KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid spoke with the media on Monday. Following is a transcript of his remarks.
OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t really have anything on injuries as of today, but yesterday after I had a chance to meet with you, we found out that (Ben) Niemann had cleared out of the concussion protocol. So, he’s OK to go. Other than that, everything is good as far as the injuries go up to this point. So, I’ll get you informed on it after we get everybody in. As far as the game goes, I think I have similar thoughts to after the game. Defensively, there were some good things with some of our young guys. I thought we did a better job in the red zone. I think there’s room to improve, obviously, but I think some of these young guys getting the experience they did, when we get some of the other guys back it’s going to help us down the road. I thought the guys played hard and aggressive, and we keep challenging. That’s a positive thing as we grow. Then, offensively, again I liked some of the things that went on there. Again, a ton of room to improve, but we were able to move the ball efficiently. I thought Pat (Mahomes) had an outstanding game with five touchdowns. He had the one where he was pressured and had the interception after having his arm hit. Then, I thought there were a lot of individuals that played really well. Again, like the defense, I think the more our offensive line plays together, the better they’re going to continue to get. The fact that Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) was able to get another 100-yard game I think was a positive thing. Obviously, Tyreek (Hill) with his game was tremendous too. But all in all, we have plenty of room to improve as a team, whether it’s special teams, offense or defense. But we’ve got to keep pounding like we have been in practice to work to get better. Then, we’ve got a good team coming in here, so we know that and we’ve got to have a good week of preparation for that. Time’s yours.”
Q: Ben Niemann was involved in a play yesterday where it looked like he forced and recovered a fumble, but it wasn’t challenged. Can you take us through deciding when and how to challenge a play?
REID: “Yeah, I’ve seen that now on tape. The problem was we didn’t get any replay on it and it was on that far corner over there away from us, so it is hard to see exactly what went on. Normally you get a replay up. They didn’t present one, so we weren’t able to get a look at it. In hindsight though, yeah, I should have thrown a flag. But that’s hindsight.”
Q: How does teams going for it on fourth down against you impact how you play the game?
REID: “It’s happening all through the league. It’s crazy, teams are more willing to go for fourth downs now than ever before. And we’ve always been a willing team to do it depending on situations, but you’re seeing it on the plus-side of the field and the minus-side of the field. So, it’s football today, it’s kind of crazy. But they wanted it to be an offensive game and it’s leaning that way where people are taking more chances.”
Q: What have you seen from Clyde Edwards-Helaire that allowed him to bounce back after the fumble in Baltimore?
REID: “Yeah things happen. I think people understand that I mean (people) that know football. Things happen and he’s a talented kid and it was good that he put up back-to-back 100-yard games together. I know he and the offensive line take a lot of pride in that.”
Q: What is the probability that Willie Gay will be back in the lineup Sunday?
REID: “Yeah there’s a chance. He was kind of getting there last week so we’ll see on this piece, see where he’s at as we go forward here. I think he’s starting to feel a little bit better for sure.”
Q: Where are the points of focus for the defense?
REID: “I think there are areas we got to take care of and it’s more situations we got to take care of and certain coverages and just calls. So, the scheme and we just tighten that up a little bit I think we’ll be okay. Never quite as good as you think and never as bad as you think. A few tweaks here and there I think we’ll be alright.”
Q: Will Josh Gordon be promoted to active roster come Sunday?
REID: “Yeah I’m going to just see how he does this week and talk to him. I haven’t talked to him today, but we’ll just see kind of where he’s at and how he’s feeling. There’s a chance, but there’s a chance he’s not also. I’m going to just play it by ear and see how he feels. It’s really more of a comfort thing with the offense. I don’t want to put him in a bad situation out there.”
Q: What have you seen out of Mike Danna the past few weeks?
REID: “Yeah so listen I think Mike did a nice job actually. He had two sacks and the one thing Jarran Reed has done is given us the flexibility to move Chris (Jones) out and move him back in certain situations. We’ve kind of moved him all around is what we’ve done, and I think that’s been important and he’s done a nice job. He had several hurries yesterday; he did a nice job with that and was around the quarterback when they did throw the ball at both spots. I think the one thing it normally does out there is free him up, gives him a better opportunity to rush. We rotate them anyway so they’re all going to play whether Chris is inside or out, Mike Danna will play.”
Q: Has Patrick Mahomes had to change the dynamics of how he escapes because these offensive linemen block differently?
REID: “One thing that’s crazy and doesn’t get talked about much is that the quarterbacks all know and have a great feel for their offensive line’s strengths, weaknesses, where they can escape against certain techniques that they’re playing against if they need. Is it other teams working games on them and then where’s the escape pattern there if needed? So, those are all things that get calculated and how your guys handle that. Once you get into the game part, how do they handle it together? It could be a 3-man game, a 2-man game, and how’s that handled? And then, how do you keep your eyes downfield and let that feel take you where you need to go? That takes a little bit of time and adjustment. So, he’s going through that whole process now. He did it during training camp, we had live periods and now he’s doing the same thing now in these games, but I thought it was pretty good yesterday against some good rushers. Those two inside techniques were good and the two outside guys, because those two inside guys are so good, they don’t get enough credit. I think this is a pretty good defensive line there.”
Q: Is there anything that you feel has been missing from the defensive line and how important is it to get Chris Jones going in the pass rush?
REID: “I think that you play three run teams is a factor to it and that’s probably added to the numbers there. I think that you start getting guys back in here and I think you add Frank [Clark] in the equation. Frank was an All-Pro and you’re missing that element, but I think once we get everyone back in there going and kind of in the flow, I think it will pick up a little bit. Second half, I thought it was better. When you look at it, the first half wasn’t quite as good as the second half.”
Q: Is there somebody on the staff or in the booth responsible for replays?
REID: “Absolutely, but when you start throwing the flag, you want to know what you’re throwing it for and so you expect replays to show up in a certain amount of time and that didn’t happen. So, you want to make sure. I’m not going to throw the flag unless I’m absolutely sure that that’s what’s going on. Timeouts are valuable in this league, so I should try to keep those close to the vest unless I know something.”
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