How Oladokun Won Hearts, Minds of Chiefs Thursday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – According to Travis Kelce, Chris Oladokun did it on purpose to fool the Broncos.

“Man, that was the first time I've ever seen someone try and draw the defense to him by fumbling,” Kelce said after the game. “It's like a little yo-yo trick he put on it.”

Oladokun immediately quashed that speculation, though. On the second snap after halftime, he rolled to his left but dropped the ball. Rather than simply covering the fumble and losing yards, he scooped it up and connected with JuJu Smith-Schuster into Denver territory for 12 yards and a first down.

Watch Chris Oladokun discuss below...

“Yeah, it's definitely one of those ‘Oh sh**’ moments,” said Oladokun, who made his first NFL start. “Just sort of fumbled the ball. And then I feel like one of the best parts of my game is sort of just staying poised in those situations. And JuJu is always working. Saw it a couple times tonight. He was working for me. And, bad play turned good, I guess.”

Turning that bad play into good wound up netting three points, when Harrison Butker hit a 53-yard field goal to extend Kansas City’s lead to 10-6.

“I'm proud of him, man,” Kelce said. “Throughout the week, his attention to detail, his professionalism, his leadership, couldn't be happier for the guy. Obviously, wish we could have got that win for him in a big game against a rival, but I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the way he led us toward victory and kept fighting.”

Oladokun kept fighting through the Chiefs’ final breath. Down 20-13 with 1:45 remaining, he nearly drove the team 65 yards for the game-tying score. He hit Kelce three times on the final drive, including a 14-yarder on third-and-1 to pierce Broncos territory.

Near miss at end

And if he’d been able to connect with Kelce again on third-and-8 from Denver’s 26-yard line, the Chiefs realistically could’ve knotted the game. Instead, the game came down to a fourth-down shot toward Hollywood Brown in the end zone.

Oladokun said the Chiefs had that play in their back pocket all week.

“Yeah, another one of the plays that I sort of picked at the end-game situations when we talked about on Saturday night,” said Oladokun, who finished 13 of 22 for 66 yards and his first career touchdown pass. “And we knew that two were probably going to collect on Trav.

“That’s exactly what happened. We had one-on-one outside with Hollywood, and just wanted to give him a shot one-on-one. I like Hollywood over their guys. I like any of our guys over their guys. And so, gave him a shot, and just didn't work out for us.”

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