KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last drive of the game in the Chiefs’ loss to the Patriots last Saturday had a lot of people questioning Andy Reid’s judgment, most notably on how his team showed no real signs of urgency as the seconds, and thereby the Chiefs’ season, ticked away.
Members of the media (and plenty of fans) said coach Reid mismanaged the time after the game was over. But even in the moment, as the clock ran down, TV commentators expressed shock at how the Chiefs let the game simply slip away.
Now Andy Reid is addressing the complaints, and he’s sticking to his guns. He said his team’s management of the clock “was handled right.”
Reid said in an interview on 610 Sports Radio that he disagrees with those who think the loss could be blamed on the last drive of the game.
“I think clock management’s very important,” Reid said. “Every situation’s different. It’s a fluid situation on the spot and you’ve got to go off of feel. . . . This situation, I think, was handled right.”
Reid’s strategy left a lot depending on the final onside kick, which the Chiefs failed to recover, allowing the Patriots to take a few knees and let the remaining minute of game time melt away.
“I thought we handled it right,” Reid said. “You give us a minute on the clock and three timeouts, we feel like we can move the ball pretty good.”
As was seen last Saturday, however, the onside kick left too little a margin for error and those timeouts counted for nothing as the Patriots took possession and sent the Chiefs packing.
Reid said he didn’t rush the last drive, opting instead to call plays that he thought would be more effective rather than ones that would save time.
“At that point it really didn’t matter to me. I wanted to make sure we were calling the best plays,” Reid said.
Whatever the mindset, the strategy didn’t cut it but Reid, for one, isn’t second guessing himself.
