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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Ed Easton Jr.

Chiefs HC Andy Reid reveals reason for benching rookie starter during game vs. Bengals

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs’ last-second victory over the Cincinnati Bengals kept the team undefeated in the young season. However, some question marks have emerged from the victory, specifically on the offensive line.

During his Sunday press conference, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid addressed his decision to sit rookie starting left tackle Kingsley Suamataia late in the game.

“Kingsley, he’s going against arguably one of the best defensive ends in the league. It would be a great experience that he could put away and learn from, but I ended up taking him out of the game,” said Reid. “Sometimes you got to take a step back to take a step forward.“

Bengals veteran pass rusher Trey Hendrickson dominated the one-on-one matchup with Suamataia. Reid is optimistic that the experience will help the former BYU stand out in the long term.

“Listen, it’s a great learning experience; sometimes, if you get beat a couple of different times and you’re a young guy, you haven’t quite figured out the answers to the test there on how to fix it,” said Reid. “Your coach talks to you, and you’ve got to settle down. That happens, so you go back, and you learn from it. Wanya will do the same. He did a nice job jumping in there, with the exception of penalties.”

Morris committed a penalty trying to block Hendrickson on the last drive, so it’s not certain that either player will start against the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday night.

“We’ll see how it goes,” said Reid. “I’m gonna go back and look at the tape, and I’ll talk with Coach (Andy) Heck, and we’ll go from there.”

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