The anticipation for Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season is reaching critical mass. We’re just several days away from seeing the Kansas City Chiefs open the season against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium. For Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, he’s eager to finally see what he’s got in the 2020 iteration of his football team. He’s particularly anxious to see how they perform under the lights on game day.
“Yeah, I think even more so this year,” Reid told reporters on Friday. “I mean, it just seems, without the preseason games, you normally have a little bit of a lead-up and you have a good idea of the guys are going to react under the lights or on game day – in our case under the lights. But we haven’t had that and so yeah, I’m curious to see how everything works out and how the team gels together and every year is a little different and you’ve got to work through all that.”
The Chiefs return 18 starters from Super Bowl LIV, but they still have new players to integrate into their roster. This will be the first time the rookies suit up for an NFL game with no dress rehearsal. How the new players handle their first game jitters will be paramount.
The entire team will also be faced with the typical challenges of the first game of the NFL season — not quite knowing what to expect from the opponent.
“Yeah listen, the first game is always a little bit that way because you’re never quite sure what the other team’s going to do,” Reid said. “They’re not sure exactly what we’re going to do. I mean, that’s just even with the preseason games, you know the first game is – really the first three games – you’re kind of up in the air and not sure exactly what you’re going to get presented. But that’s the way it works every year. Now, I’m curious to see how the teams play. You know I think it’s going to be, like I said, I think it’s going to be a well-played game, but I’ll be curious to see how it all goes.”
There’s only so much you can plan for without any new game tape on your opponents. Reid can go back and have guys study the postseason game and the regular-season game against Houston last year, but you have to be careful with how much you study that old tape. It’s best to prepare for the unexpected.
Making in-game adjustments will be crucial for every team as they face some hiccups throughout those first few games. There will probably be some penalties and sloppy play early on in the season. Reid almost seems to expect it, especially without any preseason games to work out the kinks in all three phases of the game. Luckily, the coaching staff in Kansas Cty has a good history of making adjustments on the fly.
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