Andy Reid faced an afternoon of tough calls vs. Steelers

Andy Reid faced a number of difficult calls on Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here’s a closer look at several of them.

Football is a game involving over 150 plays and countless decisions. The Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday came down to around 10 plays and a few crucial decisions by Andy Reid. While those decisions didn’t pan out today, it’s good to see if they were the right ones or not.

One of the first tough decisions of the game for Reid came on the first drive of the second half. On third-and-one, quarterback Alex Smith took a QB sneak up the middle and disappeared into a pile of players. At first glance it looked like an easy first down as the referee from the Chiefs sideline ran into view marking the ball far enough for a first down. But, the referee from the far side of the field ran down marking the ball short of the first down. The crew went with the far side umpire and marked the ball a foot short of the yard to gain. CBS never showed a replay, so it’s hard to say which ref was right, or if the Chiefs should have challenged. Those plays are hard to challenge because the player gets lost in the pile and it’s almost impossible to verify where the ball is. For this reason I’m okay with not wasting a timeout and challenging the call.

But I am not okay with the Chiefs choosing to punt the ball away. I know the Chiefs were at their own 34-yard line, only down nine points and it was the first drive of the third quarter. Normally I would never say to go for it in that position, but in this game and given the scenario, it was time for it. This was a revenge game in front of one of the biggest crowds at Arrowhead in years and you’d been laying an egg all day. The team appeared timid and submissive the whole first half. This was a chance to say enough was enough and start taking control back as well as get the fans back in the game. Instead the Chiefs chose to punt and play the field position game.

It turned into a non-factor as the Steelers had to a punt on their next possession. However, it was a lost opportunity coming out of halftime to throw your weight around and tell your players and fans that the second half was not going to be like the first one. It’s telling everyone that this is a big game and you want to win it, not another regular season game that you want to try to keep close and maybe not lose.