Andy Reid roundup: unique offensive looks, Travis Kelce and chocolate cake

In his Monday presser, Reid discussed his unique offensive looks, Travis Kelce and chocolate cake.

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media over a Zoom conference call on Monday, less than 24 hours after the team’s 42-21 Wild Card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

(Listen to the full presser above or by clicking here.)

During the press conference, Reid provided injury updates on running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Darrel Williams and cornerback Rashad Fenton (more on that here).

Reid also took questions, which we have rounded up in four takeaways:

Reid discussed some of the Chiefs’ trick different plays — the ones that worked and the one that didn’t.

Some very creative offensive playcalls paid off for the Chiefs on Sunday night, including a touchdown pass from tight end Travis Kelce to wide receiver Byron Pringle and a touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to lineman Nick Allegretti.

But don’t call them trick or gadget plays. They are designed for specific teams.

“I guess it’s two-fold,” started Reid. “Other teams have to prep for it, but we do these on an individual basis for that team in a lot of cases. That pass that Kelce threw was individual for that group so we try to find whatever matchups or what we think we can take advantage of for lack of better terms and work on them and try to put a play in for that. So we trust our guys to do it, so they get a number of reps on it. [Eric Bieniemy] does a good job with all that.”

Like everybody else, Reid enjoyed the big-man touchdown by Allegretti.

“On Fridays, we do ‘pat and go’ and the linemen do their own little ‘pat and go’ kind of a breather from hitting the sled, I guess,” he said. “So, you get an idea of who can catch and who can’t so if you got a little bit of skill there, we’ll try to work with you. Allegretti, he’s got great hands, for a wrestler, he’s got great hands. He did a nice job.”

A unique look that didn’t work was a direct snap to wide receiver Mecole Hardman, who handed it off to running back Darrel Williams, who fumbled. The play led to a TJ Watt scoop-and-score. But Reid showed little regret in the call.

“Mecole has done that,” he said. “He did it all through college, high school he was a quarterback, and so we’ve worked him in there, we’ve repped the thing – it just didn’t work out. It could’ve been that Darrel wasn’t practicing a whole lot, so I’ll take that one. We trust Mecole doing that and we’ve worked on that kind of stuff for a number of weeks so.”

Reid complimented Kelce on everything he can do for his offense.

The tight end led the team with five catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. On Sunday night, he became the second tight end in NFL history to throw a passing touchdown in a playoff game (Trey Burton, Super Bowl LII).

“He has the ability to play in tight, block people and release from there, and also move them out a little bit further,” said Reid, complimenting Kelce. “Whether it’s just an intermediate split or wide split, you feel comfortable doing any of those. Then he has a great sense for space and how to work in space to get himself open, and again, it helps that the quarterback likes him. So, they work well together on that, trust each other.”

Reid turned his attention to the next opponent, the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills came to Arrowhead Stadium back in Week 5, walloping the Chiefs 38-20. Sunday night’s game will make for a rematch of that — and last year’s AFC title game.

“They got after us,” Reid said of the tough Week 5 loss. “We know it’s a great challenge and they’re a great team. So, we’re going to go through the process of getting ourselves ready to play. We’ll take it day by day, and as coaches, we’ll try to get the players good stuff to work with, and I know the players and their attitude, they love that part of it, and they’ll work hard to better themselves so we can have a good game.”

Asked about the Super Bowl, Reid compared it to one of his favorite foods.

How does a Super Bowl make him feel moving forward?

“If you like chocolate cake and you eat a piece, and then you have one dangling in front of your face, you’re probably going to want to eat that, too,” smiled Reid. “Not much is going to stop you, so that’s how you feel about the Super Bowl. That is the chocolate cake with the ultimate frosting, and you’re going to try to go get it if you can, the best you can.”

The Chiefs are three wins away from more chocolate cake.