Hurt on the First Drive, Back Before Halftime: Travis Kelce Plays Through an Ankle Injury in Atlanta as Jared Wiley Is Ruled Out

Travis Kelce gave the Kansas City Chiefs a scare on their very first possession Sunday in Atlanta, and then he gave them a lift by coming back.

Kelce caught a pass from Patrick Mahomes on the opening drive and rumbled 23 yards before Falcons safety DeMarcco Hellams brought him down, appearing to twist the tight end's ankle on the tackle, the New York Post reported. Kelce limped off, and the Chiefs listed him as questionable to return with an ankle injury. Fox News' OutKick reported that it was his left ankle.

He did not stay out long. Kelce returned midway through the second quarter after missing a few drives, KMBC reported, though he was visibly limping when he came back.

Kelce was not the only Kansas City tight end hurt in the opening minutes. Newsweek reported that two Chiefs tight ends left on that first drive with ankle injuries. The second was Jared Wiley, who was carted to the locker room in the first quarter and later ruled out for the rest of the game.

For a stretch of the first half, that left Kansas City thin at the position and put more on Mahomes' shoulders to find other targets.

He found them. The drive on which Kelce was hurt ended in the end zone, with Mahomes finding Emmett Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown. Mahomes later connected with Josh Downs for a second score, and Kansas City carried a 14-3 lead into halftime after outgaining Atlanta 242 yards to 117 in the first two quarters, according to VAVEL's live coverage.

The quarterback's own health was the big pregame storyline. The Chiefs consulted baseball specialists about Mahomes' elbow before Sunday's game, the New York Post reported, a sign of how seriously the team took the scare. Through the first half in Atlanta, there was little sign of trouble: two touchdown passes and an offense that moved the ball almost at will.

It would be easy to blame Hellams. From the accounts of the play, a defender brought down a ball carrier from behind at the end of a long gain. Ankles get rolled in those piles every Sunday. Calling a young safety dirty for finishing a tackle on one of the best tight ends of his generation is not fair to him, and it is not what the game asks of a defender.

What stands out to me is the return. Kelce has nothing left to prove. He has rings, records and a future bust waiting in Canton by most people's reckoning. A man in his position could have taken the rest of the afternoon off, iced the ankle and let the younger guys handle a game his team was already leading.

He went back in. Visibly hurt, he went back in.

That is the kind of example locker rooms remember. Young players watch what veterans do when it costs them something. Coaches can preach toughness and team-first football all week, but it lands differently when the most famous player on the roster limps back onto the field because his guys need him. That is a lesson worth teaching our sons, whether they ever play a down of football or not: you finish what you start, and you do not leave your teammates short-handed if you can help it.

There is also a caution. A sore ankle in November can become a lingering problem in January, and the Chiefs will want Kelce at full strength when the games matter most. The training staff's job this week is to be honest about what the ankle can handle.

The biggest questions will come after the final whistle. Kansas City will want clarity on Kelce's ankle and on how long Wiley will be out, and the team's first injury report of the week will be the place to watch. The Chiefs also have to keep managing Mahomes' elbow through the second half of the season. For one afternoon in Atlanta, at least, the two stars who drive this offense were both on the field when it counted.