On Sunday, the failure of Chiefs right tackle Eric Fisher to face the Texans and defensive end J.J. Watt sparked plenty of criticism for the first overall pick in 2013. On Monday, Kansas City coach Andy Reid was asked whether Fisher at any point said he couldn’t play or didn’t want to play against Houston.
"“No, but I can help clear that up for you,” Reid told reporters. “That’s an absolute no, he didn’t go to any coach. I know things are out there, I think it’s ridiculous. I was the one that watched him practice, and I thought – listen, if I put him out there I’m going to be putting him into a terrible situation, the kid’s trying his tail off to make it and it’s not going to work. And so, it was that simple, I pulled him out, I put [Jah Reid] in and tried to get as many reps as we could with him before it came time for the game and it went in that direction. Fish took limited reps in practice, he worked some scout team, he was trying to push through the thing, there was just no way that it was going to work.”
Reid wouldn’t say whether Fisher will be able to play with an injured ankle.
“These things are nagging, so everyone’s different and I’m just going to play it by ear and see how things roll here,” Andy Reid said. “But until he can push off or I feel that he can do that I can’t put him out there at all.”
With Jah Reid doing what Andy Reid called a “good” and “respectable” job, the head coach didn’t commit unequivocally to Fisher returning to the lineup when healthy.
“Yeah, we’ll see on all of that, that’s how this rolls,” Andy Reid said. “I’m hoping that he can get back out there.”
The Chiefs will be back out there on Thursday night against the Broncos, a team Kansas City hasn’t beaten since Peyton Manning arrived in Denver.