Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
November 20, 2013
OPENING STATEMENT: "Alright, as far as injuries go, these people will not practice today and they're all day-to-day here, so we'll just see how it works. Mike DeVito has a knee sprain; Eric Fisher has a shoulder that is bothering him; Tyson Jackson has an abdominal strain and then Jon Asamoah went through the walkthrough. He's going to work to practice today and see what he can do. He has calf spasms and a little bit of a shoulder contusion, but he's going to see what he can do. We look forward to the challenge of playing the Chargers. We've had a chance now for the players to see the Chargers and are well into it and it doesn't take you but a minute to see that they're a good football team, very explosive on the offensive side and very complex on the defensive side. They give you a ton of different looks and they have good players that are executing the defense. They are very well-coached, all the way around, from the head coach to the coordinators, it's a solid crew. And then, their special teams, they can be very explosive on special teams. We have to make sure that we continue to study them and then get ourselves ready today. It starts today with the practice. I had a good walkthrough and then we'll get out there and get to work this afternoon. We also brought in Kyle Love, who's a defensive tackle, nose guard/defensive tackle, so he'll work in. We appreciate everything that (Anthony) Toribio did here; he's a good kid and worked very hard. Again, John (Dorsey) and our staff felt that Kyle has a chance to help us, so we will give him a chance and see what he can do here."
Q: What role do you see him playing?
REID: "I think it will be more of the nose, nose position, but he's done both. At New England they kind of moved him back and forth. And I know you know that he has Type 2 diabetes, but he has that under control and his weight is good. He looks like he is in pretty good shape. Rick (Burkholder) and our docs felt that it was not an issue right now. His weight had been up, and it was an issue at that time. But he has that under control, which you have to do."
Q: If Mike DeVito or Tyson Jackson couldn't play, would he?
REID: "Yeah, there's a chance that he could work in. We have to see how he does in practice and then talk with the defensive guys, but right now, I'll tell you he has playing experience, which helps, in games."
Q: Is he kind of a one-gap or two-gap guy?
REID: "Well at New England he did two gap, but in their jet package, he had to work some one-gap stuff and pass rush. In Jacksonville, he did some stuff there, where he had to get up the field. He's capable of doing either or."
Q: Where do you want to see your third-down conversion rate?
REID: "Well, I want to see it at 100%, but that's not realistic. That's what we're shooting for. You want to be able to continue to move the chains and be efficient with that. When you get above 50 and into the 60's, normally, you're doing pretty good. It depends on how you analyze that on how many 3rd–and-three-to-six categories, seven-to-ten categories and 11-plus categories you're dealing with. Percentages decrease as you increase the yardage. That's how we look at it."
Q: How do you see the o-line and the next man up situation; how did they work together in Denver?
REID: "(Geoff) Schwartz will work in at the guard spot and (Donald) Stephenson at the tackle spot, if it came down to that. I have confidence in both of them. They have playtime under their belt, good solid playtime, so I have no problem with either one of them playing."
Q: But you have two of them, which would play?
REID: "Yeah I don't care, both could play, I'm good with either one of them, if it came down to that. I don't think it will come down to that, but if it does, then I'm good with that."
Q: What's the balance with taking care of the ball and making big plays?
REID: "Yeah, I mean, I think you can do that, sure. We did take more shots down the field and we'll continue to work on that. That hasn't necessarily been our strength in this offense up to this point, but we're trying to get better at the things that we need to get better at and that's one of them, so we'll keep working on it. At the same time, we'll work on taking care of the football. That's an important stat, points and score are important. Each team is going to give you an opportunity for something different. We had a shot at getting a couple deep ones against that crew (Denver), but every week is different."
Q: Is ball security the main thing you preach to your offense?
REID: "Well, it's one of the things that you talk about for sure. I'm probably saying this about every coach in this league; we understand that turnovers hurt you. That's a significant stat. You want to eliminate the turnovers on the offensive side and increase them on the defensive side; the plus-minus margin is very important. To tell you that I do, yeah, I do talk about ball security and make sure they take care of that thing. Turnovers hurt you."
Q: Are you pretty happy with how Alex Smith has walked the line between being aggressive and playing it safe?
REID: "Yeah, well, he does. I love the way he is playing. Do we all have room to get better? Absolutely. I like the way he is taking care of the game and he threw the ball well the other night. The more familiar he is with the receivers and offense and so on, the better he is."
Q: How do you work with guys on dropped passes, other than repetition?
REID: "You have to focus on the football. We've seen a lot of man coverage here the last few weeks, it's tight coverage, and it becomes a physical game. You have to make sure that you focus even that much more on the football and stay aggressive on the ball. We keep working it in practice. We get a great look from the scout team, so you keep working it and making sure that you keep your focus up every rep that you get."
Q: What are some of the keys and challenges of getting your team to play the best football late in the season?
REID: "You keep doing the process, every week. I mention to you almost every day here, you make sure that you look at the team you're playing and respect them. We're in the National Football League, the margin for losing is (very small). You have to make sure you come in, study, respect them and then get yourself ready to play. And if you lose focus on that process Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you lose focus on that process or take short cuts, you have problems. This group hasn't done that. They've stayed very disciplined with that and I wouldn't expect anything less."
Q: Do you expect Jon Asamoah to play by Sunday?
REID: "Well, he's going to try to go today. I would tell you that he is closer than Fish (Eric Fisher), but I would still tell you that it is a day-to-day thing. Fish did not do the walkthrough; the first three guys I mentioned did not do the walkthrough."
Q: Which one of the three offensive linemen that haven't been active would be activated, if you needed a body?
REID: "I don't know that. We're rotating them all in. They're all getting reps in there. We'll just keep doing that and see how it works."
Q: Can Rokevious Watkins play tackle or is Rishaw Johnson the only tackle in that group?
REID: "Well, he's done that; he's played there. We work him in and they're getting reps in all of them, at all of the positions, besides center. None of them are centers."
Q: Anthony Toribio got all of his work there on goal line; who's up next in that position? Will Kyle Love be able to go there right away?
REID: "I'm going to see what goes on, give me today and tomorrow and let's see how that goes, how fast he picks things up. He can do that though, yes, he can do that."
Q: When Alex Smith took the sack in the beginning of the game, was it because he had nowhere to go or what happened?
REID: "Bad call on my part. I mean he didn't have an opportunity for a throw on that."
Q: Why did he, on the last play of the first half, take off running instead of throwing the Hail Mary?
REID: "It didn't time up that way. That wasn't available. Normally, he would do that, though."
