5 takeaways from Chiefs HC Andy Reid’s Monday media availability
The Kansas City Chiefs are back at a .500 record, improving to 3-3 after their latest victory over the Washington Football Team on the road. Andy Reid spoke to the media on Monday, providing some insights into what his team did right on Sunday. He covered everything from standout performers to tracking turnover-worthy plays.
Here are some quick takeaways from what Reid had to say:
How the Chiefs track "interceptable passes"
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A fun little stat that has popped up over the past few seasons is “interceptable passes.” Basically, the idea that a pass was thrown that should have resulted in an interception, but didn’t. Asked whether the Chiefs track such stats, Andy Reid said the team does, but really in their own way.
“Our data, we just evaluate every play,” Reid said. “I mean, we give them (players) a grade on every play. So if it’s a catchable ball, then we expect you to catch it. If it’s a bad throw, we expect you to throw it the right way the next time. But yeah, we grade all of that.”
Asked whether the Chiefs were simply unlucky on a few interceptions this season, like the popped-up ball by Tyreek Hill on Sunday, Reid seemed to concur.
“We’ve had a couple of those,” Reid said. “We’ve got to do better on those, but no we keep track of that. As coaches, we keep track of that, absolutely.”
Mike Danna coming alive for Chiefs' defense
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Second-year man Mike Danna has emerged as one of the Chiefs’ better pass-rushers in recent weeks. He had a forced fumble against the Washington Football Team on Sunday, in addition to two pressures and a stop. Andy Reid praised him for his performance and the herculean effort he gives snap-to-snap.
“He’s done some good things,” Reid said. “It was good to see him punch that ball out yesterday. He’s a real smart kid, he plays hard and aggressive. He’s not the biggest guy in the world but he sure plays hard and is very smart.”
It’ll be interesting to see what the team does with Danna when Chris Jones returns to the lineup. They’d be wise to figure out a way to get Danna, Jones and Frank Clark on the field all at once.
Why Josh Gordon didn't played more snaps
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Josh Gordon followed up his Week 5 performance with fewer snaps and no stats recorded on the road trip to Washington. Andy Reid had said he’d hoped to get Gordon around 20 snaps last week, but he seemed to be even less involved in the game plan this time around. So what exactly happened with Gordon this week?
“Yeah, it just didn’t work out that way,” Reid said. “We’ll just keep bringing him along. I think he’s just starting to get comfortable with this whole thing. We had him in for a couple, a few plays. I don’t know what it totaled out, but he was, he’ll be fine, but we just have to keep working through everything.”
The moves they made on offense this week seemed to be about making Mahomes more comfortable, so that could have something to do with Gordon’s lack of playtime. I’d expect the Chiefs to continue to bring him along slowly until he’s eventually needed. They’ll certainly need his size in the future with Jody Fortson having suffered a torn Achilles.
Mike Remmers impresses in 2021 debut
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After starting the first five games of the season, first-year right tackle Lucas Niang was relegated to a backup role. Replacing him was 10-year NFL veteran Mike Remmers, who was the starter at the position last season for Kansas City. It was his first action since the Super Bowl LV loss and Remmers made the absolute most of it.
“Yeah, I thought he did a good job,” Reid said. “He was solid in there. He really held his own. That defensive line, I have a lot of respect for them. There are a lot of first-round picks on that defensive line and they can rev it up and play pretty good. When we were looking at tape you could see it and then when we were out there you could see their speed and athletic ability. I thought our guys did a pretty good job with that. I thought Mike (Remmers), for his first outing, he did a really nice job.”
Remmers was credited with two pressures, including a sack on Sunday. The sack was more on Mahomes than it was on Remmers, though. He performed admirably given it was his first action back and against a dominant defensive line. He’s sure to have done a good enough job to
No injury updates yet
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Chiefs HC Andy Reid hadn’t yet met with Rick Burkholder for their daily injury brief. That means he had no updates on LB Anthony Hitchens (elbow) and FB Michael Burton (pectoral), who are awaiting MRI results for their respective injuries.
“I don’t have anything for you right now, injury-wise,” Reid said. “We’re working through that right now as we speak.”
He did reiterate that Jody Fortson had torn his Achilles on Sunday night.
“The one injury was Jody (Fortson),” Reid said. “He does have a torn Achilles. I was sad to see that happen.”
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