KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Chiefs mired in a three-game losing streak and the team dropping five of its last six games behind a struggling offense, head coach Andy Reid reiterated Monday that he plans to keep rolling with Alex Smith as his quarterback.
“Yeah, Alex is my guy,” Reid said.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith delivers a pass during the team’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Oct. 15, 2017. (Photo by Justin Olson, ChiefsDigest.com)
Reid makes the case that the offense’s woes stem from a squad-wide failure, not necessarily poor play from Smith alone.
“I think it’s everybody,” Reid said. “I think we’ve all got a piece of this. I’m not saying it’s Alex. It starts with me because I’m the one giving them the plays.”
Reid made reference to watching tape from Sunday’s 16-10 loss to Buffalo and identifying small miscues that led to plays breaking down.
“You can kind of go around – you watch the tape – you can go around and see if we’re on a three-step drop and it’s the second play of the game and you got a guy in your lap, that’s a tough thing,” Reid said.
On Kansas City’s second play of the game, Smith took a three-step drop to his own goal line. Buffalo defensive tackle Kyle Williams slipped the gap between center Mitch Morse and left guard Zach Fulton. He went to the ground at Smith’s feet as the quarterback hurried a throw to receiver Albert Wilson just off target.
“But I would tell you every play there’s a little something and it kind of spreads out to different positions, and when you’re not quite in sync that’s what takes place,” Reid said. “There’s a breakdown here or there. You’re not able to point it at one exact person.”
The Chiefs understood that selecting Patrick Mahomes with the No. 10 overall pick in this year’s draft invited quarterback controversy questions. That discussion quieted down during the team’s 5-0 start. But the offense averaging 17.5 points during the last six games rekindled talk that perhaps Mahomes offers a solution to the offensive woes.
Reid maintains the team’s struggles stem from a variety of sources. He includes his own play calling in that list, along with personal execution.
“We’ve got to make sure we dial those up and give the guys an opportunity to execute them,” Reid said. “And then if the defense is presented, we’ve got the route going the right way that we throw them completed. Do a better job protecting.”
When asked whether Smith would stay his starting quarterback categorically barring an injury, Reid again reiterated everyone on his offense owns a piece of the problems.
“It’s not one guy,” Reid said “That’s got to be understood. It’s not one person. We’ve all got to pull together as a football team, in this case an offensive football team, right now and get that taken care of as a team. Not one guy. That’s about as clear as I can be.”
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Matt Derrick is the lead beat writer for ChiefsDigest.com. Use the contact page to reach him or find him on Twitter: @MattDerrick.
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