A week after he minced no words about Andy Reid’s refusal to sneak the ball, Mitchell Schwartz is defending the Kansas City Chiefs coach’s postgame answer about the sneak that finally came but failed.

The Chiefs finally ran a quarterback sneak Sunday, and backup quarterback Justin Fields fumbled it on their first possession of a 35-12 win over the New York Jets that moved them to 6-2. Schwartz, a former Chiefs offensive lineman who won a Super Bowl with the team, weighed in on Reid’s postgame answer about the play.

Mitchell Schwartz Defends Andy Reid Over Failed Justin Fields Sneak

When asked about the sneak after the game, Reid answered with a question: “I mean, you guys asked for it, so we gave it to ya, and it didn’t work. How’d you feel?” Then he turned to the sneak play: “Those are hard to practice live. A quarterback sneak is hard to practice unless you do it in a game.”

Once he had seen Reid say it, Schwartz offered his reading of the answer: “He’s joking around and not in the slightest bit being a [expletive], spiteful, etc. Had a feeling that might be the case. The quote in written form does his response zero justice.”

Schwartz also took his time getting there. “I refrained from saying anything too much because I really wanted to see the clip first and I’m glad I did,” he tweeted.

Earlier, Kansas City’s first drive had reached a third-and-1 at its own 34 when Fields, who spent last season with the Jets, came on for his first action of the season. He fumbled the snap.

Fields was initially ruled down for no gain, but the Jets challenged, and replay showed that he had fumbled, with Demario Davis recovering for New York. Jason Sanders turned the short field into a 48-yard field goal and a 6-0 Jets lead.

Notably, Fields did not dress it up afterward: “I just fumbled. We just didn’t execute.”

Schwartz was among the voices taking Reid to task after the Chiefs’ 28-24 loss at Denver on Nov. 1, a game that ended with Kansas City’s final drive stopped on downs.

His verdict on the finish was blunt: “Can’t get a freaking yard from the 1 yard line because you refuse to sneak the ball, WITH A TIME OUT. … YOU HAVE MULTIPLE CHANCES AT IT. WELL DESERVED LOSS.” Reid saw it another way after that loss: “We’ve been pretty successful without running it.”

The sneak has been a sore subject in Kansas City since 2019, when Patrick Mahomes dislocated his right kneecap on one against Denver and missed two games. Mahomes has not taken a sneak since.

Since the 2020 season, Kansas City has kept the ball with Mahomes on a non-scramble run from under center on third or fourth down with 1 or 2 yards to go just twice, and each time it was an option play, not a true sneak.

Fields came up as a possible answer that same week. With the backup floated as a sneak option on Nov. 4, Reid said, “We could, yeah. We’ll see.”

Four days later, Fields was the one under center for it, becoming the first Chiefs quarterback to attempt a sneak since Mahomes was injured on one in 2019. It failed, but it came in a 23-point win, and that was the setting for the answer Schwartz has now defended.

Kansas City is ranked seventh in PFN’s Offense Impact Score with a grade of 82.4 through nine weeks.