Andy Reid Finds Flaws and Applauds His Rookies After Week 1 Win
After an odd offseason, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was ultimately pleased with his rookies the Chiefs' Week 1, 34-20 win over the Houston Texans on Thursday but said there are also things the whole team needs to improve on.
Reid explained in his press conference after the game that he was impressed with how his first-year players performed after an unusual first training camp and the veterans and coaching staff should get some praise for their success as well.
“Yeah, well, I complement our veteran players for that because they welcomed these guys in, and then our coaches for doing a nice job," Reid said. "I mean, if you look at the coordinators, Spags [Steve Spagnuolo] has done a phenomenal job, and his coaching staff, of making sure the young guys work in there. EB [Eric Bieniemy] and our offensive staff have done the same thing. And then Dave [Toub] always believes that if they’re not going to be able to work in on the offense or defense, they can learn angles and speed on special teams and still be effective. So, all of the coaches believe in that, and then Brett [Veach] has done a nice job of drafting, first of all, and then, too, bringing our team back together.”
Kansas City got strong performances from rookies like running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, cornerback L'Jarius Sneed and defensive end Mike Danna.
Reid said while his team played well and captured a win, there are plenty of areas to improve on and his team is up for the challenge.
“Listen, I’m proud of our guys, but we have a ton of things we can work on, so that’s a plus," Reid said. "And these guys are willing to do that. They know that. And once they have a chance to look at the tape and see what they’ve got, they’ll hit the drawing board, as you’d say, and get busy on working on those things. The coaches likewise — we’re all knocking the rust off. But I’m proud of the guys. I don’t want to take away from that, I’m proud of how they handled this.”
