The Pittsburgh Steelers have a short week to prepare before facing the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday.
It will become the first NFL game to be streamed live on Netflix as the first part of a Christmas Day doubleheader, with the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans to follow. Musical performances from Beyonce and Mariah Carey are planned to give the day a Super Bowl feel.
Ahead of the big day, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin asserted his opinion to try to straighten out the narrative about Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a player that he thinks a lot of people are wrong about.
"Can't say enough about Kelce," Tomlin said in a Sunday press conference.
"He is an unbelievably unselfish player," Tomlin continued. "I don't think that he gets enough credit for that."
Tomlin referenced his playmaking abilities that everybody knows about, but went on to list several things that he was impressed with that Kelce does without the ball in his hands.
"In some of their mesh concepts, he's a really good rub route guy for others in terms of getting them open," Tomlin said.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has also talked about Kelce's ability to draw attention and get easier looks for his teammates even when he isn't catching touchdowns himself.
"He's also done a really nice job from a protection standpoint," Tomlin added on Kelce. "They've had some issues with protection at times and had some lineup changes up front."
Mahomes has been sacked 36 times this season, which is already the highest total of his career by a wide margin with two games remaining. Kansas City has tried several personnel changes to fix the problem, with more pressure falling on Kelce's shoulders to help no matter which assortment of offensive linemen are healthy each game.
"He's done an awesome job in terms of working his way out, chipping his way out in some one-dimensional passing circumstances," Tomlin said. "That's another reason why I'm really impressed with the unselfishness of his play."
At 14-1, the Chiefs have proven that they can beat opponents in a number of ways. Kelce's adaptability and selfless nature are a key feature in their success, even if his girlfriend Taylor Swift has reduced his outside reputation to "the guy on the Chiefs."
