Jason and Travis Kelce are emotional on post-Super Bowl podcast, reflect on game, NFL future
The brothers' lives were displayed on a worldwide stage leading up to Super Bowl LVII. On their New Heights Podcast, they shed tears when speaking about their parents in the spotlight at the event.
Emotions are still high for the Kelce brothers.
Jason and Travis, the first brothers to ever square off at a Super Bowl, had a monumental week. But from all their story lines and interviews, there are certainly other names that fans wont forget: Donna and Ed Kelce.
Their parents became media stars. Especially Donna, who made an appearance on stage to deliver homemade cookies at Super Bowl opening night and later signed an endorsement deal with Bud Light.
Four days after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Eagles, 38-35, in Super Bowl LVII, there was a moment recalling their mother that brought the brothers to tears on the latest episode of their New Heights podcast.
The veteran center for the Eagles reflected on when he saw his mother at the end of the game. Jason instantly fell into her arms for a hug. When he spoke about it on the podcast, he paused, trying to hold back the tears, and said Donna was “on top of the world for a week.”
“She was the heavyweight champ, man” K.C tight end Travis added. “She was on top of it and she shined the whole time, man.”
» READ MORE: Donna Kelce will watch her sons play against each other in a Super Bowl. Stacie Nola has some advice.
It was a special moment for the Kelce family. Still, the brothers mentioned that the attention started to become too much by Super Bowl kickoff. In the end, though, the big game, also known as the Kelce Bowl, was one they’ll never forget.
“This is a lot of what we were trying to stay away from,” Travis said. “But my mom absolutely killed it, and she even said she didn’t want to do all of that.”
The two were composed when looking back on Travis becoming a two-time champion, while Jason dealt with the pain of losing in potentially his final game in the league.
» READ MORE: Jason Kelce says he’ll decide ‘hopefully soon’ if he’s retiring after losing Kelce Bowl to brother Travis
The outcome still stung the 35-year-old, who opened the podcast by joking, “NFL script writers finally letting down the Eagles,” and said he’s currently going through a grieving process on what he could have done differently.
“I’m happy with the way I played and I played really well, physically,” Jason said. “Played hard and did everything I could. But there’s people out there that want to blame officials, there’s people out there that want to point the finger. Man, as a competitor, I feel like I control everything.”
Jason and Travis also cleared the air on topics that fans across social media have been talking about. The first being that there wasn’t a touchdown play designed for the Eagles center (sorry, sports bettors), and second, Jason didn’t tell his brother, “[expletive] you, congratulations,” at the end of the game.
“I was like, ‘I don’t remember that one,’” Jason said. “I didn’t say much because I wanted you to go celebrate with your team. I knew that you were going to feel bad for me and I didn’t want that.
“I just kind of made an emphasis to go hug you. Tell you I love you, congratulations, and go be with your teammates, because I didn’t want to be the guy that was going to bring down that moment for you.”
» READ MORE: Jordan Mailata and the Eagles offensive line lick their wounds and prepare for possible change
Travis also asked his big brother the question everyone is now wondering, about whether Jason will return for a 13th season or close his NFL chapter and retire.
That determination has not been made.
“Man, I can’t answer that right now. No chance,” Jason said. “We’ll answer that soon enough, I guess. I don’t know the answer to that right now. So I can’t answer it.
“I do know it was a lot of fun this year. I had an amazing team and time doing this show with my brother, so we’ll see. I’m going to let the batteries recharge. I’m exhausted, man. It’s a long season, mentally, physically, emotionally drained, and I’m going to let all that kind of recover before we decide on that.”
The brothers do, however, plan to keep their podcast going. They’ll start new episodes of the New Heights around the NFL scouting combine in March.