Andy Reid says in hindsight he should’ve kicked a late field goal instead of going for it but at the time the Kansas City Chiefs coach thought it was the right move.
The situation: With about 13 minutes left in the game and the Chiefs down 12-3, they faced a fourth and two from the Steelers four yard line. So, do you kick the field goal and make it a one-score game or do you go for the score?
Andy Reid chose to go for the score. They appeared to complete a pass to TE Demetrius Harris, who had the ball ripped away from him.
Incomplete. Turnover on downs. The score remains 12-3.
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I wrote right after the game that I thought given the situation at the time that going for it was the right move. The Chiefs hadn’t been moving the ball at all that day so I thought taking the chance of getting the score and then only having to get back into field goal range instead of the end zone was worth the risk.
Obviously, it didn’t work out like that.
“There was a little over 12 minutes, almost 13 minutes left to go and we hadn’t been down and hadn’t done much throughout the afternoon,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game. “We had an opportunity to get down there and potentially score and we felt like we had a couple plays that we felt real good about and we called on them and that didn’t work out. So hindsight ends up being that you wish you would’ve kicked it, but at the time I felt pretty strong that we would complete it.”
Once again, the Chiefs need a big goal line play and they go to ... Demetrius Harris?!? He’s caught a few of those big plays near the goal line so in reality I can’t say I’m that surprised they went to him.
Reid said he did not think that Harris caught it, that he didn’t have full control of the ball. I agree with him. It was close but in the NFL in 2017 you have to complete the process of the catch and that was not a catch.
“I don’t worry about the questions that I’m going to be asked afterwards, I do what my gut tells me to do,” Reid said. “I thought that was the right thing to do. Again, we hadn’t been down there a lot. We weren’t really moving the ball too well. If nothing else it backs them up and gives us an opportunity to come back and win the game. Which we did, we had an opportunity to win the game. Those are the things I’m thinking about. I’m preaching to the team to stay aggressive without being stupid. Staying aggressive with it. We had a good play in our pocket that we felt very good about and it didn’t work out. But nobody hung their head, nobody questioned anything, they just went about their business. We put ourselves in a position to win the game.”