The Chiefs' offense advantages from Travis Kelce's recent signature move: the lateral

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A specific element of the Chiefs' offense this season has left coach Andy Reid smiling and laughing several times.

“He’s been doing this for a few years,” Reid said Monday of tight end Travis Kelce. “We do it every day in practice. This isn't just something we throw out on game day. This is something we do. There’s nothing wrong with that – as long as you lock it.”

Kelce, a Twelfth-year veteran, has a fairly unassailable resume. He is a future Hall of Famer, a three-time Super Bowl champion and a good end who holds the record for many touchdown receptions in Chiefs history (76, tied with Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez).

This season, nevertheless, Kelce has added one other twist to his game: He has perfected the cross pass.

In the Chiefs' victory over the rival Las Vegas Raiders on Friday, Kelce's most memorable highlight was when he evaded a tackle in the midst of the sphere by throwing the ball backwards to running back Samaje Perine, who then scored an important first down.

“Yeah, man, right place, right time,” Kelce said on Wednesday’s episode of “New Heights,” the podcast he co-hosts along with his brother Jason. “I'm glad it worked. … That’s just an instinct I had, and I’m glad we were able to pull off another string of losses.”

Kelce hasn't had any trouble with Reid this season as he successfully accomplished each of his lateral attempts, throwing the ball to Perine every time to assist the Chiefs reach the red zone.

“It started as kind of a joke,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of Kelce’s combination of skill and boldness. “Now it has happened. As long as he can do it, Coach will continue to let him do it.”

THE RETURN OF THE SIDE!! pic.twitter.com/tdHOScHOLH

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 29, 2024

That helped the Chiefs rating their only touchdown against the Raiders within the second quarter, just before the two-minute warning. On third-and-10 just outside the red zone, Mahomes accomplished a brief pass to Kelce, who immediately made eye contact with Perine, who fired out of the backfield into the flat. In an unusual move, Kelce leaped forward and threw a pass as if he were Mahomes, an ideal spiral to Perine.

The crowd at Arrowhead Stadium cheered as Perine finished the play with a 15-yard gain. Perine acknowledged Kelce by pointing at him the best way an NBA player would acknowledge his point guard after an assist on a quick break.

“Don’t forget, he was a (high school) quarterback,” Amazon Prime analyst Kirk Herbstreit said of Kelce after the highlight. “This is a no-look (pass). That's just a feeling. It's something you experiment with in training and it becomes so enjoyable that you can suddenly reveal it and do it in a game. The ball was thrown perfectly.”

Three plays later, Mahomes threw an ideal lob pass to receiver Justin Watson for a six-yard touchdown.

After the sport, some analysts and fans wondered whether Kelce's lateral attack was a planned a part of the Chiefs' play-calling.

“It’s not designed at all,” Mahomes said. “(Kelce) is the one one who would try this. I do know sometimes it looks like it's planned, however it's more because he's just been on this offense for therefore long that he knows where guys are that go other ways.”

Mahomes said he hoped Kelce would gain at least eight yards on the play so he could convince Reid to leave the offense on the field for fourth down.

A similar scenario occurred in the Chiefs' win over the New Orleans Saints in early October. In the second quarter, the Chiefs faced a third-and-21 snap. Mahomes threw a short pass to Kelce, who lured three defenders to the middle of the field before making an underhand throw to Perine.

Kelce with the pitch on third and twenty second 😂

📺: #NOvsKC on ESPN
📱: Keep streaming #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PW8dXNhIrx

– NFL (@NFL) October 8, 2024

“I saw it and thought it,” right guard Trey Smith said after that game. “That’s classic Kelce, just making a play when the team needs it. It was really awesome, man. Any time you see something like that, it’s really cool.”

The Chiefs gained 20 yards on the play, which led to Reid keeping the offense on the sphere and converting a fourth-and-1 snap to proceed the drive.

“It wasn’t scripted, I’ll tell you that,” Perine said, smiling. “I saw him do it a few times in training. I stayed (ready) just in case. In fact, I saw him switch the ball (to his right hand) and pull his arm back. I was ready for it.”

The first time Kelce attempted a lateral was through the Chiefs' 2019 championship season of their comeback win over the Detroit Lions. With the Chiefs near midfield, Mahomes rolled to his right early within the fourth quarter before connecting with Kelce, who caught the ball in the midst of the sphere. Kelce, realizing he was about to be tackled before he could gain yards after his reception, turned the ball back to running back LeSean McCoy, who gained one other 23 yards for a 33-yard rating. The Chiefs ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

According to TruMedia, Kelce has passed the ball to a teammate five times for the reason that start of the 2019 season, ignoring desperation at the top of the sport. Other than the Chiefs, only six teams have had more offensive side plays than Kelce himself during that period. And only 4 teams have more in the primary half than Kelce's 4.

“It’s the most underused rule in the game,” Kelce said of the lateral on his podcast. “I think I heard (NFL Network broadcaster) Rich Eisen mention that early in my career. I thought: This is what football used to be like.”

Kelce knows the most effective scenarios to unleash his trick. He has enough experience to predict when opposing defenses will play soft zone coverage. He has also caught enough passes in midfield throughout his profession to predict where certain defenders needs to be and what the gap needs to be between them and his teammates.

“Or you catch them in man-to-man (coverage) and beat your defender, and now all of a sudden you know there's only one man for every other route around you,” Kelce said on the podcast. “That ironically happened last year (against) Buffalo.”

It didn't count, but Kelce's lateral effort late within the fourth quarter in a loss to the Bills last season was probably his biggest assist of the sport.

Kelce surprised everyone at Arrowhead when he threw a cross ball across the sphere to receiver Kadarius Toney, who appeared to attain the go-ahead touchdown as fans set free unbridled cheers. However, the viral climax was marred by a penalty: Toney was offside early in the sport when he lined up within the neutral zone.

“Honestly, man, it was such a bang-bang decision,” Kelce said on the podcast a couple of days after the sport. “I caught (the ball), turned up, saw the single-high safety and knew it was man coverage and knew I had broken the containment angle of the guy chasing me.

“When I broke the safety angle, I knew there was only one (defender) left on that side of the field. I knew (Toney) was over there because he had walked the distance and I saw him out of the corner of my eye in a sideways position. I knew if I could get him the ball, I knew he would have room to score a touchdown.”

TRAVIS KELCE SIDE TO TONEY IS CALLED BACK 😭

(above @NFL)
https://t.co/KIYYNAopAy

– Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 11, 2023

The next time Kelce attempted a lateral was in late July during training camp. During team periods, Kelce experimented with arm angles — underhand, an over-the-top pitch and a two-handed chest pass — for his lateral attacks on running back Isiah Pacheco.

Perine, a seventh-year veteran, joined the Chiefs on Aug. 30, lower than every week before the team played its season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. In his first practice with the Chiefs, Perine was stunned when Kelce passed the ball to his side.

“He plays backyard soccer,” Perine said, smiling. “Just experiencing it firsthand, it was crazy. But it’s fun.”