There was no celebration after the Kansas City Chiefs clinched a playoff berth on Sunday night. This team has bigger goals in mind than merely making it to the playoffs and because of that, they need to stay on task. They’ve already turned their focus to the next challenge at hand, their Week 14 opponent, the Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins are an ascendant team coached by second-year head coach Brian Flores. They currently find themselves in the thick of the AFC playoff race, competing to become the winners of the AFC East. Chiefs HC Andy Reid provided reporters with his initial impression of this Miami team on Monday afternoon.
“We’ve got a big challenge this week going down to the Dolphins,” Reid said. “They’re sitting there at 8-4 playing good football right now, both sides of the ball and special teams—they’re number one in special teams as a matter of fact in the NFL. So, we’ve got to make sure we do a good job all the way around against them.”
The entire team will have their work cut out for them, facing a solid Dolphins team in Week 14. Playing in the stadium where the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV will serve as a nice reminder that their goals for this season are still ahead of them.
Reid, of course, being an offensive coach had some thoughts on the young and talented offense that Miami boasts. Rookie QB Tua Tagovailoa is coming off of perhaps his best game as a professional, completing 26-of-39 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown.
“As far as the young quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa) and their offense, it looks like they’re doing well,” Reid said. “They’ve kind of mixed in Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) with that and moved the quarterback around a little bit there, the position around. I think both of them are quality guys and players so, we’ve got to make sure we have a good week of practice. They’ve got a couple good runners and receivers and so on. We’ve got to play well.”
The Dolphins still aren’t asking their rookie quarterback to do too much on offense, though. The Chiefs will have an opportunity to get after the young quarterback in terms of pressure and perhaps they can force some mistakes. He has yet to throw an interception in the NFL, but Kansas City is hotter than ever at picking off quarterbacks, with five interceptions over the last three games.
[listicle id=82205]