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Originally Posted by Why Not?
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.
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Ultimately we won't know how healthy Andrews is until gameday. For what it's worth, the word has been the AFCCG is the date they've been targeting with Andrews all along. I don't think they were going to bring him back last week (or at any point prior) even if he had been technically able to go since they wanted him at full for for the AFCCG/SB. So maybe he's not as borderline this week as being a gameday decision would have you think, but rather the Ravens are being coy about his status for strategic reasons and were never planning on bringing him back until now regardless.
All due respect to Kelce. Like I said, top 2 ever. But the Ravens wouldn't trade Mark Andrews for Travis Kelce given their age and connection. And they couldn't just plug him in for one game this weekend. You might not like those answers, but you asked. Doesn't detract from what Kelce has done in his career and the value he continues to provide to KC, but the Ravens are all set at tight end between Andrews and Likely.