Andy Reid ‘wants to use all’ of the Chiefs’ huge receivers

A central curiosity popping out of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ 23-14 Divisional Spherical playoff victory towards the Houston Texans was the utilization of the staff’s huge receiver room.

Rookie Xavier Worthy was the one wideout to report a catch, ending with 5 receptions for 45 yards. Veterans Hollywood Brown, DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster mixed for under 4 incomplete targets, with solely Brown on the sphere for greater than half of Kansas Metropolis’s 49 offensive snaps.

Earlier than Wednesday’s follow, head coach Andy Reid denied any significance to the final word snap counts or goal share.

“That’s the way it worked out,” Reid defined. “We want to use all of them. They’re all good players. There’s just one ball, so it happened to go the other direction. Not for any reason it didn’t come their way – they’re all part of it.”

The opposite course it occurred that the ball went was to tight finish Travis Kelce — who turned again time with a classic stat line of seven catches for 117 yards and a landing.

Picture by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Pictures

Talking after Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes attributed Kelce’s monster efficiency to the heavy consideration gamers like Brown and Hopkins noticed.

“There was attention paid to [Brown and Hopkins],” the face of the league recalled, “they usually made certain to place a shell excessive of these guys. That allowed the center of the sphere to be open for Travis. That’s type of how you need to do on this league.

“Whenever certain matchups are working for you, you go to those. You still want to have that option, thought, and I think we’ll try to be better this week giving them more and more opportunities downfield.”

Mahomes additionally described a approach that Brown made an impression on the sport, even with out recording a catch. Within the second quarter, the 2 narrowly missed on a deep go that may have put the Chiefs into the pink zone. On the subsequent play, Mahomes discovered Kelce on the run for a 49-yard achieve to the Houston 6-yard line. Three performs later, the Chiefs scored their first landing of the afternoon.

Picture by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Pictures

“Even in the one where we didn’t complete it – the one down the field – it kind of scared them,” remarked Mahomes. “The next play, Travis hits one over the middle and makes a big play happen. That’s kind of the versatility of the offense – just finding that day what’s working best.”

Hopkins additionally spoke earlier than Wednesday’s follow. The veteran denied that his restricted utilization was injury-related, and he was not one of many 4 Chiefs listed on Wednesday’s preliminary damage report.

“I feel good,” declared Hopkins.

Brown returned final month after lacking many of the season with a shoulder damage. Reid famous the advantage of having nearly the entire staff’s offensive weapons out there over the previous few weeks however reiterated {that a} deeper room leads to fewer alternatives for particular person numbers.

“The last few weeks have been great,” stated the coach. “Everybody’s been up and ready to go. It hasn’t been a problem that way. They’re all getting in and getting a chance to play. As far as the pass game goes, it just depends on where the ball’s headed. We have full trust in all of them. They’re all really good players.”