Andy Reid has plenty to be thankful for this holiday season. The 11-1 Chiefs, coming off their first Super Bowl in 50 years, are riding a seven-game winning streak and, especially in the wake of Pittsburgh’s recent struggles, are looking very much like the team to beat in the AFC. Reid, who bears more than a passing resemblance to St. Nick, was in the giving mood last year when he presented Dolphins coach Brian Flores, his opponent this weekend, a thank-you platter of KC barbecue for knocking off the Patriots in Week 17.
While the Fins were long eliminated by the time Miami stunned Flores’ former team, that result proved crucial for Kansas City. With the loss, New England fell to 12-4 for the year, the same record as Reid’s Chiefs. Because KC had won its earlier matchup with New England, the Chiefs held the tiebreaker, allowing them to claim the No. 2 seed—and a first-round bye—in the AFC. Perhaps the high-powered Chiefs would have won it all anyway, but playing their first two playoff games at home certainly didn’t hurt.
The Chiefs, who return to Hard Rock Stadium this weekend for the first time since raising the Lombardi Trophy, the result of vanquishing the NFC Champion 49ers in a closely contested Super Bowl LIV, haven’t forgotten the enormous solid Miami did them by conquering the Patriots in 2019. “Brian [Flores] is a good man first of all. And so, I know how hard it is when you go play your old team and then to pull one of them off,” said Reid, remembering the euphoria of watching the Ryan Fitzpatrick-led Dolphins upset New England (in Foxboro, of all places) in last year’s regular-season finale. “It’s pretty exciting.”
The carnivorous Reid, whose affinity for meat is well-documented, rewarded Flores for his efforts by sending over a mouthwatering spread of authentic Kansas City barbecue. Not one to turn down free food, Flores was appreciative of the gesture, inviting his family over to devour Reid’s delicious feast. “It went fast,” Flores told Safid Deen of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “We enjoyed it. So, I was very thankful to Andy for that. And yeah, it went very quickly. K.C. barbecue is very good.”
Before landing his current gig in Miami, Flores oversaw a stout New England defense in 2018, serving as the Patriots’ de facto D coordinator, filling the role vacated by ex-Lions coach Matt Patricia. New England defeated KC twice—both in nail-biting fashion—that year, but evidently, Reid doesn’t hold that against Flores, a coach he has the utmost respect for. “He’s a heck of a defensive mind,” said Reid, crediting Flores for his work in the Patriots’ thrilling overtime win over the Chiefs in the 2018 AFC Championship, a game played under frigid conditions in Kansas City. “I think the Miami Dolphins know that and I think the city knows that too. He’s great. He’s great for the NFL and really great for Miami.”
Flores and company will look to shock the world again when the 8-4 Dolphins host the defending world champs Sunday in South Florida.
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