KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid met with the media Monday. Following are his comments.
OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t really have any injuries. I can give you a little bit of an update though on Tyreek (Hill). Tyreek had the dislocation, and Rick (Burkholder) explained that yesterday, it was reduced non-surgically. He stayed there overnight and he’ll be back today. We’ll have to see when he gets back here how he is doing and just kind of monitor that as we go through the week. Other than that, I really don’t have much for you, as far as injuries go. Patrick (Mahomes) had the ankle – I mentioned that to you yesterday – and was moving around well today. I have seen him. All in all, with the game, good to get a win. Still have a ton of things to work on in all three phases. I thought defensively we really did some nice things. You take away just a couple of plays there and we had a pretty good day. I appreciated the effort of the guys and the way they challenged throughout the game. We have to make sure that we finish stronger as we go, on both sides of the ball, I’m saying. One other thing with the defense, it was good to see the guys in the defense. As we go here, you’ll see them continue to grow in the defense. It’s new and we have a lot of new elements to it, so I look forward to seeing the growth defensively. Offensively, we did some good things. But there are some things we have to clean up with all of the positions, whether it is with some of the run game stuff, protection things. The quarterback had a couple of things that he can clean up. I can go around to all of the positions. And the coaches, I mean we’re just getting back into the swing of things here when its live bullets, things are moving fast, and you have all of the different situations. All around, we can all do better. On special teams, we had a couple of good returns, which I thought were important. I thought that for the most part our coverage teams did OK. I think all in all, there were some positives in all three phases. With that, time’s yours.”
Q: Which aspect of the defense’s performance yesterday impressed you the most?
REID: “The run game, I thought that we did a pretty good job there. That runner is an elite player. Their three inside offensive linemen are tough, veteran guys. They are good players. A good, solid group inside there. I thought we handled that pretty well. It was good to see (Juan) Thornhill jump in and do what he did – and more so in the run game. That was the question. Everybody knew that he could do the coverage stuff, but when you get into the run game, how are you going to fill when asked to? I thought he did a nice job there. We gave up the big play that Nick (Foles) got banged up on. It was a perfect throw and the guy made a great catch. We were right in a position to make the play and we have to do that. We have to make the play. I thought it was one heck of a job by them. I thought our coverage was there, you just have to get the ball out. You want to get off the field the best you can and, for the most part, we did that. We had a couple that we were right in position to make the play, which I look at. Those things are the things that are going to get better here as you go on and keep working the defense.”
Q: The defense was only on the field for 58 total snaps. Was that due to the Jaguars having tempo to their offense or is the unit just improving?
REID: “Like I said, I thought for the most part that we got off the field. Your third downs become important. I thought we did a good job there. I just liked how aggressive we were. I thought the intensity maintained strong and the tempo was fast throughout the game. I think the guys are in shape. I just think it is becoming even more familiar with the defense. I think that as time goes on here, I think they’ll just keep getting better and better in that way.”
Q: How did you determine that Patrick Mahomes was ready to go back into the game after suffering an apparent ankle injury?
REID: “First of all, you have to be aware of it – aware of the injury – and how significant the injury is. These guys are very competitive guys so they’re going to want to get back out there, you know that. Then, you trust your medical staff and your trainers. I thought those guys gave me good information. Patrick is very, very competitive and wants to be out there, but at the same time, you want to make sure that you’re not putting him in a bad situation.”
Q: Has the little amount of time that Matt Moore has been with the team play into your decision to figure out which QB enters the game?
REID: “It didn’t. We went to Matt, who is a veteran, and we just said, ‘Listen, let’s narrow this thing down to the things that you are just really comfortable with. Let’s do that.’ For the most part, it was most of the game plan. We didn’t have to cut out a bunch of stuff for him, but we had a separate game plan sheet for him in case he needed to go in. So, we were prepared for that. We would’ve been fine there. He has been doing this a long time and gives you the confidence that he would have it under control. That wasn’t the issue. It was just that keeping Pat in there is an important part of our offense. In this game, sometimes you have to play with some nicks and bruises. How guys handle that ends up being important within the realm of things. Some guys, like Pat, you have to keep your eye on because they’ll go out there at times when maybe they shouldn’t go out there. So, you have make sure that you stay in tune with your medical staff there.”
Q: Have you had a chance to talk to Tyreek Hill to see how he is feeling and how his spirits are?
REID: “I have. He is doing good. He is glad the game worked out the way it did. Tyreek (Hill) is a big time team player. I think you guys know that. He was very fired up that everyone is doing okay. He’s very positive on things. There aren’t too many days I’ve seen him down in the dumps and it was that way when I talked to him today. He had good spirits to him. He just wants to get back here, he doesn’t want to be in a hospital. He just wants to get back and get settles and back here.”
Q: All around the league there has been talk about Antonio Brown and he was going to be there when you play the Raiders next week, what do you think about the whole situation?
REID: “So you know we cant comment on individual players so I’m not going to comment on that. I’m very close with Jon Gruden and I feel bad that he had to go through any of that stuff. That’s a tough deal and other than that, it’s happened. The league keeps a close eye on that stuff and tries to monitor it the best they can.”
Q: With the backfield situation with LeSean McCoy and Damien Williams, was that how you planned for it to play out?
REID: “Yes. I thought so, yeah. I figured it would be and (Darwin) Thompson got a few snaps in there too. You have two veteran players there that love to play and they give you different flavors. I figured that’s how it would work out in that area.”
Q: Now that you have watched the tape what was your first evaluation of Mecole Hardman and what can he do better?
REID: “He did some good things. There are a couple things he can clean up. It was good to see him get in there and move around and have an opportunity to play. I’m sure he watched that one catch that was kind of on his back shoulder, that short bubble pass. Other than that, I thought he did some good things in there. He’s a smart kid so there was not a lot of mental errors or any of that. I thought he did a good job with the other stuff.”
Q: When Patrick Mahomes did the no look pass to Travis Kelce, is that something you have to live with or is he trying to make it more difficult than he needs to?
REID: “That one he actually froze that underneath coverage guy who was working a drive underneath where (Travis) Kelce was going and that was the objective there. He was off a tick on it. It looked like to the naked eye it would be an easy A to throw it out there but that one kid that was underneath there, the flat defender, widened out and gotten depth but Patrick (Mahomes) kept his eyes inside at Sam (Sammy Watkins). Anyways, he missed it. It was a miss. I know he mentioned to you guys he thought it was going to be flatter or higher and all that but when you’re not looking at it, it’s hard to tell if it’s flatter or higher. I understood why he did it. The picture is there so I can see it with my own eyes. It’s there if you guys have access to it, just look at the underneath coverage guy and you’ll see what he was thinking there.”
Q: Do you think the players need to look out better for each other when getting up from plays to not be pushing through each other, which seems to be prevalent a lot in the league today?
REID: “Soren, you’ve been around me long enough to know that I’m not big on all that stuff. You just go play the game and play hard nose football and do your thing. So, any of that stuff is unnecessary in this game. I don’t know whoever patrols it, its’s unnecessary. That’s where I stand on it and that’s my own opinion on it. However it gets done whether the players do it or the officials do it, my team or another team, it’s unnecessary most of all. It doesn’t help the game at all and I’m into whatever helps the game be better and greater than it is now, I’m into that so, I just don’t think that helps it.”