Andy Reid Discusses Play Calling, Jamaal Charles In Press Conference

Oct 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles (25) carries the ball against San Francisco 49ers inside linebacker Michael Wilhoite (57) during the third quarter at Levi

There’s a lot to talk about after the Chiefs 22-17 loss to the 49ers on Sunday. We’ll let Andy Reid have the first word on some of the reason why the Chiefs lost.

"Q: Why only four carries for Jamaal Charles in the first half? REID: “Really, and I know you look at this stuff so I’ll detail it for you a little bit. We only had a few series that half. So in series six – that was the beginning series – we did pretty well with that drive and it was fairly short. We only ran 15 plays in the second half so there wasn’t a lot done there. We came back and had a couple carries for him that next series. They were just kind of okay, we probably didn’t block it up as well as we needed to. And really, it ended up being that seventh series in there, that’s where he didn’t get any carries. We were moving the ball okay but we probably should’ve given him more opportunities right there. And then really the rest of that was two plays in the two minute and we were kind of out of it right there. But we could’ve done a better job in that one series, that seventh series, we could’ve done a better job of giving him more carries and a better opportunity, in particular – when I say look in the mirror – that third and one. If I had to do it all over again – and this is hindsight – but I’d probably come back and hand it to him and give him an opportunity to make a play.”"

AA: The Chiefs ran only 50 plays on offense against the 49ers, and only 17 in the second half. Of those 50 plays 32% of them went to Jamaal Charles, or about one in every three plays. In the second half Charles touched the ball five times in 17 plays.

At some point there has to be some credit given to the 49ers for being a really good football team. Yeah, there are some things the Chiefs could have done better and Kansas City certainly had a chance to win the game. But at some point credit has to be given to the team that’s been to three-straight NFC title games and has a solid shot of making it back there again this season if they can stay healthy.