ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE TOUB
Q: On the decision to punt instead of kick a field goal early in the Jaguars game.
TOUB: “In pregame – like I talked about before – we always go through his (Harrison Butker) warm up, and we felt like his yard line on that side was (the) 35-yard line so we were two and a half yards outside of that spot and it was early in the game. Sometimes you’ve got to weigh it out and say, ‘Do we kick it, miss it, give them filed position?’ Our defense was playing great. We decided to play field position in that case, and Tommy (Townsend) came through and put it on the one (yard-line) now they have to go 99 yards. I’m glad Tommy came through, didn’t hit a touchback right there, it would have been a bigger issue. I think you have to protect (Harrison) Butker, too. We come to a decision on where we’re going to go, and I don’t want to try to go out of that zone early in the game. Later in the game, we can stretch it a little bit when we need it. It’s all about percentages of what we think he can make and not make.”
Q: What do you coach a player to do when they lose a ball in the sun on punt return?
TOUB: “I think he (Richie James) thought he was – and I’m speaking for him – I think he thought he was in the perfect position to catch it. You watch the tape on the TV copy, and you can see his eyes. He was looking at the ball, it wasn’t like he was looking at the coverage or anything. He thought he was looking at the ball, and all of the sudden it moved late on him. Obviously, it didn’t work out like we wanted it to. He is a good catcher, that was an odd ball, a thing that I don’t think is going to be a problem going forward. We just need him to get better (healthy).”
Q: Do you ever intentionally try to kick the ball into the sun?
TOUB: “Oh yeah, we’ll look at that. The sun makes a difference, and we’ll – depending on if we win the (coin) toss, lose the toss it depends on our kick direction, so we know we’re going to get it in the second half and all those things, all that stuff comes into play all the time.”
Q: What goes into your decision on who you pick as returners?
TOUB: “NFL experience preferably. There’s a big difference between college and NFL catching punts and kickoffs and guys coming down the field, the type of ball, hang times and different stuff you’re going to get. I’d rather have a guy that’s done it in a game, so he has that experience. We have guys who have done it and done it at a high level, so we’ll be okay. We just need 17 (Richie James) to get back healthy again.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR STEVE SPAGNUOLO
Q: Is the defense ahead of where you thought it might be and if so, what are some of the reasons why?
SPAGNUOLO: “I don’t know – my expectations are never, ‘We’re going to be here, after two games, we’ll be there.’ It’s always the hope that we’re going to get better. I’ll tell you what I told them Tuesday, that I’m proud of the way they played, and we have to just keep stacking those kind of games. We kind of put it to bed real quickly on Tuesday, and we’re on to Chicago now. We’ve done some good things, (but) that doesn’t mean it’s going to continue because it’s a different challenge this week than it was last week. There’s a whole different challenge, a lot of unknowns here in our opinion. Hopefully the play in certain situational areas, hopefully that remains the same because I think that’s always really important – third-down, red zone – we probably haven’t had as many turnovers as we’d like to get, we still can probably sure up some tackling in areas here and there. Really, generally overall in the run defense, it’s not quite where we want it – I’m talking mostly just first and second down. Those are some of the things we looked at and talked about on Tuesday as we got ready for this game.”
Q: How do you quantify the impact Chris Jones has on the defense?
SPAGNUOLO: “Chris (Jones) is an all-pro player, so I think he influences what offensive lines do – if anybody on either side of the ball in any football is going to concentrate assets to one guy, it should open things for other guys, I think that’s happened a little bit in this last game for us. Hopefully that continues to happen because guys like George (Karlaftis), Mike (Danna) and Felix (Anudike-Uzomah) we need that – I thought Derrick (Nnadi) had a really good game, knocking that ball down was really important. Having a player like Chris in there certainly opens things up for the other guys.”
Q: Are you surprised with what Chris Jones was able to do with so little practice?
SPAGNUOLO: “In some regards, no. I think we talked about this before he got back, he’s always kept himself in really great shape, so I really didn’t worry about that part. We did fear the injury things just because your body is not trained for what you have to go through on a Sunday. But I think (Defensive Line Coach) Joe (Cullen) and (Assistant Defensive Line Coach) Terry (Bradden) managed it pretty good; the numbers came out about where we thought they should. I think he was in the 30’s somewhere with numbers of plays, and we’ll just see as we go forward but we like having him out there.”
Q: What do you think of the defensive red zone performances?
SPAGNUOLO: “I think mostly is I hope it continues (laughter). I was proud of those guys, the way we stood up in the red zone in some adverse situations. Down there more than any other place on the field, I think that the group has to play like that, and it’s not just about an individual making plays here or there, you’ve got to be on all cylinders down in the red zone because things happen fast (Head Coach) Andy (Reid) talks about that all the time. I thought the way we functioned down there – we’ve done a couple of different things, not a lot different, maybe just enough tweaks in there to help us. Last year, if I remember correctly, one of the things that was challenging back there when we went back and studied was controlling the quarterback with beating us with his feet or getting out of the pocket and making plays. If we can keep doing that – and this week going to a pretty good challenge with the quarterback we got down there (Bears QB Justin Fields).”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT NAGY
Q: What are the coaching points with Jawaan Taylor this week?
NAGY: “Again, we talked Week 1 about some of the drops with the wideouts, emphasizing it, but yet not making it such a huge deal to where it impacts him (Jawaan Taylor) again this week. Jawaan is a really really good football player, he’s a great person, he wants to be better. The only thing you can possibly do is just continue to just keep practicing with the cadence, whether it’s verbal or nonverbal which we were more nonverbal there in Jacksonville. So, just keep working on it and if there's times in practice where it happens, why did it happen and how do we fix it. We know that officials and other teams are looking for it, he knows that. We know that, so we just have to keep working at it. That’s the only thing you can do.”
Q: In the Jaguars game, you guys were able to start the second half with a 30-yard run, how does that help your offense in totality?
NAGY: “It’s big. Any big plays, explosives, when you have a big – and especially in the run game that’s an easy breather for the quarterback, it’s a great momentum builder for the O-line, it sets the defense because now play action is better because you are running it, and then when you do it the first play of the third quarter, that’s momentum as far as being able to just get going and get points. So, that was great. But (we had) too many drives last week where we were going backward, and we’re way too detailed and way too hard on ourselves in regards to making sure that coaches and players are on the same page with doing everything the right way and not beating ourselves. Jacksonville, that’s a great defense and a great team, but it just goes to show in the end, when you play like that, we still won the game; now what can we do when don’t do that had kind of been where we are at this week.”
Q: On favoring the pass game over the run game in the first two games.
NAGY: “Well, every game you always have an idea of what you think you want to do, and then you get into the game and you have to adjust to what’s working and what’s not working. I think (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid does such a great job since the day he started coaching of being able to really formulate how we want to win, start off that way, and then personnel-wise and whatever it is schematically and if the run game is going. Then we’ll go ahead and get to that if the pass game is going – it just so happens there's been a few more passes recently. I think if you know Coach Reid, that probably doesn’t shock you. That’s who we are, and we want to be able to be balanced and we have great players to be able to do both.”
Chiefs Player Quotes
September 21, 2023
T JAWAAN TAYLOR
Q: Can you walk us through the game for you and what was going on in your head?
TAYLOR: “A lot of highs and lows definitely, but overall, I feel like my performance wasn’t too bad. But the penalties definitely have to be cleaned up.”
Q: Having a game that wasn’t your best, where are you at mentally?
TAYLOR: “I’m fine mentally. I didn’t let it get the best of me. I just want to go out there and be my best and help my team win.”
Q: How do you work on avoiding false starts and procedural penalties?
TAYLOR: “Definitely just been working on it this week to clean it up. (I) definitely know that’s a problem that needs to be fixed. (It’s a) good thing I have a great group of coaches around me to help me fix it. Just staying poised throughout the game, staying even keeled not letting it get the best of me. (I’m) definitely working to fix it. That’s pretty much it.”
Q: What does it say about the teams that you can deal with adversity and still find ways to win games?
TAYLOR: “It just tells – our coaching, having a great group of coaches like that they keep us up throughout the week and let us know, ‘Things happen, but at the end of the day, we just have to go out there and get a win.’ Everybody knows that, so I feel like everybody plays with great poise.”
HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “As far as injuries go, the guys that didn’t practice today were (Nick) Bolton and Richie James. They're making progress and just weren’t able to practice. Kadarius (Toney) practiced, and Willie (Gay) practiced those were the other guys that were hurt a little bit, (Isiah) Pacheco he’s practicing. (I) look forward to the challenge of playing the Bears, good football team, you know how things are in the league, every team is good, that’s just how it works out. We had a good week of preparation and again, like I said, look forward to the challenge of playing here at (GEHA Field at) Arrowhead. With that, the time is yours.”
Q: Do you have to address with the players how dangerous every team can be or do the veterans take care of that?
REID: “Yeah, I don’t even look into that. When you’re in the season, you’re so occupied with trying to maximize what you can do, that’s where your energy goes. I don’t look at that and I'm not sure the players look at that, there’s no time for all that.”
Q: Is Kadarius Toney feeling better?
REID: “I think so, I mean we just finished. I’ll see, I mean he was good at the end there.”
Q: If Nick Bolton is unable to play, will Drue Tranquill likely be his replacement?
REID: “Yeah, he’s been working in there. I mean he’s a part of – (Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spags (Spagnuolo) has all of these different packages so everybody has a chance to play and he’s got all of the experience so he would be most likely candidate.”
Q: As you guys are working on being more in sync on offense, do you feel the unit has progressed this week?
REID: “We’re working at it. We will see how things go on Sunday. The guys work hard, (so) we’ll just see how it works out.”
Q: The Bears QB, Justin Fields, is known to have speed. How did your scout team do with replicating that this week?
REID: “I mean you’re talking about a guy that has been as fast as (Dolphins wide receiver) Tyreek (Hill) in a number of cases. I’m not sure we have that but we have Chris (Oladokun) who jumped in and I thought did a nice job for us, running around and doing what - playing the game. I mean this kid (Bears QB Justin Fields) is 230 lbs., 6’3”, and can run as fast as Tyreek, that’s pretty good.”
Q: BYU football is playing against Kansas tomorrow. Will you have time to see any old friends?
REID: “I probably won't be able to get to it but you know, I love BYU. I also love Kansas, I do have blue blood in me, you can take that any way you want.”
Q: On the Bear’s defense.