KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs offense normally cuts through NFL defenses like a hot knife through better, but head coach Andy Reid has watched his squad uncharacteristically muddle through its first two games.
“I think I know what we have,” Reid said Monday after his team’s 17-6 win over Jacksonville Sunday. “We can’t have the mistakes. I would tell you I have a pretty good feel of what we have. But I don’t like what we’re doing. How’s that? So I’m not big on turnovers, and I’m not big on penalties, and we’ve got too many of them right now.”
The Chiefs committed 12 penalties overall for 94 yards against the Jaguars along with three turnovers. Eight of those penalties went against the offense for 63 yards lost, and two of the turnovers came on an interception from Patrick Mahomes and a fumble by Justin Watson.
Only three of the team’s 10 drives on Sunday were unblemished by penalties, turnovers or fumbles: an opening three-and-out, the 81-yard touchdown drive opening the second half, and the 10-play, 77-yard drive ending the game.
“Looking at it on tape, things are there, but we’re going backwards instead of forward,” Reid said. “And if you look at percentages, even with a 5-yard penalty, percentages of scoring on a drive with a penalty is slim to none. We’ve been able to do that, probably better than anybody in the league, but you’re getting these multiples put together here and that’s too much.”
Most of Sunday’s penalties fell on the offensive line, which drew seven flags for 48 yards. An illegal touching penalty on left tackle Donovan Smith was declined. Right tackle Jawaan Taylor drew five penalties for 33 yards, most stemming from false starts or illegal motion for lining up off the line of scrimmage.
Reid pulled Taylor from the game for two snaps to give him a moment on the sideline to gather his composure.
Taylor found himself in the crosshairs of NFL officiating this week after the team’s Thursday night primetime opener in Week 1. Much scrutiny fell on Taylor for his quick first step off the snap and his tendency to line up too far in the backfield before the snap.
“Now all of a sudden, you put the officials on red alert, and rightly so,” Reid said. “It wasn’t like they were off on the calls that they had it on this week. It was the same crew that worked training camp. They know, they could see it there, and they saw it firsthand here. They were going to call it. Jawaan was aware of that. I mean, he knows and he tried to tame it down a little bit, but as the game went on, it got him there.
Reid is confident Taylor can put Sunday’s struggles behind him.
“You got to backup, he’s got to back up and start over on this and just slow it down,” Reid said. “He’s plenty quick to take care of that.”
The offense hits the practice field Wednesday to start preparations for hosting Chicago next Sunday, and make no mistake Reid aims to eliminate mental miscues.
“Offensively, we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers,” Reid said. “We get those straight, you got a pretty good thing go, but we got to take care of business there. And that’s something we can work on throughout the week.”
Travis Fighting Travis
Taylor wasn’t the only Chiefs player flagged multiple times on Sunday. Tight end Travis Kelce drew a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct following Watson’s fumble in the first half. A fourth-quarter scuffle with Jaguars safety Rayshawn Jenkins resulted in offsetting unnecessary roughness penalties on both players.
Reid chalked it up to a case of, “Travis was fighting Travis.”
“It was hot,” Reid said. “He was getting butched, we call it, where they try to bang you up there one way or another. And, you know, he’s trying to get back in the flow.”
Sunday’s game came just 12 days after Kelce suffered a bone bruise while hyperextending his knee in practice. Reid called Kelce a perfectionist who continues fighting to get himself in the right mindset when he’s off he’s game by even the smallest of margins.
“You got to give him credit, he battled through the thing, made some big catches for us, and he made it through the game after missing the first one,” Reid said. “I’m sure his leg probably didn’t feel 100% but he’s not going to let you know that and he’s gonna work through it. That’s what he did.”
Unsung Heroes
Reid also shined lined on two players, one from each side of the ball, who quietly had strong games in his mind.
Wide receiver Skyy Moore led the team with 70 yards receiving. He also delivered two of the biggest catches of the game with a 9-yard touchdown reception on a back-shoulder throw just before halftime and later picked up a 54-yard gain on a scramble drill as the offense was trying to drain the clock in the second half.
“He had some great plays,” Reid said. “You saw the trust that Patrick has in him on the touchdown, you saw the trust he had him on that play to go find him and for Skyy to get into his vision there.”
Reid also praised defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi, who picked up three tackles and also tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage.
“I think Nnadi really played a pretty good football game this past week and he’s a stout guy in there,” Reid said.
