Despite awkward moment between Andy Reid, Jack Del Rio after Raiders loss to Chiefs, the two insist no bad blood

Immediately following the Raiders loss to the Chiefs 21-13 Thursday night, the two head coaches for each team met at midfield as they usually do and cameras caught what appeared to be a death stare from Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio directed at Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, prompted by a pat on the shoulder from Reid.

In Reid’s press conference Friday, he was asked if there was any kind of bad blood between he and Del Rio and he insisted that was not the case.

“Not at all,” said Andy Reid via Arrowhead Pride. “Jack and I are actually good friends. I know people don’t like to hear that because it’s the Raiders. No, not at all. I know the picture, I patted him on the shoulder after we shook hands.”

The idea of there being some kind of grudge continued to circulate, mainly because that video looks a whole lot like something is going on.

Midday Friday, Del Rio chimed in on Twitter to try and smooth things over, saying there is nothing personal.

Not to nitpick here, but that leaves out the possibility that the issue Del Rio has about business. That being the business of football.

The Mercury News thinks they pinpointed a glimpse there may be more to this, using something Del Rio said after the Chiefs beat the Raiders earlier this season, when he seemed to take a little shot at quarterback Alex Smith.

“If [Smith] got to rely on throwing the ball, it’s really not his strong suit,” Del Rio said at the time. “But if you allow them to run the ball, do some of their gimmicky things, then he comes to life.”

Del Rio takes this rivalry very seriously, saying after the win over the Bills “It’s Chiefs week!”. Incidentally Del Rio grew up a Raiders fan and actually played a couple seasons for the Chiefs in 1987-88. So, he’s seen things from the KC ‘Raider week!’ side of things too.