Atlanta Falcons All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III, who will likely be one of the Atlanta defenders tasked with covering Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in Week 3, revealed his strategy for how he will potentially get under Kelce’s skin during Sunday Night Football.
“I don’t listen to much Taylor Swift, but obviously you gotta have respect for what she’s done in her career. And then with Travis [Kelce], you gotta have some type of respect with him,” Bates told former NFL cornerback Pacman Jones on “The Pacman Jones Show” podcast on September 20. “But once that clock ticks and we’re in between those lines…I see red sometimes and might say some crazy stuff to him, it may involve Taylor, it may not. It’s just part of the game, talking your little smack.”
Before joining the Falcons during the 2023 offseason, Bates — a second-team All-Pro in 2023 — played five seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted him in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. So, he has plenty of experience playing against the Chiefs and Kelce.
Bates, 27, is one of the few players in the NFL that has a winning record against the Chiefs. He is 3-2 in matchups against them during his NFL career, per BetOnline.
Travis Kelce After Quiet Start: Not Worried About Stats
During the newest episode of the “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce, Travis acknowledged that it’s been several years since he cared about his stats and is instead more focused on providing opportunities for his teammates on the field.
“I stopped caring about stats about four or five years ago,” Kelce said on the September 18 episode. “I just went out there and started to play free and play for my guys. Sure enough, I think that’s the better mentality. You think about it more play-by-play and what your job is on that specific play.”
Through two games, Kelce has seven targets for four receptions and 39 yards. That’s a stat line that Kelce admittedly said would have made him angry when he was a younger player.
“That’s football, man. I’m not about to sit here and get frustrated about it,” Kelce said. “I used to get really, really pissed off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success knowing I demand that out of myself. I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it’s tough for me to deal with me being mediocre or having stats that represent that.”
Patrick Mahomes on Travis Kelce: He Will Get His Catches
Speaking to the media after Kansas City’s Week 2 win over the Bengals, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes detailed Cincy’s defensive strategy against Kelce and how he’s not concerned with Kelce’s production moving forward.
“They’re doing a great job of just kind of having two people for him pretty much the entire game,” Mahomes explained. “That’s why you’ve seen guys like Rashee (Rice) and (Xavier) Worthy – I mean, if you look at the first touchdown, I’m actually looking at Trav and the backside safety goes all the way across the field to help guard Travis and then you throw the ball down the sideline to Rashee and that’s kind of what they’ve been doing. Obviously, we’ve played two opponents that we’ve played a lot, so they have a plan on how they’re going to account for Travis. As the season goes on, he’s going to get his catches, he’s going to get his yards. The leader that he is – what’s special is he’s hyping everybody up, he’s keeping everybody motivated and that’s what you need out of your great players.”
