Of course Travis Kelce’s first touchdown of the season came on National Tight Ends Day.

The score came when Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes found Kelce in the end zone on a third and goal with just under two minutes to go in the second quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

Kelce scored his first TD of the season in Week 8 against the RaidersGetty

Incredibly, it was the three-time Super Bowl‘s first TD of the season. Rather aptly, it came against a bitter division rival on the day the NFL celebrates the game’s tight end position.

Kelce loves playing against the Raiders and continued to haunt them throughout the first half.

After catching a pass from Mahomes on a second and two in the second quarter, Kelce took the outright lead for most receptions all-time against the Raiders.

At the time of writing, he has 115 receptions against the Black & Silver, one more than fellow TE and franchise legend Tony Gonzalez.

Antonio Gates (111) and Keenan Allen (106) are third and fourth on the list respectively for most receptions against Las Vegas.

National Tight Ends Day is a holiday that originated in 2018, and celebrates stars like Kelce and San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle.

Kittle is one of the players who came up with the idea after another San Francisco tight end, Garrett Celek, caught a touchdown pass from Jimmy Garrapolo in Week 2 of that NFL season.

“I was like, ‘yeah, it’s National Tight Ends Day. It’s a holiday. Tight ends all over the league are scoring touchdowns,’” Kittle said. “That’s how it came to be. We just kind of rolled with it.”

The idea stuck and now every NFL season, the fourth Sunday of October is celebrated as National Tight Ends Day.

Kelce is considered one of the greatest tight ends of all time.

Kelce has more receptions against the Raiders than any other player in NFL historyGetty

Kelce and Kittle are the co-founders of Tight End UniversityGetty

He also holds the record for career postseason receptions at 165, set the record for single-season receiving years by a tight end in 2020 and became the fastest tight end to reach 11,000 yards in 2023, among other impressive statistics.

However, the 35-year-old has started the season slowly by his lofty standards, evidenced by the fact it took him until Week 8 to register his first touchdown of the campaign.

The Ohio native addressed his slow start to the season on an recent episode of New Heights with brother Jason.

“I’ve had a lot of catches in this league, man. I’m not worried about, you know, the catches and the yards and all of that. I have the most fun when I get the ball thrown my way. I mean, who doesn’t?” Kelce said.

“As long as we’re winning football games, we’re good to go, baby.”

The reigning Super Bowl champions have won, won, and won again this season.

Heading into Sunday’s match-up with the Raiders, they are a perfect 6-0 in 2024, the NFL’s only remaining undefeated team.

They are widely expected to continue that winning streak against a Raiders team who are still the last team to beat the Chiefs.

However, Mahomes is 10-2 against Las Vegas for his career.

Kelce, meanwhile, has had 111 catches for 1,424 yards and has scored 11 touchdowns in 20 games against the Raiders in his career.

The Chiefs are bidding for an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl this season, having tasted victory in the last two showpiece events.