Chiefs’ Kelce shoulders blame for collision that injured teammate

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce took the blame Wednesday for a collision that injured teammate Xavier Worthy, saying there was “no excuse” for the miscue in their season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

“I just got to be better,” Kelce said on the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast. “I’m 13 years in the league. There’s no excuse for me running into my own guys like that.”

Kelce crashed into Worthy as they ran contrasting routes on the Chiefs’ opening drive in Sao Paulo.

Second-year wide receiver Worthy suffered a right shoulder injury and exited the game.

He didn’t practice on Wednesday and it was not clear if he would be available for Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch with the champion Philadelphia Eagles.

“I ran into one of my guys and offed him out of the game,” Kelce said. “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.”

Kelce also acknowledged that losing Worthy so early changed the complexion of the game.

“Worthy has his guy beat and we’re out the gate and that game starts completely different,” he said.

Instead, the Chiefs offense sputtered early and couldn’t recover after the Chargers took a 10-0 lead.

“The biggest thing is that he is one of our best players,” Kelce said. “He is going to take that step into being one of the best wide receivers in the National Football League and I run into him, and all of the sudden one of the biggest pieces of the game plan is out of the game.

“One of the fastest guys in the league and speed kills in this league, now they don’t have to worry about that.”