Reid began with a salute to his team for its effort in Sunday's 30-22 win over the Buffalo Bills.
"I'm proud of the guys and the way they handled themselves in the game," Reid said. "We had some guys that had to step in and play because of injuries and I thought they did a nice job there. Overall, it was a good team win. I thought the coordinators had great plans. There are a ton of individual accolades you can give out in a game like that. It was a physical game against two good teams. Rex (Ryan) has got a good team there. He's set the foundation for the Bills for now and the future."
Chiefs running back Spencer Ware put together a solid 100-yard rushing game on Sunday, but this was no surprise to Reid.
"You thought you had what you have right now, but you're never sure until they get in and get going," Reid said. "We felt from his college time that he was a hard runner, we saw that in the preseason and during camp. Stick him at fullback when really he'd been a tailback. He handled that; he never said a word about that. He just went in and did his thing, and that's a tough spot to be in. Maybe the endurance part of it [is a surprise]. He's a bigger guy, hadn't played a lot of snaps, and comes in and puts together a pretty healthy game as far as number of carries and plays for you. If there's a surprise, maybe that was it.
"In college, he was a physical runner. He's going to bring it to you every snap. He's going to give you that kind of an effort. He's got a low center of gravity so.
Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and tight end Travis Kelce make a dangerous duo for defenses leading the Chiefs receiving corps. Reid believes having the two together can change the way a defense strategizes and paves the way for younger receivers.
"You're not going to be able to double everybody," Reid said. "Again, Albert [Wilson is] a good player and Chris Conley is a nice addition in there too. You want to make sure you have enough people out there that the defense respects, in particular, your skill guys. You want to make sure, if they're not going to cover them that they can take care of business.
"You saw a couple good plays by Albert. Chris was about an inch away from making a great one there. We hit, in that first drive of the second half, we hit Albert on that slant route. It is important and they're young guys. Between Jason and Mac, there's some good experience there that can help teach them."
The offense, led by quarterback Alex Smith, hasn't committed a turnover in five games. Reid attributes this to Smith's discipline and his big-play capabilities.
"A lot of turnovers happen when you're forcing things in there, and [Smith] stays very disciplined with that," Reid said. "I thought he did a great job yesterday. That was one of his better games all the way around. He made a couple checks in there that were beautiful and put us in good position. It becomes very important. That stat is a huge stat, the whole plus-minus thing when it comes to turnovers.
"It's hard to drive a field consistently. If you're looking at 80 yards, 70 yards, it's hard to do on a consistent basis just by little chunks. You want to make sure you get some big hitters in there as you go. I think the more he and Jeremy play together, the more chance you have of that. Kelce had a nice, big one too—a big run after the catch."
Reid spoke about the coaching staff's focus in the midst of a five-game win streak.
"I think there are a lot of things that go into that, but the one thing as coaches and players that you can control are the fundamentals, technique and effort," Reid said. "Our guys have done a good job with that the last several weeks. If you really focus in on that, those are the things you can control. As you go on, it's important that you don't get caught up in everything that's out there but that you keep yourself tunneled in. That will be our challenge down the road here. We've got to do a better job. Last year, we didn't do very well with that and it caught up to us. We can learn from that and do better this year.
"I think it's a joint effort. We've all got to do that. It starts with me obviously and works its way around the team, so we've got to do a better job there."
After multiple injuries to the offensive line, injured left guard Jeff Allen came back into the game out of necessity. Reid touched upon Allen's grit for playing through the pain.
"We thought we could kind of get him out," Reid said. "He wanted to go back in the whole time. He felt he'd be OK. We had kind of covered that up with Zach [Fulton]. As the numbers started dwindling down, he raced back out there. We didn't push him. It was letting the reigns off him a little bit and he was out there. He's a tough kid, so he's been that way since we've been here. He's had some injuries, but he always pushed through them if he could. If you can push through it, he's going to push through it—that's how it works."
After Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston went down, backup linebackers and special teams contributors Frank Zombo and Dezman Moses stepped in to fill big shoes.
"Frank, he played a little bit more than what Dez did," Reid said. "I thought Frank did a nice job and then Dez is going to give you good, aggressive downs. That's how he plays.
"Frank's been in there. Frank stepped in on a Super Bowl winning team and took over after an injury and played well when he was at Green Bay, so he understands all of that. He's steady Eddy and he's got a good personality. He's not afraid to zing anybody. Everybody's free game and he can take it back in return. He's just got a good way about him. He's a tough guy, he's a tough kid, and he plays hard, relentless."
Sunday's game saw both teams suffer multiple injuries. Reid commended the job general manager John Dorsey has done in recruiting the team's depth.
"I think John and his crew have done a good job," Reid said. "They spend endless hours doing this thing. Right after the game, they're back here, looking at a guy or making sure everything's set up. There's a lot of time that's invested in that. They do a great job.
"What happened on the offensive line, they did a great job there. Andy Heck is doing a phenomenal job as the line coach, working with these guys. The run game, we're giving a lot of credit to the running backs, but the big fellas up front are rolling and Andy (Heck) puts that run game together. It's a combination of things, but the depth comes down to John Dorsey and his crew putting people together there for us."
And finally, its Raider Week- one of the biggest division rivalries in the National Football League. Reid talked about the two teams' history and how the Chiefs will prepare this coming week.
"It's always been a big-time rivalry for the Chiefs," Reid said. "I know the history of that. We feel that they've got a good ball club. I think Jack [Del Rio] has done a nice job up there with this. I know Reggie [McKenzie], he's done a nice job bringing in personnel.
"This will be a heck of a game. We'll start prepping for that with the players tomorrow and introducing it to them. That's a neat thing, those rivalries in the NFL. Those are kind of neat deals."
