Kelce takes blame for Worthy injury: 'No excuse'

Travis Kelce is taking responsibility for the play on which Xavier Worthy was injured in the Kansas City Chiefs‘ season opener in São Paolo, saying Wednesday that there’s “no excuse” for what happened.

Kelce opened up the “New Heights” podcast he co-hosts with brother Jason Kelce by discussing the Chiefs’ 27-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Friday night, saying he took the “most accountability” himself for the defeat as one of the team’s leaders.

“I ran into one of my guys and offed him out of the game. I literally took one of my players out. That’s one of the most frustrating parts, and it’s hard to get your juices back going knowing you just hurt a guy,” he said.

“I’m 13 years in the league. There’s no excuse for me running into my own guys like that.”

Travis Kelce

Worthy, the Chiefs’ fastest receiver, suffered a right shoulder injury on the third snap of the season while running a crossing route to gain separation against the Chargers’ man-to-man coverage. He collided with Kelce, who was running a crossing route in the opposite direction. Worthy, a second-year player, fell to the turf in pain and didn’t return to the game.

“I’m supposed to be running my route at depth for Worthy, so it’s frustrating for me. I was trying to kind of set up my guy to be able to get in a position and it all just happened pretty quick. And I just got to be better, man,” Kelce said. “I’m 13 years in the league. There’s no excuse for me running into my own guys like that. Worthy has his guy beat and we’re out the gate, and that game starts completely different.”

Worthy’s availability for Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles is still unclear.

“I’m not sure where he’s at healthwise, but I’m hoping that we get him back as fast as possible because he means so much to this team. … I can see that guy and how hard he works, and I can see his game getting better, and I know he’s going to take the league by storm when he gets back,” Kelce said.

Kelce added that Worthy is “one of our best players” who is “going to take that step into being one of the best wide receivers in the National Football League.”

He said that when Worthy left the game, “one of the biggest pieces of the game plan is out of the game.” He gave credit to receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton for stepping up after Worthy’s injury.

The Chiefs were already short-handed at receiver with rookie Jalen Royals not making the trip to Brazil because of a knee injury and Rashee Rice serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

ESPN’s Nate Taylor contributed to this report.