Andy Reid’s Chiefs seem to be doing slightly better this time out when compared to the previous football year. Kansas City clearly has plenty of room for improvement but fans seem to be less outraged at the franchise this season.
The most recent outing saw the Chiefs meet the Jets, where they scored a massive victory. The win was very likely to happen, considering just how weak the NY franchise is at the moment. Although the game was a treat for football lovers, one aspect that fans could not help highlight in the comments was the absolute disaster of a quarterback sneak that Justin Fields pulled.
Reid has been quite protective of his star Patrick Mahomes, to the extent that that he has almost fully removed the move from his game-plans. Strangely enough, the head coach decided to bring in backup Fields for a sneak move, which ended with egg on KC’s face. In the post-game presser, Reid spoke about this failed attempt, basically blaming lack of practice.
“You guys asked for it. So we gave it to you, and you know, it didn’t work. How’d you feel?… Yeah, so listen, we’ve got to make sure, those are hard to practice live. The quarterback sneak is hard to practice, unless you do it in a game…” Andy Reid said.
What Andy Reid said does not add to his credibility as a coach. One, as a head coach of a football team, players and fans expect the person to come up with creative solutions to practice moves, even those as trick as quarterback sneaks. Secondly, Reid blaming the media and fans for attempting and failing at the quarterback sneak only makes things worse.
What Should Have Andy Reid Done Instead?
Andy Reid can be sympathized it when he said that quarterback sneaks are tough to practice in simulation. But, as the coach of the Chiefs Kingdom, this response simply cannot be accepted. Quarterback sneaks are surely difficult to practice during training. But then, how are other teams doing this and excelling at it? Teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and the Bills are known for pulling off this move with perfection.
Instead of blaming the challenges that the quarterback sneak move may bring about, coach Andy Reid should look up innovative solutions to help his players learn the move. As a mental health professional who works with athletes, I would suggest using visualizationas one of the tools to help learn this move, apart from the many drills and processes that go into the process. Another skill that the players will need to learn is how to maintain a ‘poker face’ especially this is a sneak move after all.
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