Kansas City’s second-year tackle spoke to reporters after being benched in Friday’s game.
One of the reasons the Kansas City Chiefs’ “Black Friday” 19-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders feels more like a loss is the continuing trend of unacceptable pass protection. For the second time in two weeks, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked.
Late in the fourth quarter, left tackle Wanya Morris remained on the bench to be replaced by guard Joe Thuney. Mike Caliendo came off the sideline to take over at left guard in the new formation.
In the locker room after the game, a dejected Morris had no illusions about how rough his play was on Friday.
“I’ve got to be better,” he admitted. “[I’ve] got to be better in certain situations and just overall. Obviously, it’s good to get the W, but, I’m disappointed in myself. I know I’m better than that, and I can perform better than that. So, I apologize to my teammates. They did a good job lifting me up. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to go out there and do better.”
In the team’s postgame media remarks, head coach Andy Reid explained the decision to pull Morris was made jointly with offensive line coach Andy Heck.
“Wanya was struggling a little bit,” Reid recalled. “I moved Joe over there [and put] Caliendo in at guard. I thought it was the right thing to do at that time. I talked to Andy about it, and he agreed with it. So, we made that move. It just solidified things. Pat took a few hits there, so we were struggling at times.”
In Mahomes’ comments, he deferred to the coaching staff to make the right decision.
Denny Medley-Imagn Images
“Whoever’s out there — I trust those guys to go out there and make it happen,” said the face of football. “I’ve seen those guys play, and they’ve played at high levels. The coaches made a move, and I felt the guys went in there and did a good job. I’ve got to trust it.
“I think there were times I didn’t trust it on that last drive. If I can trust it, maybe I make some of those throws, and we’re not in the situation we were in at the end of the game.”
Morris described what learning he was being taken out of the game felt like.
“Disappointment,” he remarked, “because as a competitor, as an athlete, this is something you dream about. This is one of those games you dream about. So just going out there and just being better — I’ve got to be better for myself, for my team, for my brothers, man. I’ve just got to be better.”
Besides surrendering sacks, Morris also had trouble with penalties, with another false start call on Friday compounding an already difficult third-down situation that eventually saw the Chiefs punt. Morris cites his two greatest issues are penalties and not being able to adjust in games after defenders become more familiar with him.
“Penalties — you can’t and do anything going backwards,” the second-year pro noted. “Technique-wise, when it gets late in the game, and those guys know you and know what you’re going to do, find a counter-attack. You know, finding something different to come out there with.
“That just comes with experience. It comes with learning, and this is just one of those things I had to learned. So, get back to the drawing board and do it again.”
Negative plays are clearly the reason the Chiefs made the in-game move.
“Penalties are a killer in this league,” said Reid. “Then the sacks are killers. Going backwards.”
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Whether Morris will get a chance to redeem himself in Week 13 against the Los Angeles Chargers remains to be seen. The status of the recently signed veteran left tackle DJ Humphries will be the most speculated Chiefs story of the coming week.
Morris will spend next week learning from the experience, vowing to correct his mistakes for the next time he sees the film.
“Just more film,” he said of his plans after the benching. “Get in the weight room and just work on my technique doing things after practices. Doing more than a regular person — than the average athlete — would. You’ve got to push your limits, and there’s no better time to learn when you get your ass beat.
“It sucked to get your ass beat. When you get your ass beat, you have two responses: you could lay down or you can get back up and try something new. So, I’m going to get back up to try something new.”