Andy Reid roundup: Five Friday takeaways from the Chiefs head coach

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke to media members via conference call on Friday following the team’s 30-6 win over the Denver Broncos.

Here were some of the items that stood out:

Reid sort of scoffed at NFL Network’s report.

Right before the Noon call began, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted out an update on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who dislocated his patellar in the game against the Broncos.

Reid was thus asked about the report on the call.

“Yeah, I didn’t see Ian in the building today, so I don’t know,” said Reid. “I haven’t talked to him. I just know what I know, and that’s that the kid had the MRI and that we don’t have all of the information. That’s what I can give you. I’m trying to tell you what’s real. Once we have all of the information, we’ll give you everything that kind of happened and what’s going on here. The whole deal. We don’t hide that, so I don’t really care what somebody else said. I am just going to give you what I’ve got here.”

Reid suggested the Chiefs might bring up Kyle Shurmur from the practice squad as a backup before providing an update on Chad Henne, who the Chiefs placed on injured reserve due to ankle surgery prior to their Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Henne would be eligible to return from injured reserve following the Chiefs’ next game against the Green Bay Packers.

“He’s getting close,” said Reid of Henne. “He’s getting there. He’s been working his tail off. I haven’t taken him out and thrown with him and all of that, so I can’t tell you how all of that is going.”

2) Reid highlighted who among the team was vocal to keep spirits up once Mahomes left the game.

Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

”I heard certain people say certain things,” said Reid. “The guys, from Sherm (Anthony Sherman) to the defensive guys. When Pat walked off, he wouldn’t take the cart and all of that stuff. I think that probably set a tempo. Let’s go. It’s time to go. Everybody toughen up and let’s roll. I think that was part of it. I saw Tyreek (Hill) grab the offensive guys and the skill guys and tell them that we’re rolling here, we’re not letting up an inch. I saw that. I saw Sherm going around saying things. On defense, I know Frank Clark got fired up when Pat walked by. And this is like the toughest guy out here, man. We are going to step up our game here. Those were the people that I saw. Now, I was trying to get things organized there, so I didn’t see anything else other than that.”

3) Reid spoke to the difficulty of Matt Moore coming into the game midway and being able to lead the Chiefs to the 30-6 victory.

Moore entered the game in the middle of the second quarter and finished a respectable 10 of 19 for 117 yards and a touchdown.

“It’s hard to do,” said Reid of Moore. “Really, the whole thing he’s done here; coming in late to us when Chad got hurt and then asking him to pick up this offense which is pretty complicated. He’s a pro and he’s done a very nice job with it. It’s hard to be a relief pitcher, but he’s done it before and there’s a certain way to prep for that. He understands that and it paid off for him. The best part is we didn’t have to change up a lot of things.

“The hard thing to do is if one guy comes in, the backup comes in, and you have to change the whole offense right away. That’s a tough deal. We didn’t have to do that with him.”

4) Reid said that over the foreseeable future, they will make slight alterations to the game plan to best suit Moore.

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

“I don’t think we’ll have to change the whole offense, but definitely, sure,” said Reid. “That’s part of being a coach and knowing your players. You want to put them in the best position for what they do the best and work on those things to make them better that they don’t do the best so you can utilize those tools there.

“I mean we will look at what he does best and talk with him too and we’ll put together a good game plan. That’s the direction we’re going in is to put together a good game plan.”

5) Reid went out of his way to compliment Reggie Ragland, who had his best game as a Chiefs players in limited playing time.

Reid credited defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo for changing things up for Ragland, who thrived against the Broncos.

“The way he used Reggie, moving him to the SAM linebacker position, I thought Reggie really responded well,” said Reid of Ragland, who had a touchdown on a fumble recovery and a sack in the game. “He really was a bigger factor, more than people know. You saw (Anthony) Hitchens make a lot of tackles, but Reggie was part of that by working the different gaps and getting in there. It allowed Hitch to play off of him a little bit.”

Reid was specifically asked about the games of Hitchens, Derrick Nnadi and Khalen Saunders.

“I thought Hitch had a real great game and he brought great energy,” said Reid. “I thought he played well all the way around and I think everyone around him felt that energy. Listen, Nnadi I thought played one of his better games, maybe his best game since he has been here. And Khalen will keep getting better every week. I mean, he’s learning. He’s very athletic and he’s a smart kid so he is making progress there.”