Andy Reid Discusses Play Calling, Jamaal Charles In Press Conference

October 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87, far right) is congratulated by tight end Demetrius Harris (84, far left), tight end Anthony Fasano (80), and guard Mike McGlynn (75, second from right) after scoring a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter at Levi

Kansas City converted their first five third downs before going one-for-six the rest of the game. What happened there, Coach?

"Q: You mentioned third downs and sustaining drives. What happened with third downs as the game went on? REID: “Yeah, two times. Yeah, so there were two snaps. We ended up winning that battle as far as the third downs go, but if you’re keeping stats, which I’m not big on because those last two were the two most important ones. We just, we missed out on them. We had a third and four, had (Demetrius) Harris running there across the field. We missed him there a little bit by an inch or so, close throw and then the third and one; we lost out on that one.” Q: You had a lot of third downs and you threw every single one. Was that because of the defense you were facing? REID: “We thought we had an opportunity there to throw the ball. Like I said, that last third and one they could’ve gone either way with that. Probably should have run the ball as it’s all, as we’re sitting here. Listen, we did fairly well on the third downs. It’s those last two stinkers that, oh man they got us.”"

AA: Yeah, those last two were brutal.

There’s also the aspect of the defense not being able to get off the field. Two crucial penalties – the 12th man on the field goal (we’ll talk about that later) and the roughing the passer call – sustained drives that ended up leading to six points. That’s the difference in the game.

That said, the defense allowed 20 first downs without the aid of a penalty. At some point the defense needs to take some of the blame for how the second half turned out. Maybe not all of it, but certainly some of it.