Andy Reid on Ill-Timed, Time Out Call

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was notorious in Philadelphia for having poor clock management. Many would say that rap has followed him to the Chiefs after today. Reid called a timeout during the Chiefs penultimate offensive drive, stopping the clock and allowing Phillip Rivers to have enough time to drive down the field. When asked about time  out, Reid had this to say:

“No. I was just calming the storm there and making sure that—we needed a touchdown at that point—make sure that we had the right things in and we were ready to go.”

It would seem that making sure they had the right things, the Chiefs left a fired up Phillip Rivers enough time — 82 seconds, though he only needed 58 — to drive the Chargers down the field and score a touchdown. Let there be no mistake, the Chiefs players lost the game on the field during the four quarters of football. But  they didn’t get any help from their head coach, calling a time out when he didn’t have to. As much as his play calling, Reid needs to get better understanding when they should let the clock run and when they should stop it. In this case, it probably should have run a bit more.