Quote:
Originally Posted by OneWinningDrive
What do you want me to do? Just bend the kene and tug off Travis Kelce? He's one of the two greatest tight ends ever alongside Gronk. There, does that make you happy? But his production is declining and Andrews has a special connection with Lamar that can't just be replicated.
I understand you're saying this weekend, so age doesn't matter as much. But does the existing connection between the QB and the TE not matter? Because part of what makes Travis Kelce who he is is his special connection with Mahomes. And Lamar has that with Andrews. They're probably the two most intertwined QB/TE connections in the entire NFL. It's not a one-for-one substitution the way it would be for many other positions or other teams.
And statistically, both Likely and Andrews outproduced Kelce this year. Likely has as many touchdowns as Kelce in half the games started. Likely's yards per target is 10.3 to Kelce's 8.1. Andrews is 8.9 to Kelce's 8.1. What do you want me to say?
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You continue to make my point for me. It took Kelce nearly the entire season, one could argue the entire regular season, to get back to normal. Setting aside the fact that Kelce still out gained Andrews and Likely combined, my point remains that even that great chemistry takes time to rekindle when not on the field together. See Kelce game 1 (for him) and the aforementioned 4 for 26. You could even argue, although I won't here, that Jackson has been flirting with another (Likely) for over two months now. Mahomes went 1 game without Kelce, so there was no connection lost.
Look man, Mark Andrews is a great player. I'm sure next year, he will be back to being a beast. Two TE sets in 2024 are gonna be a thing for you guys. But he's not gonna do shit this weekend. Which is fine, Likely is a good player. We will definitely have to account for him. But the threat of Andrews is not going to have anywhere near the effect you think it will. And, if only for this weekend, Shannahan, Campbell and especially Harbaugh would throw their guys off a bridge for Kelce (assuming you could transmute chemistry and playbook knowledge). I can't take anyone seriously who would say otherwise.