KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones worked out with team trainers before Sunday's playoff win over the Houston Texans but head coach Andy Reid said it wasn't a close call to hold him out of action.
“Yeah he was struggling,” Reid said Monday. “He couldn't push off and go. Pretty easy decision right there.”
Jones missed practice on Friday leading up to the game with a calf injury. Reid said he suffered the injury near the end of practice on Thursday. The club listed him as questionable into Sunday's game.
Jones stretched on the field Sunday morning with team strength and conditioning coach Barry Rubin. Afterward, he ran through a couple of drills under the watchful eye of Rick Burkholder, the club's vice president of sports medicine and performance, and defensive line coach Brendan Daly. Jones didn't look comfortable during the workout and then headed to the locker room after the brief workout.
Reid said he remains unsure about the availability of Jones for this weekend's AFC Championship game against the Tennessee Titans. Jones collected a season-high eight combined tackles along with two sacks and a forced fumble against the Titans in Kansas City's 35-32 loss to the Titans in Week 10.
“I don't know that right now,” Reid said. “We'll just have to see how he does. This is a day-to-day thing, it was that way after it happened the other day. We'll see how he does.”
Reid said the Chiefs came out of Sunday's win “fairly healthy,” and didn't have any additional injuries to report on Monday. Tight end Travis Kelce briefly left Sunday's game with a hamstring issue, but later returned to the game. He's also dealing with a bruised knee, but neither issue appears to impact his availability against the Texans.
