Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce said the reigning NFL champions are not focused on "legendary" Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady heading into Super Bowl LV.
The Chiefs will be looking to claim back-to-back Super Bowl honours when they face Brady's Buccaneers in the NFL showpiece in Tampa on Sunday.
No player has won more Super Bowl titles or appeared in more NFL showpieces than six-time champion Brady, who has more playoff wins since turning 35 (17) than any other quarterback has in his entire career, per Stats Perform.
It will be Brady's fifth Super Bowl since turning 37 – tying the most appearances in a championship game/series by any player in any major North American sport, alongside NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and MLB great Roger Clemens, while he is only one of three athletes in North American sport to make three championship appearances at age 40 or older.
Chiefs tight end Kelce was asked about facing Brady and Rob Gronkowski, and the six-time Pro Bowler told reporters on Thursday: "When you're going up against a great quarterback like Tom Brady is, how legendary he's been in games like this, you just have to be able to control what you can control.
"That's what we do on the offensive side of the ball. We preach situational football, taking care of the football, winning the turnover battle. Things like that are things we can control as an offense.
"Going up against a high-powered offense like that, that's the key, you have to put up six points more than you're putting up three but at the end of the day, putting points on the board so you give yourself a chance in the fourth quarter."
The Buccaneers will be the first team to host a Super Bowl on home soil, but as big of an advantage as Arrowhead Stadium can be for the Chiefs, they have won 12 consecutive away games – one of the longest such streaks in NFL history, only behind the New England Patriots (15 between 2016-17) and San Francisco 49ers (21 between 1988-1990).
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid could also become the seventh coach to win back-to-back Super Bowls, and could also move into fourth place for all-time playoff victories – he is tied for 17 with Joe Gibbs, and behind leader Bill Belichick (31), Tom Landry (20) and Don Shula (19).
The Chiefs are also trying to become the eighth NFL franchise to claim the Lombardi trophy in consecutive seasons.
"I'm aware of it because the media, and I'm old, so I've heard it and seen it before with my own eyes," Reid said when asked about the milestones.
"But when you're in the middle of it, I don't think you appreciate it as much. Maybe when you're doing with the whole thing and look back on it, you can appreciate it more.
"But we're just scrambling from one drill to another drill, to a meeting, another meeting, making sure we are taking care of our media obligations."