Chiefs News 11/21: Chris Jones can’t turn ‘on and off’ like he could

During his weekly Zoom call with Kansas City media on Monday, Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid denied that the run game is being ignored. He explained that the results of calling run-pass option (RPO) plays have slanted towards passing.

“We’re calling quite a few of the RPOs,” Reid said. “[The Broncos] were giving us opportunities to throw the football, so we utilized the opportunities there, and those things end up being as good as a run for you. We’re getting four plus yards, and you go with it. The runs are being called — it’s just sometimes they get turned into passes in today’s world. That’s how it goes. We’re getting them in.”

The coach also acknowledged he should have considered using true run plays in the losses.

“Now, we have some hard runs where you just get up, line up and go. [We] probably could call more of those.”

Before Wednesday’s practice, Mahomes assessed his performance on balancing the run and pass on such plays.

“I feel like I’ve done a good job of it,” he remarked. “I think there are times when I should hand it [off], and there are times I should throw the ball more. You have to continue to read and get better and better with it. More than anything, I think it’s just giving guys chances, either catching the ball or running the ball, even if the perfect look is not there. There are times where I might’ve thrown it and we got five or six yards — and that’s a positive play — but you can hand the ball off and kind of keep defenses honest as well.”