Chiefs Announce Unexpected Change Ahead of NFL Playoffs

The Kansas City Chiefs are enjoying a well-deserved bye week, which they earned by snagging the top seed in the AFC ahead of the playoffs. Of course, the guys aren’t sitting around, streaming shows and eating donuts during their week off. They’re focused on the playoffs and getting to the Super Bowl once again.

On Friday, January 10, Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid spoke to the press about how he changed the team’s practice on Friday to help get ready for the NFL playoffs.

Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Makes Change

During the team’s Friday press conference, Reid made a change that doesn’t happen often during the regular season by having his No. 1 offense, guys like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, compete against his No. 1 defense. Usually, during the season, the team has their starting offense and defense practice compete with backup players.

“These are all competitive guys, but put the 1s out there against each other, they really get competitive,” Reid said. “That’s kind of a fun thing to be a part of.”

So, why did Reid make this unusual change? He says that the upcoming games are obviously make or break, so he wants to keep his players as primed as possible.

“It’s good for the guys,” Reid said of putting his top players against each other. “It’s good to get caught up like that on the speed part of it.”

He added that, “You have to make sure your game’s at the peak each time you play.”

As for the kind of motivating talks Reid is giving to his players, he said that he’ll be talking to them about staying focused and knowing what’s at stake, which is especially important for younger players who haven’t been in these kinds of playoff situations before.

‘Make Sure You Really Stay Focused,’ Chiefs’ Reid Says

“It is single elimination,” Reid added about the playoffs. “That’s easier said than putting that in your brain and getting yourself right for every snap that you have at practice to practice hard and aggressive with. You’ve just got to make sure you really stay focused and don’t let distractions in there the best you can.”

The Kansas City Chiefs will take on one of four possible opponents for their first playoff game this season: the Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos. The lowest-remaining seed of those teams will compete against the Chiefs on either January 18 or 19 in the AFC’s Divisional Round at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. In addition to their bye week, the Chiefs also scored home playoff games, thanks to being No. 1 in the AFC, so they won’t have to hit the road.

What’s cool for the Chiefs is that they’ve already played all the teams in the playoffs, which Reid pointed out on Friday.

“So, you got to go back though, (and) you can’t be content with that, so the four teams that we have a chance to potentially play in a couple weeks,” he said. “We’ve tried to hammer those out, and we’re going to continue to do that until we find out what the results are.”