KANSAS CITY, Mo. — “Way too many mistakes against a good football team to come out on top end of that … all-in-all we made too many mistakes.”
That was Andy Reid’s analysis after the Chiefs fell 19-12 to the Houston Texans on Sunday. Given 24 hours to eyeball the game tape did not change the head coach’s opinion.
“I was seeing things I’m not used to seeing,” Reid said. “We’ve got to go back and correct these fundamental things. They’re things we can control and fix. To even think that we still had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter with that, it should tell you a little bit.”
Kansas City was never out of the game, trailing by no more than 10 points. But when the opportunity to launch another come-from-behind victory like the previous Sunday’s game against San Diego, the Chiefs snuffed their own hopes.
“Even when there were opportunities, we didn’t do our part,” quarterback Alex Smith said. “We left a lot out there.”
Penalties, turnovers, dropped passes and general poor execution cost them a chance to go 2-0 before hosting the New York Jets this coming Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. It was an ugly list of mistakes in Houston:
–There were three fumbles, all of them lost by the Chiefs offense. Last year in 16 regular-season games, the Chiefs only lost eight fumbles.
–The Chiefs had nine penalties walked off against them, including an illegal block call on a late fourth-quarter kickoff return that wiped out Tyreek Hill’s 105-yard score.
–K.C.’s offense had 13 possessions, but seven of those gained 10 yards or less and there were five that went just three plays. The Chiefs were a horrible 3 of 14 for 21 percent on third downs. The average on those plays was third-and-9, with six times being third-and-10 or more.
“We need to protect the football, keep ourselves onside, eliminate the holding calls, pick up our downfield blocking and eliminate the things we can control,” Reid said. “These are things that we’re normally very good at and we can use to our advantage if we come in with the right mindset.
“You can’t do that against a good football team, and that’s what the Texans are. You give them that many opportunities and you aren’t going to win the game.”
The Chiefs have now played nine quarters of football in the 2016 season, and only two of those were worthy of producing a victory: the fourth quarter and overtime against the Chargers. Even considering the overall performance, Reid’s team still had a chance to be 2-0 with a few less mistakes against the Texans.
“The margin between losing and winning is so small in this league,” Reid said. “When you do stupid things, it’s going to be tough to come out on the right side of the score. We have a chance to be a pretty good football team.”
There’s some good news coming up this week for the Chiefs as running back Jamaal Charles apparently is on the verge of being available for the offense on Sunday against the Jets. Charles went down with a torn ACL last Oct. 11 in a game against Chicago. The offense has been able to overcome his absence with the development of Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West, although neither has the explosion and big-play ability of a healthy Charles.
But just getting Charles back isn’t going to clean up the mistakes that are plaguing the 2016 Chiefs.
“He didn’t get nine penalties and didn’t fumble three times,” Reid said of Charles. “We’ve got to get back and we’ve got to learn from this right here.”
