Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
September 16, 2024
HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, so I feel kind of the same way (that) I felt last night after reviewing the tape, but I thought our guys did some real good things and there’s some things we’ve got to work on offensively. You’ve got to get rid of the turnovers and the penalties and defensively, we did some great things. The field position, at times, wasn’t great but for the most part, we did some good things. We’ve got to take away a couple of the big plays, a couple of the third downs and we’ll be in a good position. I thought special teams-wise, we did a pretty good job there. (Harrison) Butker had a nice day and (Matt) Araiza had a nice play so I thought that was positive. As far as (Isiah) Pacheco goes, we’ll go with the guys that we have here now. (General Manager Brett) Veach is going through his list and looking at people and we’ll just see where that goes but we’re blessed to have some good people here. Then, as far as the other injuries go, there’s really nothing to talk about and I don’t have the timeframe on Pacheco, but I know it won’t be this week and it’ll probably be more than that, obviously but it’s going to take a little bit of time there. Anyways, with that, the time’s yours.”
Q: Isiah Pacheco carried the ball 25 times yesterday. Do you have a running back on your roster that you’re comfortable giving that workload to?
REID: “Well, one of the backs I haven’t had the opportunity to give it to him that much – or a couple of them – well, really all three of them, Adam (Teicher), if you look at that. I would tell you (that) I have confidence in them (but) I just haven’t experienced it with them.”
Q: On the decision to not go for it on the second fourth-and-one.
REID: “We had three good opportunities at it (to score) and didn’t get it. I just thought we needed to come out of there with points, so I did that.”
Q: What’s the message for Kingsley Suamataia this week? Do you still envision that he’ll be the starter this week?
REID: “Yeah, I haven’t gone that direction yet as far as (being) the starter or not (being) the starter, but he’s (Kingsley Suamataia) got – he’s obviously got things he needs to work on and get worked out. Like I said last night, I felt like we needed to take a step back to take a step forward. Whether he’s in or out, I still think that was the right thing to do there and if he’s out this week, then it’ll be the right thing to do with that. We haven’t lost confidence in him and that he was going against a good player, and he’s got to learn from it. I think he mentioned that to you (the media). He’s got to take it in and get better and I would tell you that with some of our young guys that played last night. They’ve got to just learn from the experiences that they get in these games.”
Q: What is Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s status regarding potentially returning in Week 5?
REID: “That’s part of the equation, so we have to just kind of figure all of that out and see how all that fits in. We know he’s (Clyde Edwards-Helaire) around. We just don’t have him available here for a couple more weeks here.”
Q: Are teams doing anything different to try and take Travis Kelce away?
REID: “They did have some things that they were attempting there. He’ll (Travis Kelce) get his catches. It’s not that he’s slowing down or any of that bit, that’s not what the deal is. It’s just teams focus on him and kind of know (that) he’s been Pat’s (Mahomes) go-to guy. What it’s done though, Soren (Petro), is that it’s allowed us to utilize the other guys around him and they’ve been productive.”
Q: What’s your confidence level that Carson Steele would be able to handle a full workload in the absence of Isiah Pacheco?
REID: “He’s (Carson Steele) going to have to step it up there in that role. I think he’s – he likes to be challenged and I think this will be a good challenge for him. He obviously has to keep the ball high and tight. He had the fumble yesterday and he hasn’t been – he doesn’t have a history of that, so he’s got to make sure he learns from that.”
Q: How beneficial was it for the offensive line to move some people off the ball in those short yardage situations?
REID: “Listen, I thought all day they (the offensive line) did it. They really, I thought, played well in the run game part of it, and then they took advantage of it in the short yardage with the exception of down there in that goal line stand that they had there, but everything else I thought was very productive. We went into halftime averaging seven yards per carry, so that part was good. We’ve got to build on that though. We still had – there were a couple issues here and there in the pass game. It wasn’t just Kingsley (Suamataia), there were other guys involved, too. Kingsley’s was more magnified –or more of them, but it wasn’t – there were other breakdowns that we had, so we have to make sure we tighten that up a little bit.”
Q: What was it about the Bengals Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo’s defense that kept you guys guessing?
REID: “(Bengals Defensive Coordinator) Lou (Anarumo) does a nice job with things. You know, he tried to throw a few different looks at us. We were able to gain a lot of yards which was good.”
Q: How much consideration did you put into maybe kicking the 68-yard field goal at the end of the first half?
REID: “For about a second and then got out of that one (laughter). I figured – listen we’re getting the ball back the second half. We were receiving so I didn’t want to have something happen there with a block, sometimes those are low trajectory and all of sudden there’s a block that takes place and it’s going the opposite way, and we didn’t need that at that point.”
Q: What did you see on Patrick Mahomes’ two interceptions?
REID: “We had – the route, the first one there, was an option route with he (Patrick Mahomes) and (Travis) Kelce and they played – we really had to pull up on part of the option part of it. It was kind of a – there was a little confusion between the two of them and we were late with the ball so that’s what happened. We’ll take care of that – I can take care of that part. Then the deep throw, I thought that guy (Bengals CB Cam Taylor-Britt) made a great play. Again, young receiver (Xavier Worthy) there and he’ll learn that either he gets it or nobody gets it, but I have to give that kid credit too.”
Q: On Isiah Pacheco’s emotions after the game.