Chiefs Coordinator Quotes
October 1, 2026
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE TOUB
Q: At this point in the season, where are you with your standard of where you want your guys?
TOUB: “You’re talking about rankings? Well, we’re in the middle of the pack right now. It’s so early, it’s only three games in, there’s not enough plays really. It’s usually around Week 6 where you can start looking at it, and start saying ‘This is where we are,’ a little bit.”
Q: What are the things you guys need to do to get better?
TOUB: “We need to pop something on the return game. Our kick return is decent, but I want to get the big one, and then same thing with punt returns. We just haven’t had a lot of opportunities. I mean most of them have been in the pooch area, where we just have to make a fair catch and then play the next down, and just get the ball back for our offense. That’s one area. The kickoff coverage, I think it’s been good, we’ve had a lot of them, which is good, because our offense is scoring. We’re doing a good job there, I think. And then in the return game, we’re getting the ball out. I think we’re averaging just past the 30 now. Last week, we had a really good week, you know we’re out by the 35, and we held them to the 25-yard line. I mean that’s a big difference, that’s what we’re looking for.”
Q: Is there a deeper concern with K Harrison Butker?
TOUB: “You look at both missed field goals, within one yard of each other on the same hash, 32-yard line, left hash, 33-yard line, left hash, and (K Harrison Butker) he missed it the exact same way. So, it's just a matter of where he's starting the football because when he hits a good ball, it draws. He started at that left upright and it's drawn out. He needs to start it more to the right. Nobody is more hard on himself than Butker, trust me. I mean, so it's not like you're going to sit there and yell at him or rip him or anything like that. That's nothing, that's not going to do any good. You’ve just got to just keep going, keep going to work and keep practicing. He had a real good day yesterday, we punted, we kick again today and you just keep pounding it. In the end, he's made a lot of big field goals for us. Let's not forget that, and he hasn't missed a game winner. That one was an important one. We want to put them away, get up by three scores. I mean, it was a big deal. So, every field goal is important.”
Q: What characteristics do the Raiders have on special teams?
TOUB: “Oh man, they’ve got a lot of talent. They're experienced. Number one, they only have one rookie really playing on special teams. That's the punt returner (Raiders WR Malik Benson). The rest of them are all back from last year. They were rookies last year, now they're all experienced guys back. Then they picked up a few guys off from free agency you can see that are really, really good special teams players. And then they’ve got a new coach too, (Raiders Special Teams Coordinator) Joe DeCamillis, who's one of the few guys that's been doing this longer than me. We went at each other a long time over the years, while he was at a lot of different places and heck of a coach. He's got them flying around right now. This is a good special teams unit that we're facing this week. Now, I said like we're in the middle of the pack, they're in the top, they're four. So that gives you an indicator and after three games, they're putting up good numbers.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR STEVE SPAGNUOLO
OPENING STATEMENT: “Good to see everybody. I’m happy with 3-0. We’ve got another good challenge coming up this week, so I’ll just open it up.”
Q: On the process of constructive criticism with the defense and their performance on third-and-medium downs this season.
SPAGNUOLO: “By the time Tuesday rolls around when I first see them, they're chewing out. So, I've already chewed myself out for a whole day. So, I mean, we like to have constructive criticism. The good thing about this group is they're all pretty accountable. So even if I'm standing in there and pointing something out, I see a lot of heads shaking, ‘Yeah, you're right,’ so that part I don't even worry about. The third and mediums or the third downs, I mean, look – the third and 18 was a penalty that converted. And listen, I could have had (DB) Nohl (Williams) in a better defense, not had him up there pressed. But we talk a lot about those third and extra longs and be careful where your hands go because all of a sudden the five-yard penalty is the first down and that's not good. There was a third and nine, they ran a trap.
These all go into–I'm sure you're looking at numbers. You look at third down percentage and it looks crappy, but I kind of dissect the whole thing. That's a run play and then I did think they had–there was one third and 10 there that they had a really good design route concept that beat what we had out there. So, I'm going to give them that, but all of a sudden you take three out of there and it's a whole different ballgame. What was good was when we were able to stop them and get it to fourth down, we had the three fourth down stops that were key. Now, we don't want to always be banking on that because those are pretty difficult. But would I like to be better in third down? Yeah, and we’ll dissect it and hopefully come up with something a little bit better this week.”
Q: How are you evaluating the defensive line’s pressures vs. sacks?
SPAGNUOLO: “I think we'd all like to see it better on first and second down. That's where some of those plays got long. We've got to do better on the back end with those explosive passes, but when the down gets extended, guys have a tendency to kind of get open at some point. So, first and second down is one thing that we looked at but I was happy that we got our hands up and knocked some balls down. That play (DT) Chris (Jones) made with (DE) George (Karlaftis) again was really important. I thought we could have had five turnovers. I thought we had, like, three missed opportunities. We've got to get those. Then I think everybody feels a little bit different, but you guys are bringing up all the right points. Like the third down was something we'd like to get better at. Pass rush on first and second down. So, we've talked about all those things.”
Q: On facing Raiders QB Kirk Cousins.
SPAGNUOLO: “Yeah, big challenge. I've been down this road before. (Raiders QB) Kirk's (Cousins) one of these quarterbacks I've got a tremendous amount of respect for. He's been doing it for a long time. I think he's a quality guy. Every time I see him, I tell him how much I respect his character. That part is great, but the part on the football field, he gets the ball out so quick that he makes it really difficult. I think the knocking down of passes will be really important. The sticky coverage and making him throw it into tight windows will be really big. When we do that, we need a couple of knockdowns by a corner or a safety to get him in a longer down the distance or get us off the field. We'll have to mix it up, but I think you've got to be a little bit careful with a guy that's as smart as Kirk is.”
Q: On DB Chamarri Conner.
SPAGNUOLO: “Well, we were on a course to kind of keep (DB) Chamarri (Conner) in one spot. I don't know if we're still there now or not. You know, listen, both (DB) Jaden (Hicks) and (S) Alohi (Gilman) have done an admirable job. They would have had some plays back in the Miami game, obviously, on those deep throws and the one that we could have caught. But Chamarri, listen, I think I've said this before, but it seems like every year he's been here and we've done cut-ups at the end of the season and we're looking through the film, 27 keeps showing up making plays. So hopefully we can get him back there doing that. I think he's a really good tackle and a good football player, and we'll fit him in there whether it's at safety or nickel in certain packages. I like having him on the field, and I'm hoping we get him for this game.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR ERIC BIENIEMY
OPENING STATEMENT: “Good afternoon, feels good coming off another tough road victory. I thought our guys did a great job of managing a win. Obviously, I thought we could have played a lot better at times, but when it's all said and done with, it isn’t about the numbers. Our guys did a great job of dragging their butt across the finish line. We'll clean up the rest. So, with all that said, I'm all ears.”
Q: How do you feel about RB Kenneth Walker winning AFC Offensive Player of the Month? How do you sustain the level that Walker plays at?
BIENIEMY: “First of all, congratulations to (RB Kenneth Walker) him. Hats off. Very well deserved, obviously, but I think more importantly, everybody would be more excited if we're celebrating a different deal in the month of February. So, I'm happy for him. Kudos to him. But we’ve got a whole lot of football left. And when it's all said and done, we just got to make sure that we're showing up with the right attitude and the right mindset each and every week, working on ‘What can I do to help us to be the best team, to come out with the best outcome on game day,’ but what you do, you just make sure that you're putting your players in the best position to go out and do what they do best. And so, collectively as a staff, as an offensive coaching staff, which I love, we do a great job of doing that, not just for Kenneth. We do a great job putting our front five in position, our guys on the perimeter, and also to our guy that's sitting there taking the snaps as well but hats off to him. But we got a lot of football left.”
Q: On T Kahlil Benson.
BIENIEMY: “Here's the thing. (T) Kahlil's (Benson) a rookie and every day is a brand-new day. You're going to have some good moments throughout the course of a game, and you're going to have some bad moments. The beauty of it is that he has an opportunity to learn from that particular situation. And the thing that you learn about your team as you continue to grow throughout the season is how do they handle those tough situations? How resilient of a person is he? Now, it may not have been a situation that he's very proud of or putting on tape, but it's one of those situations where he can learn from. How did he feel in that particular moment? What was done? Was it a lack of communication? Was it something that he didn't do? But at the end of the day, I'm proud of the kid because he keeps getting up and he's finding a way to fight. And it's not always going to be perfect, and I understand that. The only thing that we want is our guys to get up and play the next play and figure it out. And so, he's continuing to chop that wood. He's continued to grind. And he's continued to work with (Offensive Line) Coach (Andy) Heck as much as he can to continue to improve.”
Q: What are the challenges that their defense will face with you guys on Sunday?
BIENIEMY: “So, I'm going to share this with you guys. I was telling Coach (Cydney) Cyd (Glaze) this earlier, I received a text from an old buddy of mine who went to elementary school together and played against each other years ago. Not only in the league, in college, but also, too, in Pop Warner. I got a text from (DL) Neil Smith, and he didn't say Las Vegas Raiders. He said ‘It's Oakland Raider week,’ and he said, ‘Enough said.’ I said, ‘You know what? That's exactly right.’ Okay? And it is the Raider week. And so, shout out to (Raiders Head) Coach (Klint) Kubiak and his entire staff. Those guys are doing a hell of a job. Okay? They're 3-0. They're doing a hell of a job on defense. Those guys are playing fast. They're playing hard. Obviously, you see what (DE) Maxx Crosby and crew has done. These guys are leading in a number of stats. I think leading the league in fumbles, batted balls. They’ve got a high number of turnovers. They're doing a hell of a job of enjoying the game and playing fun, having a lot of fun playing. I think that's all attributed to the head coach and his defensive staff. But on top of that, too, they got one of the better defensive players in the league by the name of Maxx Crosby. And he's doing a hell of a job of leading those guys through this particular three-game success that they've had.”
Q: After the game, QB Patrick Mahomes said the offense started well and they ended well, but the middle wasn't so good. What do you attribute some of that to?
BIENIEMY: “Well, it's all about remaining consistent. And just like I said, there was a moment where—there's extreme highs in the game. Obviously, I thought we started off fast. We hit a rut after we didn't move the chains on that short yardage situation. But the thing that I'm learning, we’ve just got to learn how to overcome that particular situation. Sometimes bad stuff happens in life, okay? And we all know that life continues to life. But when it's all said and done, we've got to find a way to get over those moments. We can't keep criticizing and can't live in that particular moment. We've got to make sure that we're doing whatever it's going to take to help us to get past that. And so, I think as a young group, and obviously we've got a young offense, we have to learn how to navigate those particularly emotional highs and lows. And that's the part of where we're at. I mean, it's Week 3. And we're learning how to grow and develop and work on that chemistry as a unit. But we'll continue to grow and we'll continue to get the best out of our players as we continue the season.”
Chiefs Player Quotes
October 1, 2026
RB KENNETH WALKER
Q: On ball security and the video where he avoids the fumble on a peanut punch.
WALKER: “With ball security, you practice it over and over again, so it becomes second nature to cover the ball up. We always talk about how we want to protect the ball, so I think that's just natural instincts when that happens.”
Q: What does it mean to be AFC Offensive Player of the Week?
WALKER: “It means a lot, but that's like a testament to the guys up front and everybody that's blocking for me, wide receivers, tight ends. That means they're doing their job and making my job and everybody in the running back's (room) job a lot easier.”
Q: How comfortable are you in a receiving role in the offense?
WALKER: “I could always catch the ball, so coming out of high school and everything, I just didn't really have opportunities to catch the ball. (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid sees that I can catch and make plays in space, so I feel like that's like credit to Coach Reid, to seeing guys that can make plays like that. Yeah, that's all I can say, really.”
DT CHRIS JONES
Q: What has been most impressive about RB Kenneth Walker, who just won AFC Offensive Player of the Month?
JONES: “That you just said, man. His commitment, his hard work. He's a goofy guy, too, man. (RB) Kenneth's (Walker) my dog. The will to fight for every yard is tough to tackle, and I'm glad he's on our team.”
Q: Is the pass rush close to getting sacks?
JONES: “We're close, statistically-wise. You look at the numbers, the quarterback has been getting rid of the ball 2.3 seconds. I don't care how good of a pass rusher you are, when they're throwing the ball that quick, it's tough for anyone. And when they do throw it long distance, it's more so boom protection, which you got seven, eight men in there protecting. So, it's like, the opportunity is going to come. I think don't waver from what we've been doing. We've done a lot of good. We put a lot of good on film. I think we stay committed to that and just find ways to get sacks out of it so y'all can stop writing about us in the media.”
Q: What do you attribute the success on fourth down to this season?