Andy Reid once again found himself defending his team’s clock management after last week’s playoff loss at New England.
With the Chiefs down two touchdowns and 6:29 remaining on the clock, the team embarked on a methodical drive that ended with a touchdown, but left Kansas City with just over a minute to go, forcing them to recover an onside kick to have any chance of winning. They didn’t, and Reid was criticized for wasting so much time on the first touchdown drive.
Reid, however, doesn’t think he or offensive coordinator Doug Pederson did anything wrong.
“I think clock management’s very important,” Reid told Kansas City’s 610 Sports Radio on Thursday. “Every situation’s different. It’s a fluid situation on the spot and you’ve got to go off of feel. This situation, I think, was handled right.”
Reid defended himself by saying that, had they recovered the onside kick, Kansas City still had all their timeouts to play with.
“I thought we handled it right,” Reid said. “You give us a minute on the clock and three timeouts, we feel like we can move the ball pretty good.”
Reid said he was more focused on calling the right plays than the quickest plays.
Would the chances of Kansas City scoring quickly, using their timeouts to try to stop the Patriots on defense, and then getting the ball back have given them a better chance than relying on an onside kick? Hard to say. There’s no guarantee the Chiefs’ defense would have gotten off the field. But with six and a half minutes left, it should not take you until after the two minute warning to score and make your next move.
H/T ProFootballTalk
