NFL Network’s Steve Mariucci interviewed Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid shortly after the schedule was released last Thursday (full schedule), and he asked Reid about two games in particular — the opener against the Houston Texans and the Week 12 matchup against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Week 1 vs. Houston Texans
Week 1’s Arrowhead Stadium “banner night” will be a rematch of the 2019 Divisional round, when the Texans blew a 24-0 lead against the Chiefs to lose 51-31.
“[Bill] O’Brien’s done a great job there,” said Reid. “They’ve got a heck of a football team, and we respect the heck out of them. We didn’t play very well to start that game, and we’ve got to do a better job the next time of starting faster, but I was proud of the guys for hanging in there. I didn’t see anybody drop their heads and hang their heads and so on. Everybody kept a positive attitude, and we were able to turn it around.”
Week 12 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Chiefs will take on Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the Bucanners in a Week 12 matchup at 3:25 p.m. Arrowhead Time (more on that game here).
“The one positive about the later games is we have Miami and Tampa, and they’re late in the season,” said Reid, who coached with Mariucci with the Packers from 1992-95. “You remember when we had to play Tampa Bay when we were in Green Bay, and we dreaded if you had to play them early because of the heat — we got both Florida teams late in the year, which is a positive, I think, if you look at those kind of things.
“You always kind of look at Buffalo, and you go Buffalo, Green Bay, you want to play early in the season and Florida teams you want to play late in the season, so we’re luck enough to have that.”
The Chiefs play the Bills in mid-October in the Week 6 edition of Thursday Night Football.