Travis Kelce gets candid about Eli Apple's dig at Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce certainly got the better of Eli Apple and his Cincinnati Bengals defensive cohort in the AFC Championship game. The Chiefs came away with a 23-20 win to advance to the Super Bowl, while the Bengals get to lick their wounds for another year.
Before the game, there was some ribbing coming mainly from Cincinnati about how they would own the Chiefs. After their Divisional Round win against the Buffalo Bills on the road, they cockily rechristened Arrowhead as Burrowhead Cincinnati's mayor ran with the jibe and pointed out that Patrick Mahomes had never won against Joe Burrow.
One player who is notorious for dishing it out on the Bengals team is Eli Apple. After defeating the Bills, he said their vanquished opponents could go to Cancun now that their season was over.
Travis Kelce was not fond of the trash talk coming from Cincinnati and called out the mayor, taking issue with the term "Burrowhead." But he saved his real feelings on Apple's bravado for his appearance on his podcast with brother Jason Kelce.
He said that he thinks Apple is a genuinely funny person off the field. However, he could not help but point out that the Cincinnati defender could not hold his own against the Chiefs offense, especially Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
"Eli is a cool cat. He's actually funny. Some of the s**t he says on Twitter. Burrowhead was Hilton, one of the best guys on their team, Mike Hilton. Like I said, I got a lot of respect for all these guys. But if you're going to talk s**t, you got to back it up. And unfortunately Hilton got abused."
He continued:
"Eli Apple got abused. Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a field day on him the whole game, and it is what it is. I'm pretty sure Quez at the end of the game got asked about Eli Apple, he said I was eating him up all game."
Who apart from Travis Kelce took a shot at Eli Apple?
Eli Apple has never been one to carefully consider his words before mocking his rivals. So when the Bengals were knocked out, others were quick to pile on.
Brittany Mahomes threw his Cancun jibe back at him, while Juan Thornhill smoked a cigar and said:
"Eli Apple, I'mma smoke one for you!!"
🏼Cancun on 3✌🏼
Juan Thornhill trolling Eli Apple... 😂😂😂
#AFCChampionship https://t.co/1eLXMVzO6N
With the Bengals and the Chiefs well positioned to dominate for a few more years, this rivalry could brew some more.