Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
October 28, 2024
HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, I kind of felt the same way today after watching the tape as I did last night – or yesterday afternoon – that there are a lot of good things that we did. I thought defensively we played some dominant football at times and (at) very important times. In particular when our back was to the wall there, we were able to keep them out of the end zone and that was big as the game went on and (for) the result of the game. Again, there are a lot of things (that) we can work on but between the five sacks and the tackling that we made – I thought we were very strong in the tackling area. We were very strong in the knockback area at the line of scrimmage. Chris Jones (is) always a force but you also saw (that) he’s a force in the run game as much as he was in the pass game so he did a nice job there and I mean, I can go on and on with that. It was good to get a good mixture of our young guys in the secondary going. More play time between 2 (Joshua Williams) and 30 (Chris Roland-Wallace) and just working through those things. Those are good players, they just – they’re young and we’ve got to keep growing there so experience will help that. Offensively, again, I felt there were some really good things there against a good defense, I don’t want to slight their defense at all because they’re ranked pretty high in the NFL, but I thought our guys did some nice things there, especially with the pass game part of it (and) with the protection. Any time you can keep 98 (Raiders DE Maxx Crosby) out of the backfield and off of the quarterback that’s a positive thing. Pat (Patrick Mahomes) did a couple of nice things when there was a little bit of pressure, rolling out and hitting receivers. He had a nice day in general with his pass percentages and numbers and all that, so he had a couple (of) touchdowns thrown in there (and) over 250 yards throwing so those are all positives. I thought Kareem (Hunt) ran hard. That’s a stout, stout front that’s really good against the run but he ran hard and had positive yards as opposed to negative yards. We can do even better there as we go but some of the important categories were the third downs. We were very productive on third downs (and) we were very productive in the red zone. That leads to drive – longer drives that leads to points and ends up being a big production number for both of those spots. Special teams, it was great to have (Harrison) Butker drill a couple field goals there. That was great and his extra points were good too. He had a nice day, as did our punter (Matt Araiza) so that was positive. Anyways, with that, (the) time’s yours.”
Q: In making Kareem Hunt a captain against the Raiders, what message does that send on how well he has fit in and gained the respect of this group?
REID: “You know, he (Kareem Hunt) was in that class with Patrick (Mahomes) and it’s almost like he kind of never left. I mean, that’s how I think the guys that have been here see that. Then, the guys that haven’t been here have always heard about Kareem and the guys talking about him. I think that’s – he has that veteran leadership ability – runs tough and so he’s been welcomed back as if he hadn’t left. That’s why we felt comfortable doing that.”
Q: Is Kareem Hunt’s current workload something that you’re comfortable with and is it sustainable for him?
REID: “Well, listen, he (Kareem Hunt) didn’t have training camp, so I look at it like it’s the third day of training camp. He’ll start picking it up as we go here now. He’s had good work, and I think it will be even more productive going forward.”
Q: How impressive is it to you that DeAndre Hopkins was able to learn enough to play in 23 snaps and within those snaps, what were some of the takeaways that you saw?
REID: “I thought he (DeAndre Hopkins) looked good out there – did a nice job. He did a nice job in the run game, did a nice job in the pass game, had the big third down catch right off the bench and did well with that. He’s a good football player. Being able to fit in more will even be better, I think, as we go forward here. He was chomping at the bit on the sideline wanting to play and at the same time, knowing that he didn’t have all of it down so there was a patience there, but he was into the game and I think you’ll be able to see more this next game.”
Q: How do you think the long drive drills that you do in training camp help the team effectively sustain long drives in the game?
REID: “I know the guys – they talk about them. It’s a good foundation builder I think that you can kind of bank on. You’ve gone into that dark area within yourself on those long drive drills and so when you’re in a game now and you’re going – you know you can go there and you know you can function at a high level. I think it builds a confidence in the guys once you get into the season.”
Q: From where your offense was at before the bye week, where do you feel like it has improved?
REID: “(Offensive Coordinator) Matt (Nagy) put a lot of emphasis on the redzone in the bye week. He and (Quarterbacks Coach) David Girardi work on that extensively so it has improved. We’ve done a nice job down in there and we just have to keep it going as we go. We saw some things we can do even better the next time around so that – but it has been improved, it’s because of Matt really pounding down in that area.”
Q: How nice was it for the front seven of your defense be able to take care of business and not have to rely on the secondary?
REID: “That helps, I mean it helps the secondary, any pressure that you can put on the quarterback. We’re going to add another guy in here, (DE Joshua) Uche. (General Manager Brett) Veach made a trade for us with the Patriots so that will be a nice addition too, going forward. We understand that you if you take care of business up front, it helps everybody. Chris Jones not only did it in the pass game but he did it in the run game. People always say, ‘Wow, how is he in the run (game)?’ Well, he’s making tackles behind the line of scrimmage here so that’s a positive thing.”
Q: On the left tackle position.