HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “So, (I) don’t really have any injury updates for you. We’ll just have to see about (Isiah) Pacheco as the week goes on here (and Charles) Omenihu as the week goes on. As far as the film study of the game – the review, (I) feel similar to what I felt after the game. There were some good things that took place but there were some things that we need to work on, especially when you’re playing a good team like that where every series is an important series whether you’re on the offensive side or the defensive side. Any mistakes can get magnified tenfold because of that, and you’ve got to make sure that you’re sharp and – whether it’s assignments or execution and we can do better in that area. We can do better as coaches of making sure (that) our guys can be put in positions to do better and to maybe back off a little bit on certain things that we’ve been doing to help the players out so that they can play a little bit faster. So anyways, in general, that’s what I would tell you on both sides of the ball. I’d tell you on the special teams side I thought we did some good things, in particular with Spencer (Shrader) and his kicking. I was proud of the kid (for) stepping in. That’s a tough environment to step into and he did well with what we asked him to. Anyways, with that, (the) time’s yours.”
Q: You mentioned wanting to look on that Xavier Worthy catch on the sideline. Do you feel any differently after looking at it? Patrick Mahomes said if he would’ve seen him earlier that it is a walk-in touchdown.
REID: “Yeah, if Pat (Patrick Mahomes) could have seen him earlier then that’s part of it but once you’re there, he (Xavier Worthy) could have dragged his foot to keep it in. He’ll be able to chalk that one up to experience but again, what Pat told you is true and so that combination – those are the little things, though. You talk about seven points there against a good football team, so we’ve got to make sure (that) we take care of business on both ends there.”
Q: You said you wanted to back off some things to help your players. Can you give an example of what you were talking about there?
REID: “Maybe it’s motions or shifts or that type of thing on the offensive side. (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) Spags – I haven’t gone through it with him yet. They’re little things but sometimes little things can add up.”
Q: When you’re playing against a guy like Bills QB Josh Allen on that fourth-and-two, what’s the balance with your defensive linemen between trying to go make a play and trying to stay in your lane to make sure he can’t scramble?
REID: “It’s a tough thing to do. I mean, especially when you’re right there. Listen, this was not an effort problem on either side of the ball, it was just an execution part. You want to try to stay in your lanes. Sometimes when it extends that long, that’s a tough thing to do. I mean, the guy’s (Bills QB Josh Allen) moving around (laughter) and all of a sudden, those lanes become skewed just a little bit. Listen, I appreciate the effort on it. The guy made a great play, and we’ll go back and learn from the thing and see what we can do better on that.”
Q: What did you see from Buffalo in their ability to cover DeAndre Hopkins and Travis Kelce?
REID: “Well they bracketed (Travis) Kelce up in certain situations. DeAndre (Hopkins) – they did it – they tried to do it in certain situations, but again, we can work through that part. They’re not the only two on the field. The other guys have opportunities when that happens.”
Q: What’s the level of frustration or disappointment that comes with the defensive line not being able to get as much pressure as they have in the past?
REID: “I don’t have the numbers for you right in front of myself. Last night probably wasn’t as much as we’d like there but the other games, I thought we had done pretty well with that as far as at least hurries for the quarterback. I was pretty happy with that.”
Q: How do you guys go about trying to get the players to build off scoring drives like the final one to Noah Gray going ahead here?
REID: “That’s a – that was one of the positives and that’s something that I can help giving my guys an opportunity to be able to do those things. I might have been a little too conservative early on, but this is what we’re capable of doing and it’s important that we get it down to where we can do that consistently.”
Q: What do you hope the rookies take away from being in an environment like Buffalo and being in that game?
REID: “You have to dig in, man. These things – these should hurt. You spend a lot of time and preparation for these games and effort and so you have to reach inside as coaches and players, not just players here. You have to figure out the problems and then work to solve them. I know I have that kind of locker room, and so I know the guys will do that. I know the coaches will do that too, but you can’t just say everything’s going to be okay. That’s not how this works. You have to dig in and it has to be – there has to be some – you have to check the ego at the door and do some self-evaluation there.”
Q: On Kingsley Suamataia being inactive against the Bills.
REID: “Kingsley (Suamataia) will be ok. It’s just – sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward and that’s what we felt we needed to do there. We’ll go from there and just see how things work out here as he continues to work forward.”
Q: Do you have any plans to bring in a veteran and how did you feel about Wanya Morris’ performance?
REID: “I actually thought Wanya (Morris) got a little bit better this week. He’s been doing that for the most part every week, but the injury stepped in on it last week for a while. I felt like he did some good things for a young guy, he improved and will continue to improve with reps there. Then, as far as a veteran player goes, (General Manager Brett) Veach is always keeping his eyes open so he would be the one that heads that up and he’s – obviously, he birddogs all that.”
Q: Do you think there is less pressure since you and the team are no longer undefeated?