Chiefs Coordinator Quotes
December 5, 2024
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE TOUB
Q: What has it been like this past month working through the kicker situations?
TOUB: “It’s been – it’s an adventure, really. I mean a lot of credit goes to our long snapper (James Winchester) and our holder, Matt Araiza. Getting those guys and spending the time and figuring them out exactly how he wants – how the kicker wants the holds because it’s different for each kicker. He’s done a really good job with that. It says a lot about them and their professionalism.”
Q: Matt Araiza doesn’t have a lot of experience being a holder anyways, that couldn’t have been easy for him, right?
TOUB: “He (Matt Araiza) doesn’t but he’s – obviously he’s a quick learner. (Harrison) Butker really trained him well and he’s able to take these guys and just adjust. He’s just a good football player – and a good tackler too (laughter).”
Q: What are you seeing from the Chargers special teams unit?
TOUB: “They’re really good and I feel like I say this every week but they’re a top five unit right now. Derius Davis, the returner, number 12 – dynamite, he’s a blazer. He sticks his foot in the ground, he gets north and south as a punt returner and he’s also back there on kick return so he’s very, very dangerous. (Chargers P) J.K. Scott, the punter, excellent directional kicker – hangs it up well, hard to get returns on him. I think they only give up like 30 percent of his punts are returnable so that’s a challenge. (Chargers K Cameron) Dicker the kicker is solid. He hits the ball high, he’s another high ball hitter. Hard to get a block on him, gets it off quick and he has great leg strength.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR STEVE SPAGNUOLO
OPENING STATEMENT: “Well, we’re just ready to play a divisional game so I’ll just open it up (to questions).”
Q: You moved to Joshua Williams in the middle of the Raiders game, how do you think he did, and do you plan on sticking with him as the starter going forward?
SPAGNUOLO: “Yeah, we’ll see where we’re at. Listen, we’re going to need everybody down the stretch. I mean, we’re in December, it’s December football – (we) need everybody to be healthy (and) stay healthy. We’re going to need all of these guys to win. Both of those guys (Joshua Williams and Nazeeh Johnson) will probably play. We’ll see where we’re at as far as who goes first.”
Q: What did you see from Charles Omenihu in his return?
SPAGNUOLO: “Well, it was good to get Charles (Omenihu) out there. He actually probably played more snaps than we anticipated, but I thought he was solid. There are a couple things in there – if you happen to talk to Charles he’ll tell you (that) he wished he had done a little bit differently, but I thought he was solid for going out there for the first time. An ACL (injury) is not easy to (recover from), you guys (the media) all know – to go out there and kind of have that confidence in, but credit to the trainers and (Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance) Rick (Burkholder) and his staff for getting Charles ready midseason here.”
Q: How much changes when you face a team a second time during the season?
SPAGNUOLO: “Well, we did play them (the Chargers) fairly early. I think they’re – and with a new staff and a new team, I think it takes them a while to figure out who they are. I think they have figured that out and you can kind of see that. You can see the thread of what they want to do, what they would like to try to do (and) how they go about winning games. I think they have a great formula. I mean, I have a lot of respect for (Chargers Head Coach) Jim (Harbaugh) and (Chargers Offensive Coordinator) Greg (Roman) with the way they do things. It’s still going to come back to – I mean, when we have a wrinkle that’s a little bit different then the first time – absolutely, we always think that way. Can we get into those wrinkles? We’ll see because sometimes they’re dictated by the situation, but I think they’re a little bit different in – I mean, the biggest thing that will be different for us is that when we played them last time, (Chargers QB) Justin (Herbert) had a bum ankle and wasn’t running as much. I mean, he gutted it out in that game. He’s running pretty good now. That in and of itself will be different for us.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT NAGY
Q: What is your impression of D.J. Humphries so far?
NAGY: “As far as the person – like I said a few weeks ago, (I) love the person. I love his (D.J. Humphries) energy. It’s a contagious, infectious personality that he has, with a lot of confidence but he also has to learn the lingo and how we do things and he’s been able to do that the last couple weeks. He’s been doing a really good job in practice of being able to show us with the opportunities he’s getting, and I think that’s half (of) the battle. It’s just the experience and the confidence and now, if he gets that opportunity and that’s the way we go, we’ll see on gameday if that’s the case.”
Q: If D.J. Humphries does get the opportunity to start and he needs help, how much does it help to have Joe Thuney next to him?
NAGY: “(It) helps a lot. You look there and you see – the one thing that jumps off to me, in regard to D.J. (Humphries) is just he’s had a lot of reps so that confidence is there. Then, you watch the reps in practice, and you see the mechanics and the techniques that he uses – the basic foundation of fundamentals. If there is something schematically that there might be a question with protection or in the run game, etcetera, Joe’s (Thuney) right there. I think it just really helps out a lot.”
Q: How did you assess Isiah Pacheco’s first game back overall?