Andy Reid Says KC Coaches May 'Back Off a Little Bit' to Rejuvenate Chiefs – How So?

Andy Reid delivered an interesting suggestion on Monday, offering that the team's coaches may need to "back off a little bit" to allow the team to play faster going forward.

Nov 17, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid looks at his play card during the first half against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Following the Kansas City Chiefs' first loss of the 2024 NFL season, a 30-21 defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, head coach Andy Reid repeatedly said the Chiefs had plenty they could learn from the loss. On Monday, speaking to the media after reviewing the game film, Reid shared one way the Chiefs could speed up for the second half of the season: by slowing down.

"You've got to make sure that you're sharp, whether it's assignments or execution, and we can do better in that area," Reid said during his opening statement on Monday. "We can do better as coaches of making sure our guys can be put in positions to do better and to maybe back off a little bit on certain things that we've been doing, to help the players out so that they can play a little bit faster."

Asked for an example of what it might mean for the coaches to "back off," Reid gave an example from the offensive side of the ball, noting that he hasn't yet broken the game down with defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

"Maybe it's motions or shifts or that type of thing on the offensive side," Reid said. "Spags, I haven't gone through it with him yet, but they're little things, but sometimes little things add up."

What does Reid mean, and what's next?

It's a curious evolution for Reid to volunteer. Were players out of position or thinking too much (as opposed to being able to "play a little bit faster") on Sunday? While Chiefs pass catchers appeared to struggle to separate from Bills defenders, the lion's share of routes run came from veterans like Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, Justin Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster. While Hopkins is new to KC, the rest of that group has found plenty of comfort in this offense previously. Rookie Xavier Worthy, who narrowly led wide receivers in snaps taken (32, just over Watson's 31 and Hopkins's 26), would be the exception, but he was off to a hot start before a sideline miscue in the second quarter on what ended up being his final target of the game.

Perhaps Reid sees the entire offense appearing to be a bit unsettled at times — an understandable observation, if so — but to offer the "back off" plan after what looked like a relatively clean game for the pass-catchers provides cause for second-guessing what KC failed to execute in Buffalo. If some motions and shifts were poorly executed or if they simply added to an already laborious process for the Chiefs' offense, it's an interesting assessment from the head coach slightly more than halfway through the season.

Read More: Winners and Losers from the KC Chiefs' Week 11 Defeat vs. Buffalo Bills