In the third quarter of their Divisional Round contest against the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs‘ duo of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce made history. What record did they set on Sunday?
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce’s Touchdown Record
Mahomes and Kelce set the record for most postseason touchdowns for a duo in NFL history with 16, passing Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. The new milestone was achieved as Mahomes hit Kelce on a three-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter of their Divisional Round matchup against the Bills.
Mahomes also passed QB Ben Roethlisberger (36) and QB Drew Brees (37) for the sixth-most career playoff passing touchdowns in NFL history.
Kelce has playoff franchise records and NFL records for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns by a tight end. He is now chasing only Hall of Fame WR Jerry Rice’s 2,245 receiving yards and 22 receiving touchdowns on 151 catches for the top spot in each of those postseason categories.
The duo first tied the record when Mahomes found Kelce for a 22-yard score with 3:33 left in the first half. That gave the Chiefs their first lead of the game, 13-10.
They wasted no time breaking the record, as the duo recorded a second touchdown on the first possession of the second half.
Brady and Gronkowski played 22 playoff games together for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Sunday was the 16th together for Mahomes and Kelce.
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Gronkowski is a four-time Super Bowl champion, while Brady captured seven Lombardi Trophies during his unbelievable career. Mahomes and Kelce each have two Super Bowl titles, which they won together.
Following Sunday’s game, head coach Andy Reid praised the duo for another strong showing.
“Patrick and Kelce, with the record they broke there with Gronk and Tom, that was a great job there,” Reid said. “Kelce had two touchdowns and some big catches.”
In 16 playoff games, Mahomes has completed nearly 67% of his passes while throwing for 4,561 yards and 38 touchdowns with just seven total interceptions. In the win over the Bills, Mahomes completed 73.9% of his passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns.
“We always emphasize getting the ball to Travis, but passing anything that has Brady and Gronk in it is special,” Mahomes said. “Those are two of the greatest players — Tom is the greatest player — and one of the greatest tight ends of all time. Those are great postseason players. To be mentioned in that and passing that, you appreciate that.
“It speaks to Travis and his work, being able to go out there and make plays in big games. We always emphasize getting Travis the ball. He did a great job of getting himself open, and then once they started putting a lot of attention on him, other guys like MVS (Marquez Valdes-Scantling) make plays. That’s what it takes; it takes everybody. Everybody’s got to make plays in order to win playoff games.”
The Chiefs will now take on the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, who are fresh off a blowout victory over the Houston Texans.
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