In Doug Pederson's introductory press conference as the Eagles' new head coach, he explained the logic behind the Chiefs' final drive in the AFC divisional playoff loss (see story). He even said he was calling the plays.
On Thursday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid defended his team's pace on that same drive.
“Every situation’s different," the former Eagles head coach said in an interview with 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City."It’s a fluid situation on the spot and you’ve got to go off of feel. ... This situation, I think, was handled right.”
Down 14 points, the Chiefs had the ball with a little more than six minutes left in the game. The Chiefs scored after a 16-play drive that took more than five minutes off the clock. Despite the touchdown, the Chiefs reduced their chance at a comeback by leaving so little time on the clock. Their only hope was to recover an onside kick.
“I thought we handled it right," Reid said. "You give us a minute on the clock and three timeouts, we feel like we can move the ball pretty good.”
Reid said he believed it was more important to call plays that would work rather than hurry up the offense.
“At that point it really didn’t matter to me," Reid said. "I wanted to make sure we were calling the best plays.”