Andy Reid on Chiefs offensive struggles, missed opportunities in loss to Broncos

"There were some good things and there were some bad things," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said on Monday afternoon of the Chiefs loss to the Broncos. "Some things we need to work on."

The first 19 offensive plays weren't good

"The first 19 plays of the game offensively, we had an offsides, a drop, a turnover and a fumbled snap," Reid said. "If you're playing against a good football team -- that's not even adding in the penalties we had after that -- you can learn from these things.

"I have to make sure I get ourselves in the right position to start games. We're not starting fast enough right now. I'm going to work on that, giving the guys good opportunities. In that first 19 plays, those are some things we need to get corrected."

Several big penalties

"A couple of big penalties," Reid continued. "Huge penalty in the third quarter that was followed by a sack. That would've put us in a position as we were moving to come out with points.

"The end of the first half, again another situation there. They miss a long field goal, we complete a ball and then we have a sack. You can't do those things when you're moving yourselves down the field.

"Then we had the penalty after the catch and fumble, with 25 picking it up and getting a couple of yards. There was that part of it then the opportunity to kick a long field goal and I chose not to. I didn't think that was the time to do it."

Chiefs D missed at least three interceptions

"Defensively, I thought they played their tails off but we had three opportunities for interceptions," Reid said. "Normally we're making those even though a couple of then you had to dive and scoop and make the catch, those are ones that we've made that we'll get worked out here. We'll get fixed. Just a couple big plays that they had, the one touchdown. You eliminate that and you eliminate couple of those crossing routes where we had some confusion there."

"You can learn from this"

"These are all things we can learn from and get better at," Reid continued. "This is a tough environment to play against a tough football team. You can learn from this and become a better football team than you were going in. We're going to need to do that coming up this week. We're going to see some similar things offensively from San Diego. Their defense, they're going to blitz and bring people from all over the place. We're going to be challenged in that same way and it's important we learn from this and bring ourselves back a stronger football.

"I had a chance to talk to the guys last night after the game, and they understand that. That's a plus. This is a tough-minded group. They understand. As coaches, we know we need to put our guys in better positions to utilize all their strengths. We're going to do a better job at that. All of us working together, that's what a team does, we're going to be better."

More from Reid:

• Reid said the Chiefs are best at around a 50/50 run split.
• Reid said the Chiefs need more explosive plays -- in both the pass and run game.
• Reid said that sacks are a group effort. It's tough against Peyton Manning because it gets it out so quickly.
• "It's tough to go undefeated in the NFL. That's a tough thing. What's real is that you're 9-1 and you have an opportunity to play a great football team coming in here. That's real. That's what it is."
• "You better be a little disappointed. You put a lot of time and effort into preparing for that team."
• Reid on not going for it on 4th-and-7 with 12 minutes left in the fourth: "I felt that was the right thing to do. I went back and reviewed it and I feel the same way."

Injuries

There weren't any updates from what Reid said about injuries last night.

• G Jon Asamoah: Calf, sore shoulder
• DE Mike DeVito: Knee sprain
• OT Eric Fisher: Sore shoulder
• DE Tyson Jackson: Abdominal strain

"Once we get the MRI results and we get through that we'll get that information to you," Reid said.

More from Arrowhead Pride:

• Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 11/18
• What's next for Chiefs after loss to Broncos?
• Grade the Chiefs performance against the Broncos
• Andy Reid: We needed touchdowns, not field goals
• Chiefs-Broncos reactions: What happened to the pass rush?
• 7 reactions to Kansas City's first loss
• Recap: Peyton Manning hands KC their first loss, 27-17