Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
November 16, 2023
OPENING STATEMENT: “Really no injuries to talk about, everybody is going to practice today, so we’re good there. Look forward to the challenge of playing the Eagles, good football team, best record in the NFL I believe right now, well deserved. (Eagles Head) Coach (Nick) Sirianni’s done a good job, good players, their offense is tough. (Eagles Offensive Coordinator) Brian (Johnson) does a heck of a job coordinating that thing and (Defensive Coordinator) Sean (Desai) does a great job with that defense. They’re playing good football right now, look forward to coming here to GEHA Field at Arrowhead and playing the game, should be electric. I know our fans will welcome them in. Anyways, with that, time’s yours.”
Q: What’s it like going up against an organization you know so well?
REID: “It’s a well-run organization. (Eagles Executive Vice President/General Manager) Howie Roseman has done a nice job. I’m so close with a lot of people there. They do a nice job, (Eagles Chairman and Chief Executive Officer) Jeffery Lurie, it starts with him. You know you’re familiar with it, but once the game gets on, then it’s the game. You’re not worried about all that stuff.”
Q: What has been a focal point this week coming out of the bye week?
REID: “There were smaller things. I’m not going to get into all of that, but we worked on a few things, so we have plenty of room to improve. I’ve talked about that. The penalties, we’ve got to continue to work on those and eliminate those, that’s important.”
Q: The back end of your defense has been playing well, what has contributed to that?
REID: “It starts up front. You have a couple no names up there, that don’t get a lot of credit, with (Mike) Danna being one of them. He’s playing really good football right now. George (Karlaftis) is a year improved and playing really good football. (Derrick) Nnadi gets no credit. I don’t think he wants the credit, but he doesn’t get any credit, but he’s a stellar player inside. Then you add Charles (Omenihu). You know Charles is coming on, so he hasn’t been here the whole time but that’s a nice addition to that mix.”
Q: What differences do you see when scouting the Eagles now compared to the Super Bowl?
REID: “I wouldn’t say there’s much difference. Those receivers are still plenty good, and their quarterback is a good football player as is the running backs. I know they had an injury to the tight ends, so that would be a little different but they’ve got good players in those spots. Defensively, it’s really basically the same unit. A couple of those guys are older, but you can’t tell. 91 (Eagles DT Fletcher Cox) and 55 (Eagles DE Brandon Graham) were there when I was there and they seem to get better with age.”
Q: Did Chris lose his cool in the Dolphins game?
REID: “You’re going to ask him that, but I don’t sense that. He knows that they slide the line to him, and so when I mention these other guys and they chip him and then all that. When I mention the other guys, they’re getting the benefit of him getting doubled or chipped, and they’re taking advantage of that. Chris will get his, he does so much for us, attitude wise and play wise.”
Q: L’Jarius Sneed has received more penalties as of lately. Would you say that he is a marked guy right now?
REID: “I can’t really answer that. I wouldn’t say he’s marked. I’ll leave it at that.”
Q: What characteristics does it take for a team to win close games, what makes the Eagles good at that?
REID: “They’re good. They’re just good. They’re well coached, they’ve got good players. They have a culture there that dictates that. A good football team.”
Q: What have you learned about the receivers during the bye week self-scout?
REID: “They’re getting better as we go. I know it’s hard to see, but they’re getting better. We’ll just see how it goes going forward. Anything I say isn’t going to mean anything unless they can continue to improve. We’re seeing improvement, we just have to keep it going.”
Q: Eagles QB Jalen Hurts was effective in the run game during the Super Bowl, how do you defend that?
REID: “He threw the ball well too; you’ve got to look at all of that. I mean he’s a strong kid and that helps him in running. He’s fast and strong and hard to bring down, strong in the pocket, and he’s got a big arm. He did well against us, good player.”
Q: What do you make of what Eagles C Jason Kelce and TE Travis Kelce have done for the growth of the game?
REID: “Ex-players have done a great job once they’ve gotten into the media, we know that. To have the guys still playing and doing it and still maintaining the support of their teams doing it, that means they are handling it the right way, they’re not putting coaches or players at risk, there’s not threat there. That’s when you get into trouble. I would tell you it’s a good example for guys – this will continue to grow with other teams. How you handle that I think is important, these guys have done a nice job with it. That part I think is the best example of it.”
Q: On his historic success off the bye week.
REID: “I get asked that because we’ve had success, but I don’t know the reason. We just go play, I’ve had good players. I’m fortunate that way.”
Q: On QB Patrick Mahomes ability to weigh risk and reward on big plays and win close games.
REID: “There is no better weekend than this one to look at how crazy this league is and how much parity there is in the league, the league has strived for that, give every city and opportunity to be successful. You saw it, this past weekend was wild. So, to have someone like (QB) Pat (Mahomes) is a big part of that. You start looking at the games that are determined by one score, it’s ridiculous, every year it increases by number there. To have somebody that can lead like Pat does and play the way he does, rally the guys around him, I think is important.”
Chiefs Player Quotes
November 16, 2023
QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: How was the bye week?
MAHOMES: “I got to spend some time in Texas with the family then obviously had my charity gala, which was really cool, then got to go to the Texas Tech game at KU. A lot of family time, got to look at a little bit of football as well. It’s always good to get the bye week, especially at that midpoint of the season to kind of refresh and restart for the next part of it.”
Q: What part of the football aspect did you focus on during the bye week?
MAHOMES: “I always go back to the fundamentals, try to get back to my fundamentals as best as I can during the bye week. Then I think watching the tape – seeing what we did well, what we can improve on and then try to use that into this next part of the season and try to be even better than we went into the bye.”
Q: Did anything surprise you when you went through and reviewed?
MAHOMES: “I think what I’ve realized now is (that) it’s never as big as it seems, it’s always little things as far as fundamentals as far as games and stuff like that. It doesn't surprise me now – instead of trying to make these big, huge changes you just go back to the fundamentals and try to execute better.”
Q: What do you see that is different about the Eagles defense now from when you played them in the Super Bowl?
MAHOMES: “They’re really good. At the end of the day, that’s the main thing. They have a lot of the same players; they’ve added some more talent. (Their) D-line is special, one of the best D-lines I think I’ve ever seen, just waves of guys that can come in and play, a mixture of veterans and young guys. The DB’s – two great DB’s at corner back position – adding (Eagles S Kevin) Byard and (Eagles S Reed) Blankenship at the safety position. Linebackers, guys that have played in the league for a little bit now. They have a good defense in general – a great team – but a good defense in general, all aspects. For us, it will be a great challenge.”
Q: How do you see your rapport with the receivers being able to grow in the second half?
MAHOMES: “I’ve always felt like throughout the season the chemistry gets better and better. Obviously, everybody wants the receivers to blow up and everything like that. I think guys have gotten better as the season has gone on. They’ll continue to get better. We’re making strides in the right direction, and I think we’ll keep doing that as the season goes and hopefully carry that into the playoffs.”
Q: How much do you take pride in making the players around you better?
MAHOMES: “All you can do is go out there and try to be great every single day. That’s what I try to do in practice getting extra reps into the game and try to make those adjustments on the fly. I push guys to give everything they have every single day and luckily for me I have a lot of guys like that on the team. At the end of the day, you just have to go at it, stay with the process and at the end of the year, you’re satisfied with the results.”
Q: How much do you enjoy playing in games like this with two of the best teams and quarterbacks in the NFL?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, it’s going to be a great game. Like you said, you have great teams in general – obviously (Eagles QB) Jalen (Hurts) is a great quarterback, but I think just the entire team on both sides – you never know how the game is going to go – it could be high scoring, it could be low scoring. Two teams that usually find a way to get a win playing on Monday Night Football in front of the whole world, it’s going to be a great game, and I’m glad it’s at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.”
Q: How do you decide when it’s time to be more urgent and aggressive?
MAHOMES: “We talk through it every single week. Every week I’ve been here from OTA’s through now we talk about situations – if we’re down two scores, if we’re down one score, what the situation is, what time we want to score before, all these situations and prepare (ourselves) as best as we possibly can for games. You watch other teams around the league, you take notes from that stuff as well. I just always feel prepared because we do that, and so I know I’m on the same page with (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid, with (Offensive Coordinator) Coach (Matt) Nagy, everybody. We know what we’re trying to do in that situation, so if you need to press the issue, press the issue, if you want to take some time off the clock, take some time off the clock. You see in the NFL – you saw this week all the games are close, it’s who executes at the end of games the best and that’s who ends up winning.”
Q: As you look back to the start of your career do you have the feeling, ‘Wow, look what I am now’ or is there still more to learn?
MAHOMES: “I think you have to find the right balance; I feel like I obviously know a lot more than I knew in that chair that day, but I think you always want to have the mentality that you’re going to make it happen. That’s what I had in that chair that day and I still feel like I have now, is even if you know what the right read is sometimes you want to make the big play happen whenever it’s needed, and I have to balance that line throughout my entire career.”
Q: With how good the defense is playing do you feel like you don’t have to do some of the things you’ve done in the past?
MAHOMES: “There’s definitely an adjustment I think this early in the season. I’ve had a feel for that as seasons go on. You have a feel for how the whole team is playing, not just the defense, the offense, special teams, stuff like that. You have to adjust on the fly. It’s week in and week out, you have to make adjustments. If the defense is playing good and the offense maybe not playing to the level I want you run some time off the clock. Or if you feel like the offense needs to score, you speed it up. That’s just part of playing the quarterback position. It’s not always pretty, but if you get the win at the end of the day, that’s what you want.”
Q: We’ve talked about how defenses play back to try to slow you down. As you watch film, are you seeing that around the league?
MAHOMES: “Sometimes you see some similar stuff, but I would say that we still see a lot of unscouted stuff. Having a guy like (TE) Travis (Kelce) makes it a lot different because of the level he plays at, it takes so much attention for the defenses to go up against. They know we want to throw it deep, so they stay deep and make us be patient and drive the length of the field. I want to throw it deep as much as anybody, but they’re making me earn it and throw short and I think that’s why we’re having to drive the length of the field these last couple of years. We have to continue to prove that, have guys come up so we can hit the deep pass when it is there.”
Q: Can you talk about receiving the Black College Football Founder’s Award?
MAHOMES: “That was actually a surprise to me. I knew (former NFL QB and BCFHOF Co-Founder) Doug (Williams) and (former NFL QB) Shack Harris were going to be there. But I didn’t know I was getting that award. It is an honor; those are the true greats of the game who put me in the position where I can be in the quarterback position today. For them to present an award like that to me, it’s a tremendous honor just to know they’ve recognized me for something when I know that everything I’ve done is because of them.”
Q: Whenever you go anywhere there are people that want to be around you, what’s your life like?
MAHOMES: “It’s calmer than (TE) Travis’ (Kelce), I’ll say that. I think I’m doing alight; I’ll just keep playing football and having fun doing it.”
Q: On his superstition of wearing the same underwear on game day.
MAHOMES: “My underwear, I’ve worn them my entire career. (Former Chiefs QB) Chad (Henne) actually said something right before he retired. He said something about it, and it kind of went under the radar and I was like, ‘Thank goodness, man. No one picked that up.’ Then of course, I think it was (former NFL QB) Eli (Manning), had to say it on the broadcast, and I was like, ‘Of course, now it’s going to be a thing.’ They’ll still be worn as long as we’re winning, so I’ll make sure to clean them. I don’t wear them in the game, I just wear them to the game, so they’re not that bad. Hopefully we keep winning games, and I can wear them for 20+ years.”
Q: How old are the underwear?
MAHOMES: “We’ll I’ve been starting for six years, so they are six years old.”
Q: So, you’ve only worn them for your professional career?
MAHOMES: “Only professional. (Patrick Mahomes wife) Brittany (Mahomes) got them before one of my first starts, and I wore them before that Chargers game and the rest is history.”
Q: How beneficial is it for you to have everyone healthy going into the second half and as a veteran how much say do you have on the bye week?
MAHOMES: “I would say it’s obviously great when you have healthy guys at this time of the year. We try to maintain that with (Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance) Rick (Burkholder) and the training staff and the weight room as well. Just having those guys out there practicing you have that chemistry, and we’ve gotten work with the other guys as well. That’s always a plus, you want to maintain that. I think you get more and more (say) every year. I got to talk to (Offensive Coordinator) Coach (Matt) Nagy. I got to talk to (Quarterback Coach David) Girardi. I got to talk to (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid during the bye week. They gave me some of their inputs, stuff they wanted me to work on. I told them stuff that I liked, stuff I thought we could get better at, and we’re going to try to execute that this week. What a better challenge than playing the Eagles the first week out of the bye and seeing where we’re really at?”
DT CHRIS JONES
Q: What do you need to do to contain Eagles QB Jalen Hurts?
JONES: “Eliminate the run game. If we’re able to limit how many yards he gets per carry than I think we’re doing something good. Force hands in his face and take him down in the passing game. Get around him, over crowd him. They have a such a good offensive line who have done really, really well so far this year, so we have to come up with schemes and everything to affect (Eagles QB) Jalen Hurts.”
Q: Do you think this is the most talented defense you’ve played with in Kansas City?
JONES: “Overall, I still think we can get so much better. So far so good – the best overall defense, it’s still halfway through the season, for me to say that now and we end up at dead last, it doesn't even matter. We take it one game at a time, continue to get better, ask me this question at the end of the year and I’ll have an answer for you.”
Q: Do you feel like the other guys along the defensive line are not getting the credit they deserve?
JONES: “When you think about it this is a selfless group. It’s not about names, it’s not about numbers either. I think people get caught up – I was listening to the broadcast talk about (Jets DL) Quinnen Williams and how special he is to the Jets defensive line, but he doesn’t have as many sacks as he did last year. The interesting point on that was he’s making everyone around him better. That’s the way I look at it, it’s not about stats to magnify how important these guys are. They are having a good year so far, but the importance to (what) they’ve been to the success of this defense, (goes) beyond the numbers.”
Q: How did you use your bye week?
JONES: “I did a little bit of it all. I watched film, I was able to sleep, play with my kids. Most importantly, I got a lot of sleep. I haven’t slept like that in a long time. I got to hang out with my kids, take them to school. Rewatched all of the games I played a part of, the good, the bad, what I can improve on, what I can eliminate, like costly penalties.”