It wasn't enough for the Denver Broncos to upset and thoroughly beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon. After defeating the AFC West leaders 24-9, the Broncos celebrated the win by playing "Shake It Off" — the hit performed by a certain pop star linked to Kansas City's All-Pro tight end.
The NFL has had its fun with the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance, but these are the beats of dating a mega-celebrity and losing, however. Those who high-brow trolling will applaud Denver for this one. Way to read the room and take advantage of the moment.
The otherwise listless Broncos did something basically no team has been able to achieve all year — they beat the Chiefs and contained Kelce.
Most teams do one or the other. Either they get the win and the tight end is going off or they nullify Kelce's impact and Kansas City has a breakout performance from someone else. But doing both? Now, that's just greedy.
Well, Denver — somehow — found a way to manage both. Kelce, who came into the game with 303 yards receiving in the last two games, was held to six receptions for 58 yards in the loss. The Chiefs didn't register a single touchdown, while the Broncos had house calls from running back Javonte Williams and receivers Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton.
And clearly, the Broncos knew how big of a deal it was for them and were feeling themselves. Head coach Sean Payton, when asked about the importance of the win, said that Denver will have bigger games than this — *cough, cough* sure.
After splitting their season series, the Broncos move to 3-5, while the Chiefs drop to 6-2.