Furious Travis Kelce took action against Justin Tucker for breaking unwritten rule with Patrick Mahomes decision

Things got heated before the AFC title game as players got fired up in the high stakes contest.

The Kansas City Chiefs took on the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in the AFC Championship game last season and the battle for a place at Super Bowl LVIII began before the game even began.

Footage went viral of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce clashing with Ravens kicker Justin Tucker who warmed up dangerously closely to Patrick Mahomes.

Tucker was in the same area as the Chiefs pair and looked to be playing mind games while doing some pregame stretching.

Kelce reportedly told Tucker he needed to move but the Ravens man wasn't budging and stuck to his guns with a smile on his face.

An irritated Kelce then proceeded to kick Tucker's helmet and ball away which were on the floor near the end zone where Mahomes was practising.

"Travis Kelce told Justin Tucker he needed to move because their QB Patrick Mahomes had to warm up. So Kelce kicked his ball away and threw his helmet," NFL Network's James Palmer tweeted.

The short clip did the rounds on X, but it didn't end there as Mahomes and Tucker reportedly continued to go at it.

A clip showed the pair engaging in a war of words following the Kelce incident. Mahomes repeatedly kicked Tucker's stand out of the way as the Ravens star attempted to practice. 

"Patrick Mahomes and Justin Tucker going at it pregame. Mahomes keeps kicking Tuckers holder away," Palmer added on X.

Kelce and brother Jason later said Tucker broke an unwritten rule whereby Tucker apparently interfered in the other team's designated area.

"If you wanna be a f***ing d*** about it, you keep your helmet and your football and you're f***ing kicking tee right where the quarterbacks are warming up.

"If you're not gonna pick that up, I'll happily move that for you."

Travis then revealed Tucker was winking at him, joking around and trying to annoy him.

"Me and Pat had the same mentality all week long... you gotta go in there with the right mindset and we just weren't in a joking mood."

Kelce then apologised to Tucker for escalating it to another level but joked that when it comes to being a d***, he could one up him every time.

It's Chiefs vs Ravens that kicks off the 2024 season and while a lot of focus will be on Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, many will be looking forward to the warm-up.

Speaking about the incident ahead of the first game of the season, Kelce made his feelings on any potential beef clear.

“It was Tucker’s home field so I don’t know his routine is on this side of things," he told The Rich Eisen show. I got nothing but love for Tucker. You know he was kind of giving me the wink and laughing about it last year and I don’t know it, I just wasn’t in a laughing mood.”

Tucker equally sidestepped the punt when asked if he will change his warm-up routine.

"All I'll say about it is I'm excited to go into a great environment, play against a great football team, with great players, great coaches, and do everything I can to prepare myself to be ready to contribute to the Ravens winning a football game. And that's all I got to say about it."

Back in January, the Chiefs won 17-10, with Travis scoring a touchdown, and catching 11 throws while covering 116 yards. Tucker scored the Ravens’ only field goal.

But Kelce was celebrating back-to-back Super Bowl wins by February and is now looking for the elusive three-peat.

There has been suggestions that this could be Kelce's last season, having been in Kansas City since 2013 but he played that down, even when he beat the 49ers to the punch last season.