Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
November 11, 2024
HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright so, I really don’t have any injuries for you. I think we came out of the game halfway decent, but I’ll get – the guys are just kind of coming in, so we’ll get all that taken care of here later in the afternoon. As far as the game goes, listen, the win was fantastic to get. We’ve got places that we’ve got to work on and make sure we get covered. The positive was that they didn’t score in the second half and we – for the most part – hunkered down defensively and then offensively, we’ve got to clean up a few things. We didn’t score as often in the red zone as we wanted to – penalties, a missed shot there – a couple of those things that don’t happen very often that happened down in there. We’re normally accurate with the throws and so on, so we’ve got to clean a little bit of that up but again, playing a good football team. They’ve got – both of their fronts are strong and we were tested in a couple (of) spots and it’ll help us grow is what it’ll help us do, particularly at that tackle position. We were young at the left tackle spot. We’ll keep getting better as we go and experience some of these things. I think Wanya (Morris) will end up being okay when it’s all said and done here as far as his leg goes and then he was able to come back in and play. Kingsley (Suamataia) will learn from what he had there and keep getting better. Then, likewise on the right side (right tackle), we’ll keep growing there. Then, from a defensive standpoint, they’ve got a good offensive line (and) they were physical (with) their run game. They got that going a little bit and teams hadn’t been able to do that quite as well as what they had rolling there early so we can learn from that and get better in that spot too. Again, I’m glad we came out with the win. I thought it was a heck of a play there at the end. We overloaded one side – it probably wouldn’t have mattered who they had in there blocking but we were able to get that overload, and we got off on the ball. I mean, if you wanted to pick on one thing there to say was a great job, Justin Reid, on the outside, is the fastest guy in the NFL on his get off on these field goals. Teams take and look at that and make sure that they take care of him first which allowed the inside three there to really come off and get an explosive. You saw (Derrick) Nnadi kind of went down and they weren’t quite sure how to handle that so there ended up being a separation and we were able to get through the cracks there. That was a spectacular way to end it. I’m not sure I’ve ever had that experience in my career with a walk-off blocked field goal, so it made it exciting but I’d rather us really focus in on taking care of business in the other part of the game and get that sinched up. My hat goes off to (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Toub for spending the time to make sure those things all fit together and for the players just executing and never giving up. Like I told you last night – or yesterday afternoon – that the thing that has impressed me with this team is (that) they don’t get down and they’re not that – that’s not what they are. They battle through stuff and if somebody’s not doing well, they try to pick them up and do well in their area. It’s worked to this point, but we’ve just got to keep getting better and growing as we go. With that, (the) time’s yours.”
Q: From a depth perspective, has there been any consideration to bring in Donovan Smith or another veteran as your two young left tackles develop?
REID: “Listen, that’s (General Manager Brett) Veach’s area. He looks at everything so I’m not going to say no, but what we do as coaches – and we overemphasize – we’re going to focus in on these kids that are here and they’re getting better. I know it’s hard to see at times but there’s progress being made and we’re going to be okay as we go forward.”
Q: With a young player like Kingsley Suamataia, how much mental coaching does it take to make sure his confidence is up?
REID: “That’s all part of it, that’s all part of coaching. I’d probably say it’s the same way in your business. If you’re not confident, you’re probably not going to talk very well.”
Q: On the little things being practiced and emphasized to block a field goal.
REID: “Yeah, the details of it become important. The players want that. They want you to detail it up for them. It helps them even more be able to show what their talents are and then as a result of that, hopefully you win a game or two. (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Dave (Toub) spends a lot of time on that right there. You guys (the media) watch all that, so you know that there’s an emphasis put on special teams and the details of it. We needed it (laughter) yesterday. That was a big play for us.”
Q: Is there a focus going forward on trying to incorporate Kareem Hunt more in the passing game?
REID: “Yeah, well we think touches for him (Kareem Hunt) end up being important, whether he’s carrying it or – he’s a good football player so you want to have him have an opportunity to show off those talents. He’s always been a good receiver. We weren’t getting as much out of the run game as we wanted to, so we started throwing it a little bit more and he became an important part of that.”
Q: How do you try to manage the workload for these guys and make sure they get enough rest after two physical games?
REID: “It’s not as much the maybe the physical part as it is the time in between games. That’s what you’re managing. Then, it comes down to how the guys are feeling because of the short week. That’s the way we did it last week. This is a normal week so it’s not going to be quite like that. It’ll be a normal week of practice, but you know Matt (Derrick), in this league, every game is physical. I mean, the parity in this league is crazy right now. You just check out some of these scores and you go, ‘Jeez, it’s nuts.’ There’s – any given Sunday. It's no more important than that is right now in this league. You better be on you’re a-game every week.”
Q: Are there any updates on Charles Omenihu, Isiah Pacheco and JuJu Smith-Schuster?
REID: “Listen, I think they’re (Charles Omenihu, Isiah Pacheco and JuJu Smith-Schuster) all close. I’d probably tell you JuJu (Smith-Schuster is) closer than the other two, but I would tell you that – we might have them out there, we’ll just see how it goes here today and tomorrow. They’re very close, all three of them.”
Q: How do you explain how you have been able to remain undefeated and get to this point?
REID: “Yesterday, that was probably the epitome of it, coming down to that last second deal – literally – a block. We’ve been given opportunities and we’ve taken advantage of them and then we’ve made a few opportunities ourselves with some good plays. You’d probably say that they outplayed us yesterday and then they end up not winning the game. You see that throughout the league, I mean you just saw the Lions game last night, five turnovers, five interceptions or whatever it was and they find a way to win the game. You give credit to your locker room and your coaches, just for being mentally tough and sticking with it.”
Q: What is needed for Xavier Worthy and Patrick Mahomes to get the right connection on the deep passes?
REID: “They’ve (Xavier Worthy and Patrick Mahomes) had a couple of them, we just have to keep it a little bit more consistent, Nick (Jacobs). They’ll keep working on it. They spend time working on it and we’ll just keep it going. Those things, they’ll come eventually here as we go with a little bit more consistency.”
Q: On the fourth down attempt in the first half and at the end of the game.