Andy Reid on Chiefs offensive line: "Obviously it wasn't good enough"

The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line continues to struggle as Chiefs quarterbacks Alex Smith and Tyler Bray were sacked five times by the Minnesota Vikings in Saturday's 30-12 loss. More than just the offensive line, the entire offense struggled.

As usual, Andy Reid took the blame for the team's loss.

"There was no rhythm," Reid said after the game. "That's my responsibility as the play caller that we get the guys into rhythm and do a better job there."

The Chiefs new offensive line, which included Jeff Allen at right tackle and Jeff Linkenbach and Ricky Henry rotating at left guard, had plenty of struggles in this third preseason game. Donald Stephenson did not play as the Chiefs prepare for his upcoming four-game suspension. It seemed like Alex Smith was running from Vikings defenders for half the night. Reid kept the starting offensive line deeper into the third quarterback than Smith played to get them more work.

"There were issues so I probably need to look at the tape before I say too much here," Reid said. "Obviously it wasn't good enough. The quarterback was hit too many times in pure pass situations. You can't do that."

As Reid said earlier, everyone has a piece of the pie in this one. Rodney Hudson got bull rushed up the middle. Jeff Allen said after the game that there were communication issues with him and Zach Fulton that led to a Vikings defender going untouched between them for a sack. Alex Smith said it wasn't time to panic yet. Of course he backed his teammates and said they did fine. Eric Fisher said it was unacceptable.

This makes the Chiefs final preseason game at least a little more interesting. You have to wonder if Andy Reid will play some of the offensive line candidates longer than usual since things have changed quite a bit with Stephenson's suspension.

The Chiefs roster shuffling will start soon with the cut down from 90 to 75 players on Tuesday afternoon.