Andy Reid roundup: 4 takeaways from the Chiefs head coach

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media over a Zoom conference call on Monday as the team begins its preparation for its Week 3 game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Listen to the full presser above or by clicking here.

In his opening statement, Reid emphasized how the parity of the league was on display on Sunday, as the Chiefs watched from home after winning 27-24 over the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football. Reid said he has already thrown out the 0-2 record of the Colts, complimenting their talent and coaching.

Reid then took questions, which we have rounded up in four takeaways:

Reid weighed in on Patrick Mahomes’ poke at Pro Football Focus.

After the win on Thursday night, Mahomes suggested that PFF would grade him low. The football analytics site graded him as the eighth-best Week 1 quarterback despite him throwing for more than 350 yards and five touchdowns.

“He stays in tune with everything, so he’s pretty observant on things,” said Reid, “Pro Football Focus has done a nice job with their stats and their analysis. I think they’re pretty accurate with things. Yeah, that’s usable information. If it drives you, it drives you but it’s also pretty real. That’s what (statistical analysis coordinator) Mike Frazier deals in all of that so he could tell you what’s right and wrong. He’s also putting information out there too of course, so we do use that.”

Asked about how the offense looks in 2022 after the season’s first two games, Reid said “it’s doing OK.”

“Always room to improve, but I think Pat’s done a nice job with what he’s been given,” said Reid. “We ran the ball a little bit more early than what we did the week before for various reasons and kind of moved the pocket around a little bit more for various reasons. So, I think we’re doing OK. Listen, as long as you have more points than they have, it’s a good thing. Like I said, there’s a lot of parity in this baby right now. And for whatever reason, which is great for the fans, this rivalry thing we got going with the Chargers, is always close. You almost come to expect that it’s going to come right down to the wire and it’s very exciting. I wish there was a bigger difference there, but both teams are good football teams.”

Reid commented on Derwin James slamming Travis Kelce in the third quarter on Thursday night.

Here is the play:

“It’s in the eye of the official there, (it’s) what they consider,” said Reid. “I know that they’ve called it against us before so I wasn’t sure exactly what way that would go but I thought maybe they would go in the direction for us, but it didn’t work out that way. And it might’ve been a little bit cause Kelce tried to jump and get himself — he wanted to score there, so it might’ve looked… That position that the defender had on him wasn’t that he literally just picked him up, it was Kelce kind of helped him with getting up there.

“You still had the slam, which probably didn’t have to take place like that, but it’s kind of in the eyes of the official there on what they deem it. But I do know we’ve been called for that.”

Kelce led the Chiefs with five catches for 51 yards in the game.

Reid was happy the Chiefs were able to come out of a short-rest week with two wins.

The Chiefs defeated the Arizona Cardinals 44-21 in Week 1 and then had to play the Chargers at home four days later.

“it’s one of those things that the league gives you,” noted Reid. “It’s a little bit of a scramble drill getting everything together, but we try to work with it before we get to that point and have somewhat of a plan of what direction we’re going to go unless that team that you’re playing on Thursday night completely changed in the first game from what you’ve anticipated. But it’s workable, it’s nice to have the couple days off for our players to get a little of the soreness out from the beginning of the season, training camp, all (of) that, so I think that’s a plus.

“The mini-bye – I guess (that’s what) we’re calling them now – it’s good to have a mini-bye and get ourselves back on the road. We don’t have another Thursday game, so it’s behind us now and you move forward with what we’ve got.”

Reid provided somewhat of an injury update on kicker Harrison Butker.

More on that here.