KANSAS CITY Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said his team’s Super Bowl preparations had not been affected by the car crash involving his son that left a five-year-old girl fighting for her life.
Reid’s 35-year-old son Britt, an assistant coach with the Chiefs, is under investigation for driving under the influence following the multi-vehicle accident, which occurred on Thursday.
Two children were injured when the truck Reid was driving struck a parked car the two girls were passengers in. A five-year-old girl is reported to have suffered a brain injury and is in a coma following the crash.
“My heart goes out to all those that were involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl that’s fighting for her life,” Andy Reid said after the Chiefs’ 31-9 defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“It’s a tough situation. I can’t comment on it anymore than what I am here…but from a human standpoint my heart bleeds for everybody involved in that,” the head coach added.
Asked later if the accident had disrupted the Chiefs preparations leading into Sunday’s game, Reid reiterated: “I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you my heart bleeds for the people involved in it.
“But it wasn’t a distraction as far as the gameplan goes. We drew up the plan a week ago. So from a human standpoint it’s a tough one. But from a football standpoint it’s two separate things.”
Reid, meanwhile, took full responsibility for his team’s abject performance. The Chiefs were outplayed in all departments, and were left ruing a string of costly penalties that helped the Bucs surge into an early lead.
“As far as this game goes, they played better than we did,” Reid said.
“I take full responsibility for it. You just can’t do the things we did and beat a good football team like that, particularly at this level.
“You can’t have that many penalties in a game. It’s uncharacteristic and it’s too bad it happened today. It was a bad day to have a bad day.
Reid said he had no clue his team would save their worst performance of the season for the most important game.
“I didn’t see this coming at all,” he said. “I thought these guys would roll up and play the way we’ve been playing. I didn’t anticipate this happening, no.
“We’ve got to play better and use it as motivation to get back here again.”
- Originally published at 10:51am
