especially when you do it the way we did it, through the ups and downs, we completely switched our entire look on offense just about in terms of weapons that we had. On top of that, a lot of our defensive secondary was completely new."

You know what type of fighter you have when their back is against the ropes: are they going to get pounded into the canvas, or are they going muster the guts to punch their way out?

There will always be doubters, but it's how you respond to them. Travis talked about how this 2022 Chiefs team used the doubt from the outside world as motivation to prove them all wrong.

"It's gratifying, and it feels great knowing how many people really didn't pick us to do much at the beginning of the season because of how much we lost," he said. "The fact that we couldn't beat the Joe Burrow Cincinnati Bengals when it mattered. The way we did it, the ups and downs, the growth, just proud of my guys that I play ball with and the coaches that I play for."

2. Talking second-half adjustments

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The Little Giants said it best: "Football is 80% mental and 40% physical."

That seems to have been the mindset in the Chiefs' locker room when they were trailing by 10 points at halftime. While the Kelce brothers discussed each team's adjustments in the second half, Travis said that their main adjustment was between the ears.

"We made an adjustment mentally," said Travis. "There were some words said by Pat Mahones that kinda fired everybody up. I know it fired me up. It really gave the direction and the mentality of the team to come out and start hot, and just play for each other."

As mentioned before, the main idea they challenged themselves with was to strain for everything.

"Find a way every single play to get an extra yard," explained Travis. "Find a way every single play to rally around the guy next to you or do your job for the guy next to you. Sometimes you just need that spark of energy to kind of reboot or refocus, and I thought we definitely did that at halftime."

The Chiefs were down by two scores, and if they wanted to win, they needed to score a touchdown on every drive — and they couldn't afford to settle for a field goal.

"That's the only way we're going to climb back into this game," said Travis. "We knew how well you guys (the Eagles) were playing offensively. And defensively, I think it was kind of the same message. Just do what you have to do and do it to your best ability and with the most effort."

3. Reflecting on a year to remember

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At the end of the day, all of this, everything we do is for our family or the community and fan base we choose. Championships are only as good as the people you share them with. The same goes for all successes in life. A big house is only good if it's filled with people you love. And a hit podcast about two brothers is only great if it brings them closer together.

So as the season came to an end, Travis seized the moment to tell his older brother how he felt about him — and to thank him for always being the person he tried to mold himself after.

"It was definitely the best season of my life, man," said an emotional Travis. "The crazy part is that I would never be playing this damn game if it wasn't for you. It's the truth, man. I followed your footsteps into it. I actually tried to play football when you started playing football… so yeah, I've just been following your footsteps throughout this whole gig, and to go through everything leading up to this year and then having the year that we had, and then meeting you at the mountaintop, brother, it was like we were at the top of that thing together, man."