Kansas City Chiefs: An airing of grievances
Sep 17, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid watches against the Denver Broncos in the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Andy, Andy, Andy…
Where do I begin?
First off, the lack of heart and fire in this team that I just mentioned starts with you. We all get that a big part of your coaching philosophy is treating your players with respect and not throwing them under the bus. Players respect that, but you know what else they respect? A coach that holds players accountable. If something isn’t good enough you need to let players know and not in a meeting room next week, DURING THE GAME. That way, I don’t know….maybe the team can actually turn things around! If players aren’t showing the fight you want, call them on it! Motivation is part of your job and it has clearly been an issue these past three weeks. I mean what kind of message does it send to your team when down by multiple scores you repeatedly opt to kick field goals instead of going for the touchdown and (gasp) TRYING TO WIN THE GAME!
That’s a perfect segue to my next point…perhaps its time to give up the play calling. Look, I know you love doing it, but in addition to some very questionable play calls the lack of motivation and overall team direction demands your attention and if you’re too busy trying to figure out which gadget play to DeAnthony Thomas is going to fail next to lead the team as a whole I think it might be time to hand that over sized play sheet over to Doug Pederson.
If nothing else maybe he could improve what is the most consistently embarrassing time management I have ever seen in my life. I mean what in the wide, wide, world of sports was that at the end of the first half? You run the clock down on yourself when you still have two timeouts left and could conceivably score a touchdown (something you seemed fundamentally opposed to doing in this game), then you call a timeout only to not get the play ready in time so that Alex Smith is trying to call another timeout and ends up with a delay of game penalty! WHAT?!?!?!?!?!??!?!? If you made a football movie about an incompetent coach and put that in there people would laugh it off and go “Nobody is that bad! Har har har”. I don’t remember the exact numbers but during the television broadcast they pointed out how few points your teams have scored in the last two minutes of either half and it was the most depressing and pathetic thing I had seen in a long time.
This team has the talent to win Andy and if they are going to turn things around it has to start with you. Hand over the play sheet and lead this team. They need it.
Next up, let’s stay on the coaching staff and have a little chat with defensive coordinator Bob Sutton…
Next: My Bob Sutton Grievances