Tag: Andy Reid

Andy Reid explains why Chiefs DT Khalen Saunders remains a healthy scratch

Andy Reid talked about why Saunders hasn’t been playing for the Chiefs lately.

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Kansas City Chiefs DT Khalen Saunders hasn’t been active since earlier this season. In fact, he’s been a healthy scratch for the past five games for the Chiefs. We now have some answers about why the third-round draft pick from 2019 has been inactive all this time.

Saunders suffered an elbow dislocation in Week 1 against the Houston Texans and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. The athletic defensive tackle made his return from IR ahead of Week 7. He played just 15 snaps in Week 7, the most he has played all season. He didn’t play particularly bad either, recording a key solo tackle.

While Saunders was on the injury report up until Week 13, he’s been a full participant in practice each week. When Chiefs HC Andy Reid was asked about his absence, he explained that the injury has played a role in Saunders’ inability to see the field.

“That and some of the other guys that have been in there have done ok,” Reid said. “You put one up, you’ve got to put one down. That’s one of the negatives of when you get injured. Somebody steps in and does pretty good, then that’s what goes on. He’s definitely a good football player and his time will come here.”

There are only so many repetitions to go around at the defensive tackle position. Right now, the Chiefs use a four-man rotation with Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Mike Pennel and Tershawn Wharton. Unfortunately for Saunders, his injury opened up the opportunity for a player like Wharton to come in and make an impression. Wharton has been one of the better rookie defensive linemen in the NFL this season and the team isn’t going to bench him based on seniority.

Thankfully, Saunders is a team-player and he knows that what Reid says is true. He’ll have an opportunity to play eventually. Right now, his job is to keep working and stay ready. That way, when the time comes for him to fill in, he’ll be able to make the type of impression that’ll make it hard for the coach to send him back to the bench.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid on Dolphins: ‘We’ve got a big challenge this week’

Reid provided his initial impression of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 14 opponent.

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.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid explains why he didn’t challenge Tyreek Hill’s would-be touchdown

Reid said he’d never had a receiver that didn’t know he caught the football.

The Kansas City Chiefs left a miraculous Tyreek Hill touchdown on the field on Sunday night.

In one of the most bizarre plays of the 2020 NFL season, Hill caught what would have been the touchdown of the year. The problem was that it wasn’t called a touchdown on the field by officials and Hill didn’t actually know that he caught the ball. The pass was initially popped up, but it landed in Hill’s hands before ever hitting the ground. It all happened in the heat of being tackled to the ground by the defender at full speed. It was an immaculate reception of sorts.

By the time the replay came up on the video board, the team had already punted the ball away. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Hill were left shrugging at each other on the sideline. During Reid’s postgame press conference, one of the first things he did was address what happened at that moment.

“Tyreek (Hill) had a couple of touchdowns, I’ll take blame for the one—I’ve never had a receiver that didn’t know he caught the ball,” Reid said. “I mean, he came off and said he didn’t catch it and I probably should’ve hung on to that just a little bit longer to look at the replay. But I’ve been doing this a couple of years, I’ve never had that situation, so it was a new experience for me. I’ll try to do better the next time with it, but what a heck of a job by him. He had two touchdowns taken back away from him.”

Most teams have a coach that is in charge of replay review in the booth and the Chiefs are no different. The view that they needed— the definitive shot in replay didn’t come up until they’d already snapped the ball and punted it away.

“Yeah, they were on it right when they saw it, and that was right when we were punting the ball,” Reid said. “So, I mean, it was a bang-bang thing and we didn’t have time to really look at it before we kicked the ball. So, we kicked it with about 10 seconds left, and normally that’s kind of where you let it go down to right in that area and go with it. I checked with Tyreek, he came off, you can normally tell with a receiver if he had it or not, especially Tyreek, so he was surprised as any of us that he ended up with the football.”

It took 22 years as a head coach for a play like this to happen to Reid. I can’t imagine he’ll be able to call on this lesson moving forward, but it’ll just serve as a reminder to the coaching staff and players to keep their eyes peeled in moments like that. You never know the types of crazy things that the skill players in this offense are capable of.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid explains RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s absence

Edwards-Helaire dressed to play but didn’t play against the Denver Broncos in Week 13.

Kansas City Chiefs rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire dressed for action but didn’t play a single snap against the Denver Broncos in Week 13.

You’ll recall that he was questionable for the game and had missed the final two practices during the week with a stomach virus. The team announced their inactive player list about an hour before the game with fans and fantasy football managers alike learning that he was good to go. Then he didn’t end up recording a single snap. He appeared to only be available in case of emergencies.

According to Chiefs HC Andy Reid, the decision was a matter of what his illness did to his body.

“I think you saw where Clyde (Edwards Helaire) dressed out, didn’t play,” Reid said. “He didn’t practice this week, and I just felt like he lost some weight with the stomach virus and I pulled him back out. The other guys did a nice job of filling in for him.”

The stomach flu and a few days out of practice and the weight room will have even the most veteran athletes losing weight. It was probably the safe thing to keep him out of the game without practicing for most of the week too. The last thing the team wants is to risk injury to one of their budding stars on offense. As Reid said the other running backs did a nice job filling in, combining for 17 rushing attempts for 78 yards against the Broncos on Sunday without Edwards-Helaire.

Reid didn’t have any other injuries to report on after the game. It’s a safe bet that Edwards-Helaire will be back in action next week when the team heads to Miami to face the Dolphins, so long as he can put back on some of the weight that he lost during the practice week.

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Andy Reid rightfully regretted his decision behind not challenging possible Tyreek Hill touchdown

He had a good explanation.

Andy Reid shouldn’t be criticized too much given what the Kansas City Chiefs have done in the past year or two, so maybe he and the coaching staff deserve a pass on this one.

But the reasoning behind why he didn’t throw a challenge flag to dispute a call on what should have been an unreal Tyreek Hill touchdown catch makes some sense, but he still regretted it.

In the second quarter in the eventual win over the Denver Broncos, the ball somehow found Hill’s hands in end zone after it bounced in the air off his body. Replays confirmed he appeared to catch it.

But the Chiefs decided to punt instead of possibly burning a timeout if they were wrong.

Reid told reporters after the game that Hill informed him that he didn’t make the catch, and in hindsight, he knew he should have waited to see the replay:

At first, I thought it was silly. If you’re perhaps being told from your coaches that it was a close one and Hill wasn’t sure, you throw the flag early in the second quarter of a close game.

But we have the benefit of an immediate replay. When the clock is ticking to the next play and you can’t see it for yourself, it’s a lot tougher.

Reid took responsibility and learned a lesson here, and that’s the important thing for a coach who’s earned the right to get a pass on a situation like the one on Sunday.

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Chiefs won’t rush RT Mitchell Schwartz back from injured reserve

Andy Reid commented on the Chiefs’ starting right tackle and the plan for his eventual return.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been without their starting right tackle, Mitchell Schwartz, since Week 7 of the 2020 NFL season. The All-Pro right tackle has missed the first games of his career this year as he deals with a nagging back injury — an injury that ultimately caused him to be placed on injured reserve.

Schwartz was officially placed on injured reserve ahead of Week 11, making him eligible to return to action in Week 14. When asked about the plan for Schwartz moving forward, Reid wouldn’t commit to the tackle making a return prior to the postseason. He says the team and Schwartz will take their time in determining the best course of action moving forward.

“Yeah, we’ll just see. Listen, he’s a smart kid and so he’s been around a long time and he knows how he’s feeling,” Reid said. “And he’s a good communicator, so he keeps that open with the trainers and doctors, so I think that’s the most important thing right now. Then, when he’s right, then we’ll get him back out there. But until then—we do that with every player—we’re not going to rush him back if he can’t go, and that’s why we expect the next guy to step in and play, and (Mike) Remmers is doing a nice job for us. He’s really stepped up and played well. But that’s kind of how we go. We have a lot of trust in Mitch and we know he’s a tough guy, and he’s a good communicator on top of that.”

It doesn’t sound like Reid is expecting Schwartz to be available any time soon. The good news is that the replacement for Schwartz, veteran OL Mike Remmers, has played admirably at right tackle. He hasn’t allowed a single sack of Patrick Mahomes all year. He’s also allowed just 11 pressures at right tackle while filling in for Schwartz, ranking No. 20 in the NFL in pressures allowed according to Pro Football Focus.

The play of Remmers has given the Chiefs the benefit of getting Schwartz 100% healthy in his return. They want him to get back to being his stalwart self when he finally gets back on the field. Until then, Remmers will be the guy for Kansas City.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid provides injury updates following Wednesday practice

Andy Reid provides updates on Chiefs’ Dorian O’Daniel and Bashaud Breeland.

Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid provided his usual injury updates following practice on Wednesday. The team seems to have escaped Week 12 without any significant injuries. Reid did have one new status update to report, as starting CB Bashaud Breeland missed practice on Wednesday.

“On the injury front, Bashaud Breeland just had the stomach virus,” Reid said. “So we sent him home there.”

Again, the Chiefs have been very cautious when describing illness given the COVID-19 situation. Reid specifically mentioning this as a stomach virus should alleviate any potential concerns about COVID-19. Taking the diligence to send him home is also important. You don’t want any illness to spread through the locker room.

Reid also provided a brief update on Dorian O’Daniel. After the Buccaneers game, he said that O’Daniel was dealing with an ankle sprain. That still seems to be the case, though, Reid didn’t comment on the type or grade of ankle sprain.

“Dorian (O’Daniel) has an ankle sprain,” Reid reiterated. “He didn’t practice today.”

Apart from those two injuries, this team appears to be very healthy heading into the final five games of the regular season.

“Everybody else practiced,” Reid said. “[They] did a nice job.”

Health will be ever-more important moving forward considering the team is still a game behind the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC conference lead.

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Chiefs’ Andy Reid had perfect response to Travis Kelce’s failed touchdown pass

Coach Reid didn’t have to do Travis Kelce like that.

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Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce nearly got that touchdown pass that he’s been chasing since 2017 on Sunday.

The Chiefs unleashed another one of their patented creative plays in the red zone against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It involved Patrick Mahomes sending himself in pre-snap motion, and a double reverse to Kelce. Of course, Kelce had two options on the play, to run in the touchdown himself or throw a pass to Mahomes. Kelce opted for the latter, but the pass was deflected.

After the game, when Andy Reid spoke to the media he was asked about his thoughts on the play.

“Son of a gun, that’s why they moved him to tight end at Cincinnati,” Reid exclaimed. “Son of a gun. We probably should have scored there. 24 (Carlton Davis) did a nice job on that play, though. Anyways, yeah, we’ll get the next one.”

Of course, Kelce was recruited as a quarterback at the University of Cincinnati before he was converted to a tight end, playing the position in his final two seasons with the Bearcats. Quite an honest response from Reid on this one.

Kelce is now 1-of-3 passing during his career. His first pass was an interception against the Giants back in 2017. The other came against the Raiders last week. Despite his lack of success, it sounds like Reid will give him some more chances.

Here’s a look at the play against the Bucs:

Mahomes actually spoke a bit about the play too, explaining its origin, name and the reason why it might have failed.

“Me and Travis (Kelce) made it up first off and we called it Black Pearl because we were bringing it to the Bucs and the Pirates of the Caribbean and everything like that and I talked him into it,” Mahomes explained. “Coach (Andy) Reid for sure told him if he can run it, run it in there first, but I just talked to him on the side and was like, ‘If I’m open man, just throw it to me’ and I think that little hesitation that he had was just because I talked to him too much about it.”

It’s pretty cool that Mahomes continues to develop these plays and bring them to Reid and the coaching staff. As for the failed play, when Mahomes tells you to jump, you jump. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out this time, but you can rest assured they’ll continue to work on getting Kelce a touchdown pass and Mahomes a touchdown reception.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid provides an injury update following Week 12 vs. Buccaneers

Chiefs’ Andy Reid only had one injury to update reporters on following the game.

The Kansas City Chiefs escaped their Week 12 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers relatively healthy.

Chiefs HC Andy Reid gave his usual injury update ahead of his postgame press conference. The only injury he had to report was the ankle injury that special teams ace Dorian O’Daniel suffered early on in the game.

“As far as the injuries, really it’s just Dorian O’Daniel,” Reid said. “[He] has an ankle sprain and we’ll just see how he does by tomorrow.”

O’Daniel left the game in the first quarter and was deemed questionable to return. It appears he was held out for the remainder of the game. We didn’t know the severity of the injury, but now we know that it’s merely an ankle sprain. Severity can vary and whether it’s a high or low ankle sprain will determine the next course of action for the team.

Special teams are the name of the game for O’Daniel in Kansas City. He typically records the most or near-most snaps for that unit. He was injured during kick or punt coverage too.

If the Chiefs truly escaped this game with only O’Daniel getting banged up it should be considered a positive. As always, there could always be a surprise injury that pops up once the team heads back home and guys check-in with the training staff for treatment on Monday.

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NFL fans had lots of jokes about Andy Reid’s funny-looking mask

Classic Andy Reid.

The Kansas City Chiefs jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thanks to Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill having an unreal first quarter.

While those two guys have been the stars on the field, there’s another star on the sideline – Andy  Reid’s funny-looking mask.

The NFL’s updated COVID-19 protocols now require play-callers to wear masks instead of just those clear face shields that Reid liked to wear during games. Reid has made the move to wearing just a mask and, well, his mask might be one of the best masks to be seen on a NFL sideline this season.

Check this thing out:

NFL fans rightly had jokes: