Getty Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid in 2022.
The main Kansas City Chiefs storyline this week ahead of their grudge match with the Cincinnati Bengals has been safety Justin Reid beefing with wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and company.
It’s very uncharacteristic of a KC player to talk trash before a game since Andy Reid has been head coach, and apparently, that’s no coincidence. Big Red addressed the back-and-forth today during his December 2 press conference, dropping the proverbial hammer down on Justin Reid and the pregame chatter.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid Shuts Down Justin Reid-Bengals Drama
Toward the end of Friday’s Q&A, Herbie Teope of The KC Star asked Andy Reid if he “encourages” that kind of talk ahead of a matchup and the Chiefs HC had a definitive response.
“Yeah, I’m not real big on that,” Andy Reid reacted. “He’s new to our team so he’s aware of it now.” Big Red added that Justin Reid “wasn’t [aware of that] before.”
Teope followed up: “Chiefs coach Andy Reid said ‘he’s not a big fan’ of what S Justin Reid did the other day when the safety went back and forth with Bengals players on social media in wake of locker room comments. [Andy] Reid said the safety is new to the team and ‘didn’t understand’ but ‘knows now.'”
Woah! Talk about a swift end to this saga from Andy Reid. A fan summed up this response best in the comments, voicing: “Somebody got sent to the Principal’s office.”
This also clears up why Chiefs players never seem to entertain bulletin board material publicly. You might call it a team mandate from their head honcho, who certainly knows better than to give athletic football stars some added motivation.
After all, Andy Reid has been a head coach in the NFL for 24 years, with 242 wins and 35 postseason games (19-16). When all is said and done, he’ll go down as one of the best to ever do it and that sort of track record earns you the respect of your locker room.
Bengals Final Word on Justin Reid Chatter
After initially screwing up on the name of his target, Justin Reid clarified that he was calling out tight end Hayden Hurst rather than wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hurst didn’t take too kindly to that with a strong warning for the safety ahead of Week 13.
Chase also provided the final word on behalf of Cincinnati during a locker room conversation with Bengals reporter Elise Jesse.
Ja’Marr Chase says he doesn’t think Kansas City safety. Justin Reid watches film at all after he filled the headlines on Wednesday. 💀
“I ain’t really have no comment about it until [Justin Reid] made another comment and said everybody else was going to get locked down,” Chase told Jesse. “That’s when I buzzed in and decided to say something on Twitter” — leading to the beef we mentioned in the introduction.
“I don’t think he’s watching film at all,” Chase replied after a follow-up, “I don’t think he even knows his personnel or whoever he’s trying to check, or if he’s even checking anybody. He needs to go back and look at the film.”
Jesse also told a fan that “every single [Bengals player] said that they plan on letting the pads do the talking” on Sunday.
Case and point, this is why Andy Reid hates pregame chatter — because it turns into that dreaded bulletin board material just as Justin Reid’s remarks have done this week. The Chiefs HC had a very different opinion regarding the Bengals pass-catchers.
“They are very talented,” Andy Reid told reporters, “I think our guys will look forward to that challenge of playing them.” He also noted that “they’re a unique group” and that it “should be good competition” between the KC secondary and the Cincy offense.