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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Travis Kelce's first catch of Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos went for 11 yards and put him right at 1,000 yards this season. It also put the Kansas City Chiefs tight end in the NFL record book. It marks Kelce's fourth straight 1,000-yard season, which has never been done by a player at his position. "How consistent he is on a game-to-game basis is truly special,'' quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. "He doesn't look at stats. He doesn't look at all that different stuff. ... It's a guy that you want to have on your team.'' Kelce and Carolina's Greg Olsen (three seasons, from 2014 through 2016) shared the previous record for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons for a tight end. But the record wasn't all Kelce accomplished Sunday in the Chiefs' 23-3 victory. He finished with 11 catches for 142 yards. Only once before has Kelce caught more passes in a game. That happened last year, when he had 12 receptions against the Oakland Raiders. Kelce twice has topped 142 receiving yards, with 168 against the Raiders last season and 160 against the Broncos in 2016. Kelce had his big game under less-than-ideal conditions. The field was covered from the start with snow, which continued to fall during the game. "I saw it in warm-ups ... really the field condition didn't bother him,'' coach Andy Reid said. "He was able to get in and out of his cuts. [He's] a great balance guy. Then you add his ability to work in space the way he does [and] the quarterback trusts him.'' Kelce normally gets a good portion of his yards when running after the catch. Entering the game he had 341 of his 989 yards, or 34.5 percent, after the catch. He had just 30 yards, or about 21 percent, after the catch against the Broncos. "You realize it pregame and you just attack it,'' Kelce said. "You can't let weather get into how you're playing the game or disrupt how you're playing the game.'' Kelce downplayed his record, saying his stats were more the product of his environment. He said he was the beneficiary of playing in an offense designed by Reid. "Right now, it's just a bunch of numbers,'' he said. "That being said, I'm very fortunate that I've been here in the Kansas City Chiefs organization under coach Andy Reid, under Clark Hunt, under the unbelievable coaches that have been here and then just being able to gain their trust. That's everything in terms of a team sport. "It being a team sport, the individual accolades, I like to kind of just push them aside and try to focus on how I can get better as a player.''
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