KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs were on a bye week when the NFL announced the team’s Week 13 game against Denver would move from a noon kickoff to the Sunday Night Football slot in prime time. It’s a minor change that still causes head coach Andy Reid to make one adjustment in his staff’s schedule.
“Normally you try to get a jump later in the week on the following team because you’re not going to have any time,” Reid said during his Monday press conference. “It’s a late night and you’re going to have a relatively early morning without any sleep, so you try to get a little bit of a jump on the team coming up.
“Other than that, everything’s the same.”
While players will remain on their usual routine during the week, the coaching staff will start to cast an eye toward the Las Vegas Raiders once practice wraps on Friday afternoon. The Chiefs host the Raiders in a noon Sunday kickoff in Week 14.
It’s an added benefit for the Chiefs that following the Sunday night game against the Broncos that they face a familiar opponent. The Chiefs visited the Raiders in Las Vegas in Week 10, which means scouting reports will be fresh in everyone’s memory. The coaching staff has a chance to jump on evaluations of the Raiders recent contests against Cincinnati and Dallas on Friday and Saturday.
Getting a quick jump on scouting the Raiders will be important since the staff will face a similar challenge the following week. Kansas City visits the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night in Week 15, just four days after their showdown against Las Vegas.
Just as the coaching staff will get an early start on scouting the Raiders before the Broncos game, the short turnaround in Week 14 will mean scouting the Chargers on Friday and Saturday ahead of the Raiders game.
The Chiefs coaching staff will get plenty of experience scouting multiple teams at the same time over the next two weeks.
