The most dubious accomplishment of Andy Reid’s coaching career took place in Super Bowl XXXIX when his Eagles fell to the New England Patriots, 24-21.
During that contest, Reid’s offense ran the first-ever five-minute, two-minute offense while down two scores. After finally scoring a touchdown, the Eagles were left with just an onsides kick attempt and a futile drive to grab a game-tying field goal with just seconds.
Yesterday against Bill Belichick’s Patriots, it happened all over again.
The Chiefs started the final offensive drive of the game trailing 27-13 with just 6:29 left. Kansas City used 16 plays to score.
Here’s where they went wrong. KC reached Patriots territory and ran their first play with 4:17 remaining. Then, with three minutes left, the Chiefs reach the NE 1. However, they took nearly 2:00 minutes of game time (!!!!!!) to score.
Here is the KC play-by-play from the three-minute mark:
- 1-10-NE 20 (3:00) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 11-A.Smith pass short left to 12-A.Wilson to NE 1 for 19 yards (21-M.Butler).
- 1-1-NE 1 (2:33) (No Huddle) 35-C.West right guard to NE 2 for -1 yards (93-J.Sheard; 52-D.Watson).
- Two-Minute Warning
- 2-2-NE 2 (2:00) (Shotgun) PENALTY on KC-72-E.Fisher, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at NE 2 – No Play.
- 2-7-NE 7 (2:00) (Shotgun) 11-A.Smith pass short right to 81-J.Avant to NE 3 for 4 yards (26-L.Ryan).
- 3-3-NE 3 (1:27) (Shotgun) 11-A.Smith pass incomplete short right to 81-J.Avant. PENALTY on NE-26-L.Ryan, Defensive Pass Interference, 2 yards, enforced at NE 3 – No Play.
- 1-1-NE 1 (1:22) (Shotgun) 11-A.Smith pass incomplete short left to 17-C.Conley.
- 2-1-NE 1 (1:18) (Shotgun) 35-C.West right end for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
STRIKE 1 – They took one minute of game time to run two plays from the 1 to get to the two-minute warning. Unacceptable.
STRIKE 2 – Throwing short of the end zone on 2nd and goal to Avant and then not getting out of bounds.
STRIKE 3 – Following the Avant completion, 33 seconds elapsed before the Chiefs ran another play. They even huddled during the process.
It’s evident they did not want to use their three timeouts. However, had they shown some sense of urgency, things could have worked out for them.
Instead, they are toast.
Following the game, Reid offered little explanation other than that they didn’t get it done.
Reid is a good head coach. However, time management, which was always an issue with him while being the Eagles head coach, is not his strong suit.
Categories: kansas city chiefs, nfl playoffs