Andy Reid roundup: the no-challenge, fourth-down tries and Chris Jones along the EDGE

Reid discussed the no-challenge mishap, opposition aggression and Chris Jones.

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media over Zoom conference call Monday, less than 24 hours after the team’s 42-30 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Listen to the full presser above or by clicking here (it’s also on Spotify). Here were the most significant takeaways:

Reid discussed why the Chiefs did not challenge what looked to be a Kenneth Gainwell fumble.

Chiefs linebacker Ben Niemann appeared to poke the ball out of Gainwell’s hands. The Philadelphia Eagles scored a touchdown on the next play.

“I’ve seen that now on tape,” said Reid. “The problem was we didn’t get any replay on it and it was on that far corner over there away from us, so it is hard to see exactly what went on. Normally you get a replay up. They didn’t present one, so we weren’t able to get a look at it. In hindsight though, yeah, I should have thrown a flag. But that’s hindsight.”

The Eagles, likely knowing that Gainwell indeed fumbled, rushed to the line quickly. Reid was asked if the Chiefs have someone in place to review such items.

“Absolutely — but when you start throwing the flag, you want to know what you’re throwing it for,” added Reid. “So you expect replays to show up in a certain amount of time and that didn’t happen. So, you want to make sure. I’m not going to throw the flag unless I’m absolutely sure that that’s what’s going on. Timeouts are valuable in this league, so I should try to keep those close to the vest unless I know something.”

Opposing offenses seem to be challenging the Chiefs on fourth down this season, which Reid says is a league-wide trend.

Opposing offenses are 6 of 8 in converting on fourth downs against the Chiefs this season, and Reid believes teams are more daring than ever.

“It’s happening all through the league,” said the head coach. “It’s crazy — teams are more willing to go for fourth downs now than ever before. And we’ve always been a willing team to do it depending on situations, but you’re seeing it on the plus-side of the field and the minus-side of the field. So, it’s football today, it’s kind of crazy. But they wanted it to be an offensive game and it’s leaning that way where people are taking more chances.”

Friend-of-the-site Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest pointed out the eight fourth-down attempts against the Chiefs through four weeks have tied a franchise record.

Fair to think the Chiefs can expect more of the same until they prove they can consistently punish those teams by giving Patrick Mahomes a short field.

Reid spoke about defensive lineman Chris Jones — and whether the team might consider moving him back to the primary defensive tackle position.

After complimenting 23-year-old defensive end Mike Danna — who had two sacks in the game as part of a team-leading 3.0 sacks in 2021 — Reid explained what the Chiefs have seen so far in being able to move Jones around.

Jones hurried quarterback Jalen Hurts six times in Sunday’s game, hitting him once, according to Pro Football Focus.

“The one thing Jarran Reed has done is given us the flexibility to move Chris out and move him back in certain situations,” said Reid. “We’ve kind of moved him all around is what we’ve done, and I think that’s been important and he’s done a nice job. He had several hurries yesterday; he did a nice job with that and was around the quarterback when they did throw the ball at both spots. I think the one thing it normally does out there is free him up, gives him a better opportunity to rush. We rotate them anyway so they’re all going to play whether Chris is inside or out, Mike Danna will play.”

The Chiefs have only hit the opposing quarterback 18 times (QBH) in 2021, though Reid believes playing run-first teams such as Cleveland, Baltimore — and now Philadelphia — has played into that.

“I think that you play three run teams is a factor to it and that’s probably added to the numbers there,” said Reid. “I think that you start getting guys back in here and I think you add Frank [Clark] in the equation. Frank was an All-Pro and you’re missing that element, but I think once we get everyone back in there going and kind of in the flow, I think it will pick up a little bit. [In the] second half [against the Eagles], I thought it was better. When you look at it, the first half wasn’t quite as good as the second half.”

Reid provided some updates on when we might see Willie Gay Jr. or Josh Gordon.

More on that here.