Kansas City Chiefs’ Drue Tranquill had some words for Buffalo Bills fans who threw snowballs at him and his teammates, including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
“I caught the snowball,” Tranquill, 28, wrote via X on Sunday, January 21, of being pelted by the crowd after the Chiefs defeated the Bills on their home turf. “If it didn’t break in my hand, it was getting launched right back at him. We’d beat them in a snowball fight too. Truth is, my four year old throws a meaner snowball than #BillsMafia.”
The Chiefs linebacker was replying to a post by Arrowhead Live, a Chiefs page that thought the incident was about to turn physical. “Saw @DTranquill bouta post up with a Bills fan that was throwing snowballs at him after the game,” they wrote via X.
After the Chiefs won the playoff game 27-24, various players including Tranquill, Mahomes, 28, and Kelce, 34, could be seen dodging snowballs as they ran toward the Highmark Stadium locker room. In one broadcast clip, Kelce waved and blew kisses at fans who narrowly missed his head as they tossed frosted fastballs his way.
Before the game even came to a close, the crowd threw snowballs mid-play at wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. “… was that a snowball??” NFL on CBS wrote via X, alongside a replay of a pass made by Mahomes.
The highly-anticipated game was the first time that the Bills had played a home playoff game against the Chiefs since their controversial regular season match-up in December 2023.
While the Chiefs would’ve won after Kadarius Toney scored a touchdown from a lateral pass thrown by Kelce, the referees instead called a penalty for offensive offsides. This resulted in the points being reversed, and the Bills ultimately defeated the Chiefs.
Afterwards, Mahomes was visibly upset on the sidelines and even yelled at officials and threw his helmet. Frustrated, Mahomes told Bills quarterback Josh Allen after the game, “Wildest f–king call I’ve ever seen. Offensive offsides on that play, man, f–king terrible.” (Mahomes later apologized for his remarks, saying, “I regret acting like that.”)
The rivalry continued during Sunday’s game, with Bills fans going as far as burning a photo of Travis’ girlfriend, Taylor Swift, during a tailgate.
Despite getting the cold shoulder from Bills fans, Swift, 34, as well as Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce, and his wife, Kylie Kelce, seemingly enjoyed the game. The Philadelphia Eagles center, 36, ripped off his shirt in celebration of Travis’ first touchdown of the night.
When Travis learned that Jason ripped off his shirt in celebration, the tight end joked that it wasn’t a “surprise.”
“I love that guy,” Travis told Westwood One Sports, laughing. “And every time we’re not on the field together, we’re always rooting for each other.”
Sports radio host Josh Klinger took to X to share that although Travis “declined talking” to the media after the game, he asked the NFL star “if he’d believe his brother shirtless jumped out of the suite and hammered a beer and then jumped back in the suite?”
According to Klinger, Travis “laughed and shook his head” before saying, “‘We’re athletic man.’”
The Chiefs are now set to take on the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium in Maryland on Sunday, January 28. The winner will either play the Detroit Lions or the San Francisco 49ers — depending on the NFC Championship Game’s results — in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on February 11.
