Andy Reid roundup: Mahomes magic, Isiah Pacheco and State Farm

Oct 3, 2022 - 9:00 PM

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Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media over a Zoom conference call on Monday, less than 24 hours after the team’s 41-31 road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Listen to the full presser above or by clicking here.

In his opening statement, Reid explained that in their win against the Buccaneers, he liked how strong the Chiefs were in all three phases (offense, defense and special teams). He also noted the adversity stemming from Hurricane Ian that Todd Bowles’ team had to push through in order to simply play the game.

Reid then took questions, which we have rounded up in four takeaways:

Reid had a message for Chiefs fans — and really, all NFL fans — regarding the play of Patrick Mahomes.

Sunday night marked one of the most impressive performances Mahomes’ career.

“I talked to the guys, like I mentioned last night, just don’t take it for granted,” said Reid of Mahomes. “These things are special, some of these things we’re seeing from him, so appreciate them. But it’s unique so enjoy every one of them; it’s not something that a lot of people have that advantage of being a part of.

“With that, I mean that throw was incredible. The throw to (Travis) Kelce is the one that might get looked over a little bit down the middle of the field. I mean that throw and that catch were ridiculous — and there were a couple other ones in there that were really good. I mean the one naked play where he kind of hung onto it on third down and threw it up to JuJu [Smith-Schuster], I mean that was another good one.

“[Mahomes] had a very good game and I know the stats show that and some of the things he’s done historically have made history and (he) will continue to do that. The best thing about him is he’s always trying to get better. That’s what I appreciate the most. I mean he’s not sitting there patting himself on the back. He keeps moving forward and wanting to get even better.”

Reid discussed the development of rookie running back Isiah Pacheco.

The Chiefs selected Pacheco in the seventh and final round of this year’s NFL Draft

“So we’re getting to know number 10,” started Reid. “He’s growing right before our eyes. We’ve spotted him in periodically just to give him some experience and see how he handled it. But we know Clyde [Edwards-Helaire] is good, 1 (Jerick McKinnon) can play. These guys are — they’re all good, they’re all talented.

“(Wide receivers coach) Greg [Lewis] does a good job of trying to work them [into] certain spots. But it’s more of a learning experience with 10 — and the more you see, the more you utilize him and Clyde on the first downs and 1 on the third downs. [McKinnon] does such a good job there. So that was kind of where we were last night. I think that was pretty obvious.”

Reid explained that from training camp to now, Week 4, Pacheco has already developed from a newbie with raw talent to a more complete back.

“Every week he’s gotten a little bit better at understanding the play and then running hard. Setting (the play) up and then running hard and finishing it. And then learning the pass game — and then most of all, learning the protections on top of all that. He’s gotten better at all of those things. And I would anticipate every week he’ll do even better. You saw he had a nice blitz pickup during the game and so that’s progress. That’s a good thing.”

It’s become clear that Reid challenged the offensive line to play better than it did against the Colts.

The offensive line — and the rest of the Chiefs — rose to the occasion against the Buccaneers, performing much more efficiently in the victory. Whatever Reid said behind closed doors worked.

“I don’t think it’s a secret, but we didn’t do as well as we wanted to there against the Colts,” said. “It wasn’t the way that I wanted it, I didn’t handle it with the play-calling the way I wanted it done. And EB (Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy) went through and talked about it and everybody needed to raise their game — the both of us and the rest of the guys. And so, the challenge is out there for all of us to step up, but it always starts up front (with the offensive line).

“It always starts with the big guys. And so, inevitably they want – they don’t say much – but they want that responsibility. And look, we needed to pick our game up. And so, they did a nice job last night. (There’s) plenty of room for improvement, (but) last night they did a nice job. They came out with a purpose and (a) certain intensity level and their assignments were pretty sound there.”

Reid presented how his new State Farm commercial with Mahomes came out about.

Have you seen the commercial? It is hilarious.

“Pat asked if I would do it with him. I told him, ‘I’m not very good at that stuff’ — as you guys know doing these things,” laughed Reid. “It was a fun thing. It was good to see how people treat Pat. It was interesting for me to see how that production goes. He does a lot of these things and it kind of gave me the inside scoop on it – literally – to be able to see what he has to go through to put all these together. It’s quite interesting.

“Great people involved there. They obviously reached out and talked to me about it — knowing that I wasn’t real comfortable doing those kinds of things — but they made it as comfortable as possible.”