What Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes said about team’s dropped passes after loss to Lions
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid repeated the word twice.
It was during his postgame news conference following KC’s 21-20 season-opening loss to the Detroit Lions when Reid — in two different responses — used one word to describe his team’s dropped passes:
“Unusual.”
“It’s unusual for us to drop that many passes — anywhere, any time,” Reid said. “We’ll go back and work on that. But you’ve got to take care of business, and these guys know that. So we’ve got to fix that.”
Later, Reid talked about mistakes on special teams when his mind circled back to the ball hitting the turf on offense. This time, he referenced a tipped-ball pick-six for the Lions that went off the hands of receiver Kadarius Toney.
The word came out again: “unusual.”
“It’s unusual for the guys that dropped the ball to drop the ball,” Reid said. “That’s not what I’ve seen from them, and I wouldn’t expect them to do that. You do that, and you take care of business there, and you’re gonna be all right.”
One could point a thousand different directions when determining how the Chiefs could’ve eked out a few more points to come away with a season-opening victory on Thursday night.
Perhaps the simplest path to get there, however, was just catching the darned ball.
Or, if not that, at least not redirecting it to the other team off a carom.
Toney’s off-both-hands-batted-ball-turned-pick-six was part of a nightmarish outing. He caught one pass for 1 yard on five targets, had three drops, and failed to squeeze a pass on the Chiefs’ final possession that could’ve moved the team closer to a potential game-winning field goal.
After that final gaffe, Chiefs fans even showed their displeasure with a smattering of boos.
Toney wasn’t in the locker room after the game to speak with reporters. That left Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes to explain what they saw on those critical downs.
And for his part, Mahomes reiterated after the game he had plenty of trust in Toney, who had worked hard in rehab to get back for Week 1 after suffering a knee injury early in training camp.
“Stuff’s not always going to go your way, obviously. He would’ve wanted to catch a few of those in the game,” Mahomes said of Toney. “But I have trust that he’s gonna be that guy that I go to in those crucial moments, and he’s gonna make the catch and win us some seasons like he did last year. So we’re gonna continue to work him in, get him more and more reps, and I’m sure those drops will kind of disappear.”
Skyy Moore also had a disappointing start after emerging as one of the Chiefs’ training camp standouts. He had no catches on three targets and also failed to bring down a fourth-and-25 throw from Mahomes late that he jumped up to touch with both hands.
Moore, like Toney, did not appear at his locker after the game.
“We didn’t have that connection. We missed connections here and there,” Mahomes said of he and Moore. “But something you continue to work on. He’s one of those guys that has a ton of talent that can make a lot of big plays happen, so we’ll learn from it and try to be better next time.”
Justin Watson, who had two catches for 45 yards and also drew a crucial defensive pass-interference penalty, said his message to teammates like Toney and Moore would be that a long season remains ahead.
“You start racking some wins up, making some big plays, then everyone forgets about anything negative,” Watson said. “So it’s all forward, and that’s what we are here. There’s no dwelling on mistakes. We’re just, ‘Forward, forward forward.’ Everyone believes in everyone here, and all these guys are going to keep getting better and better.”
Watson still didn’t shirk from his position group’s share of the responsibility for Thursday’s loss. He said the wideouts go into each game believing their efforts shift the outcome.
“That’s our mentality — that we win games for this team. This offense moves as the receiver room moves,” Watson said. “So when you have a loss, we’re only looking at our room for that. There’s no one else that we look towards to get a win except in our room.”
There was more focus on that group on Thursday because of the circumstances. All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce sat out with a bone bruise on his right knee, which meant Mahomes would have to rely more on his outside threats.
They ultimately didn’t provide enough production, as Marquez Valdes-Scantling was KC’s leading receiver with two catches for 48 yards.
“You’re losing I think the best tight end of all-time (Thursday) ... but other guys got to step up,” Mahomes said. “I mean, it’s going to have an impact on the game, but other guys got to step up. They’re going to have to step up in moments, because I’m sure there’ll be times when he gets doubled. Just gonna have to rely on those other guys that are young and talented to make plays. I believe that they will.”
Watson said one of the biggest frustrations from Thursday was the number of self-inflicted mistakes. That included multiple drops from receivers, which played a big part in stalling the offense in the second half.
Those miscues — based on Reid’s description of them — aren’t something the team was expecting to happen Thursday.
And considering what Mahomes said after the game, the Chiefs aren’t expecting to face similar issues with their receivers ahead.
“I think they know I’m going to keep firing it,” Mahomes said. “So we’ll try to get it fixed this next week and correct it going into next game.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2023 at 12:57 AM.
