OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t have anything to give you on the injury front yet, we’re getting things going here right now. Great game yesterday afternoon. I thought the players came out and executed well, both sides of the ball and special teams. I thought the coordinators had good gameplans for the guys. There were some great individual performances that took place. You always start with the O- and D-line, whether it was the O-line coming out and setting the tempo there with aggressive play, Trey (Smith) – that whole group, Creed (Humphrey), both tackles I thought did a nice job. Then the running back, (Isiah) Pacheco played hard and aggressive, Pat (Mahomes) did a nice job likewise. All around just a good solid job there. Defensive line really started the fight up front there and had pressure on the quarterback, kept him in the pocket, which was big, that helped out with the backend. The linebackers, who I thought tackled well, then the secondary which stayed aggressive and challenged receivers. Again, I thought George (Karlaftis) and Chris (Jones) did a nice job up front there. Then the guys that had to fill in, I thought they did well when asked to step in and do their job. Then special teams wise, we did a good job there. With that time’s yours.”
Q: When you look back to the loss on Christmas Day to the Raiders and the tough stretch leading up to that. Were there things you saw during that time that led you to believe this was still a team that could make a run to the Super Bowl?
REID: “I think that was a good wake up call for us. They (the Raiders) came out with great emotion, (Raiders Head Coach) Antonio (Pierce) had them ready to go. That emotion was the thing that jumped out at you – that they played with – I think it gave our guys a nice little – for (lack of) a better term a wakeup call that, ‘Listen we need to step things up here. Things aren’t just going to fall in our lap.’ We’re taking everyone’s best shot, here’s a team that went through some adversity, and they stepped up and were able to present themselves like they did. We were able to learn from it and move on. I felt all along though (that) we had the ability to do that, like I said, we need a little kick in the tail there.”
Q: Considering the comments on social media by Kadarius Toney yesterday, has his status with the team changed? Will he be back practicing with the team this week?
REID: “I actually haven’t seen it; I’ve heard people talk about it. Yeah, he’ll be back out there, and we’ll see how he does.”
Q: It seemed as if Kadarius Toney was indicating that he was not hurt on his social media post. Is there any change in his status on that front?
REID: “Obviously, he’s been on the injury report, that part is not made up by any means. He’s been working through some things; he’ll be back out there.”
Q: How much do you think about the legacy that Patrick Mahomes is currently building?
REID: “We see it every day, you’re right, we don’t take that for granted. We respect the job that he does, and we appreciate it, we know we’re seeing something special, and he’s still young in this business. That’s a great thing for the Chiefs, it’s a great thing for the city. It’s somebody you can build around and (General Manager) Brett Veach does a great job with that of making sure that other positions are relative to that. It’s a positive thing that we’re very aware of is the best way I can say it. By the way I just want to put a shout out (to) (Nick) Allegretti too for stepping in and doing the job he did – and (Deon) Bush those were two guys I thought did nice jobs stepping in.”
Q: What will this week look like balancing the players getting some rest while still game planning?
REID: “The way it will look here, the guys will come in today, we have a team meeting a little later today. Then they have a couple of days off, then they will come back on Thursday, and we’ll start our normal week. We’ll try to get everything done here the best we can and once we get down there (to Las Vegas) it’s a good review for us and still keep ourselves in shape, in football shape, so we’re ready to go.”
Q: In your years of coaching, where does this defense stack up and how important was it for you to bring Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in?
REID: “I guess I can start with that; I mean that was important. We have a history together, so I knew what to expect and where he (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) would go with things. He had a young bunch and an older group that was tremendous for us, but they kind of aged out, then we had this influx of new young guys that what he did with them was great – of teaching. All of his guys did that, they did a great job of teaching, and the kids were receptive to it, and you’re seeing the rewards of that now. Is one of the better defenses? Yeah, I’d say it’s one of the better defenses that I’ve been around. We had some real good ones in Philadelphia and some of the early defenses here, I don’t want to slight those guys, they did a nice job for us. Surely, this is a defense that has helped guide this team along as the offense was growing and now that both are playing well, that’s a tribute to everybody involved. What Steve has done and then what (Offensive Coordinator Matt) Nags has done on the offensive side helping them grow.”
Q: How do you go about creating turnovers? Is it something you can coach?
REID: “You have to have a dance partner, so they’ve got to make sure that we’re doing the right things defensively and putting ourself in the right positions to have an opportunity to make a turnover. Then the other side has to give you that opportunity. I would say though, it was great to see – we had a chance for another one too, (Nick) Bolton’s got that cast on, that son of a gun. The fact that he’s even playing is a great thing and making the tackles he’s made. I don’t know how he does it, but he had a chance for another one. The guys are doing a great job, they’re doing job with their eyes right now. That will be real important in a couple weeks here when we play the 49ers.”
Q: Thinking back to training camp, is there anything that has surprised you or impressed you with this team this season?
REID: “I’d tell you yes. It’s a group that has a – there’s a great spirit about them. There’s a certain toughness that they have to where they don’t get down on each other, they challenge each other, they support each other, and it’s been that way through the highs and the lows. I mean nothing has changed. (ESPN Reporter) Adam (Teicher) mentioned that Raiders game, well they just said, ‘Hey, we have to up our game.’ It wasn’t us as coaches jumping up and down on them, they took it within themselves to say, ‘We know what we are and can be, we’ve got to do it.’ That jumps out at me, just that attitude. I mentioned after the Buffalo game, I mentioned yesterday afternoon that there’s a grit to that and maybe you’re not the most talented, maybe you’re not the fastest or the quickest of whatever, but let’s go maximize what we are and let the chips fall where they may.”
Q: After the game, Patrick implied that Travis improved on the third down route that he dove to catch. What was the intention of that play originally?
REID: “He (TE Travis Kelce) was working more across, and he kind of came back on that a bit. Pat (Mahomes) was moving so he had to get himself in position to get there. I mean the fact that he laid out like that, I’ve seen him to a lot of things (but) I really haven’t seen that right there where he had to be in that position parallel to the ground and two inches off the ground to make the catch. That’s tough without the ball hitting the turf there, so that’s a great job by him, something I guess he’s kept in the pocket for a while and showed us.”