OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t have any injuries for you – updates for you there, guys are just coming in. All in all, it was a good win yesterday. That’s a tough place (New England) to play, and they have all these games they have lost by just one score. To be able to put together points on the board with some really good thing – six out of the eight first possessions were really good drives for us offensively. Defensively to be able to come back and do what we did there, I thought was good. They (the Patriots) had a couple drives they put together, but for the most part, our defense I thought did a real nice job. I thought special teams did a nice job – I mentioned Tommy (Townsend) yesterday at the beginning of the press conference after the game, that punt of his was really something special and at a good time for it to happen. All and all coming out of that game with the results that we had, I thought were positive. There are some good things to build on, plenty of things to work on but some good things definitely took place. I liked where Pat (Mahomes) was in the game, the job that he did, throwing for over 300 yards – the turnover issue was a little bit self-inflicted from our standpoint, we’ve got to catch the ball better and so on. Then Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) to step in and do what he did, he really did a nice job there with the running back spot. There were some nice things that were done with the receivers (and) tight ends. I thought there were some real positive things done there. The offensive line – that’s a good defensive front. Obviously, their run game – the way they presented themselves in the run game, they’re first in the league. We were able to do some things there to keep them off balance defensively. Again, the pressure we were able to put on the quarterback whether it was from the linebacker position, secondary position (or) from the defensive line I thought was – that’s tough to stop from an offensive standpoint. I thought that was productive there. I thought some of the tackling we did was very good, you’ve got to be able to do that down the stretch in particular in cold weather games. Anyways, with that, time’s yours.”
Q: Do you plan to continue to give Kadarius Toney the same amount of opportunities going forward?
REID: “I’m not going to get into all of that. The obvious is that he (Kadarius Toney) has to make sure he catches the ball and does that. He’s got a tremendous amount of talent. He’s a good kid, good attitude, good kid. You have to make those plays; he knows it as well as anybody. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Q: You played a lot of two and three tight end sets yesterday. Was that Patriots specific or is that something you plan to use more going forward?
REID: “We’ve been doing quite a little bit of that throughout the year. Noah (Gray) is a good football player, and so we’ve tried to utilize him more as we go and (he) still has a big dose of the special teams, he has done very well. Blake (Bell) has also done a nice job when called on. We feel comfortable with the three tight end positions, too. We’ve done that though throughout. To have the flexibility to give them different personnel groups, still use the three wides (wide receivers) I think is good also, a good mixture helps.”
Q: On the Isiah Pacheco surgery.
REID: “It wasn’t the muscle. He’ll be back this week. He’ll be good to go this week, unless there is a further set back. Right now, everything is positive for him to go. He really had clearance last week – from the fellow who did the surgery – to go. It was just a matter of being cautious (with) it.”
Q: Is ball security still an issue?
REID: “You can’t have those things; we’ve got to do a better job of hanging on to the football. Absolutely – (keep the ball) covered in traffic, (Rashee) Rice actually had it covered and then he took his arm off of it when he kind of spun around. As important as these guys – as hard as they’re playing to get those extra yards, there’s a point where the ball security overrules that. The young guys, they have to figure that out, and we’ve got to do better. You’ve got to keep that thing up against your body, you’ve got to keep it high and tight and covered in traffic. If it takes you out of that element by trying to spin around and make extra yards you have to forget about that and keep the ball secured. We’ve got to do better there, yes.”
Q: Do you worry that Patrick Mahomes’ frustration will affect how he plays?
REID: “Listen, I think he’s competitive, just like you are, right? I mean we all are. We’re in this thing, you’ve got to get your numbers, and we’ve got to get our numbers and W’s and L’s and all that stuff. It’s a competitive business, and he drives that thing. His demand on guys ends up being a big part of this and makes us what we are, makes us better. The great ones do that, so listen, (if) you’re going to drop a ball or you’re going to tip a ball or you’re going to fumble a ball, he’s going to let you know, ‘Let’s go.’ In whatever manner he does, and he gets on himself if he does something negative, but that’s a welcomed thing. I don’t think it’s a negative – I don’t think it’s a discouraging thing for him. He’s just very competitive and wants it right.”
Q: Will Isiah Pacheco be available to just practice or to play against the Raiders?
REID: “I think he’ll play this week. I think he’ll be ready to go. That was the clearance that he had to be able to do that.”
Q: With Richie James recently coming back and Justyn Ross being cleared to return in this coming week, what do you see their roles being?
REID: “We’ll have to see on (Justyn) Ross just to where that goes. I’ll get with (General Manager Brett) Veach today, and we’ll go through all of that. Richie (James) though, has got to play more than two snaps, so that’s my responsibility on that. I didn’t have him in on enough stuff. He’s a good football player though.”
Q: How often do you guys have to run a play that is a little different than a normal play in practice before you trust it in the game?
REID: “I’ve been saying I was going to call it the last few weeks, and it just wasn’t the right opportunity to do it but that was a good spot for it right there but it wasn’t because we were ready to run it at that time, that’s not what I’m saying. We’ve been ready for the last few weeks on it, but you work on it once or twice a week and then you build enough weeks on it, then you feel pretty good about that to answer your question, on whatever play it is. It’s kind of different, that one was obviously a little different. That one was from I believe it was the Penn vs Columbia game in the forties.”