CHAMPION CHIEFS STILL HAVE PLENTY OF ROOM TO GROW
Despite success, coach says Kansas City didn’t ‘come near’ their potential in 2019
One was fun, two — or more — Super Bowl titles would be better.
And the defending NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs have the potential to become even better. On offence. On defence. Indeed, across the board. Because room for such improvement is plainly there.
That was the nail head coach Andy Reid kept hammering Friday during a video conference call with local beat reporters.
“I don’t think we came near to what we could be last year,” Reid said of his team, which overall won 15 of 19 games, including come-from-behind victories in all three playoff games.
Reid pointed out that he was an assistant coach in the late 1990s when the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996, then lost to Denver in the Super Bowl the following season.
“I understand the intensity level that it takes to get there the first time. There’s a certain ‘climb the ladder’ attitude that takes place the first time,” Reid said. “The second time that you go, some of those motivations, it’s not the same.
“You really have to focus in on trying to be better, trying to challenge yourselves to be even greater than what you were that previous year. It’s a mindset and it starts now. So even though we’re doing this thing virtually, it starts now. There’s no time to waste.”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and safety Tyrann Mathieu were among players who joined Reid on the call, and both sounded all-in on the plan Reid is pitching.
“Now, it’s about who loves football. Who loves the progress, and who wants to get better every single day,” the 24-year-old Mahomes said. “Coach Reid is trusting us to go out there every single day and be the best person that we can be, in order to help the team.
“The guys that we have understand that, understand that they don’t want to just win one Super Bowl. They want to make a run at this thing again. They want to play the best football every single year that they can.”
Mahomes — the Super Bowl MVP in February, and league MVP in 2018 in his first season as NFL starter — brought up the fact that teams last season began to defend Kansas City’s dangerous, deep-threat pass game differently from 2018.
“You realize that teams have really studied your game plans, studied how you attack the football field and try to have different ways to combat that, that they don’t (employ) against other teams. So, for us, it’s kind of coming in with that mindset of being prepared for everything, making sure you really go into detail with the scouting reports and things like that — because you know you’re going to get the best effort and the best changeup from every single team.”
Mathieu said he agreed with Reid’s assessment that the Chiefs defence — overhauled last year with an entirely different coaching staff to implement a new base 4-3 system, with many new better fit players to boot — did not come “near to what we could be” in 2019.
“I agree,” Mathieu said. “We could’ve been so much better, especially the production at the ball. I think I dropped eight interceptions by myself. Just understanding that if you make certain plays, it would’ve completely changed how well we played.
“I thought we played well, but it could’ve been great. So, I think that’s the motivation this year, that we know we can really get better.”
Hence Reid and his hammer. “Grow. Continue to grow,” he said of his message to the Chiefs defence, which seems to be the team’s overall mantra in 2020. “And want that, cherish that, as a player. We’re giving you things to even be greater than what you are now.
“Likewise on offence. We’re going to keep attacking that thing offensively and giving you things that you can really benefit from, as a player and as a team.”
DALTON A WANTED MAN
Even more than the most violent road house in the Deep South, New England Patriots fans want Dalton.
No, not the fictional, peerless bouncer of movie fame. Rather, Andy Dalton, the Cincinnati Bengals’ starting quarterback of the past 10 seasons, who got cut on Thursday.
Boston Sports Syndicate polled its Twitter followers on this question: Should the Patriots sign Andy Dalton?
By Friday afternoon 61 per cent of respondents had voted yes, 39 per cent no.
As much as it appears to most observers outside Foxborough that the now Tom Brady-less Patriots could use Dalton more than any team in the league, we all know that Bill Belichick and Co. know better than us. Looks like they want to go with green second-year Jarrett Stidham.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are seen as the next team that could most use Dalton’s services, in the event second-year Gardner Minshew — who was benched for a stretch late last season — turns out to be nothing more than a two-month rookie wonder.
Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone on Friday morning said his team might possibly add a veteran QB to back up Minshew. Dalton? Maybe, maybe not, even if half of Twitter concluded as much.
If not New England or Jacksonville, there just doesn’t appear to be any starting possibilities in 2020 for either Dalton or fellow released 2011 draft pick Cam Newton — at least before the inevitable wave of injuries create vacancies, starting in September.
EXTRA POINTS
In finally announcing the signing of undrafted Canadian free agent Rysen John of Simon Fraser University, the New York Giants designated the 6-foot-7, 237-pound college receiver as a tight end.
I thought we played well, but it could’ve been great. So, I think that’s the motivation this year.