CHIEFS HEAD COACH ANDY REID
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Opening Statement: **"As far as injuries go, I really don't have anything for you right now. (Allen) Bailey will be checked out today and see how he is. I had a chance to go back through the tape, little bit of what I mentioned yesterday after the game, I thought we were up and down. The defense I thought started real well, the offense didn't. The second half, the offense picked it up and the defense had a couple drives there, a couple plays and one call in particular that I thought was probably not the right call. We all have our good days and bad days, but the play with (Steven) Nelson, I thought Nelson had the right away with that and was called for pass interference. It ended up being a big play in that drive and didn't allow us to get off the field and back on and go when we had a little bit of momentum. All in all we'll go back and we'll look at it during the bye here and evaluate it and see what needs tweaked here and there. It'll be good for players to get away, I gave them this week off. Step back, get away, heal up a little bit. Had a pretty good schedule up to this point and really have maximized them. The effort has been there and now just got to step back here and give them that opportunity to do that. The coaches will work and take a couple days off to then get back on it and get ready for New York."
Q: What gives you confidence that the flashes we've seen on both sides of the ball is something you eventually can be consistent with?
REID: "You're seeing that when you see it that way, I've seen it before the last couple games here where both sides were playing well at the same time. When we do that we're a tough team to stop. We've got to continue to do that. If you get beat on a play it doesn't matter what side of the ball you're on or special teams, it doesn't matter, you step back up and you challenge again. That's what you do. We've got to get back to doing that better, both sides of the ball. That's my responsibility, that we do that."
Q: Of all the positions, is offensive line the one you can heal up on the most?
REID: "I think it's everywhere. It's good to get Larry (Laurent Duvernay-Tardif) back in the mix. I think he'll be the first one to tell you he was a little rusty early, but he worked through that. Tamba (Hali), getting him back in, I thought his energy was great but again there's no easy way of incorporating someone into a game. They can practice and do that, but where you're at now in the season when you're required to take the pads off and go by the rules then it's hard to get that same intensity level. So getting those guys back in and playing, (Steven) Nelson is just getting back in the swing of things. He's been playing the nickel position, he was playing a little bit of corner, but being able to put him back in where he has a little bigger role out there. These are all things I look forward to as we get back together and putting on the final stretch here in the season. I know what kind of talent we have. I'm confident of that. I need to make sure offensively, defensively and on special teams that we're all doing the right things and we're doing our part from a coaching standpoint, we're giving our players the best opportunity to make plays. Honestly I didn't do that as well as it should've been done yesterday."
Q: Running game hasn't been the same the last month – what kind of role did injuries play in that and how did that hurt the cohesion of the unit at the time of certain runs?
REID: "Yesterday we didn't run near as well as we should've. They were doing some things to try to stop that. Even with that you should still be effective. You can't go backwards running the football. That's not the situation you want to be in. I've got to make sure I'm designing things the right way, giving guys the opportunity. We've got to go out and we've got to function. We've got to run those individual battles* *out there and we're not getting that part done."
Q: You talked after the game about the lack of energy in yesterday's game – what did you see that led you to think that?
REID:"It was up and down. I thought we started off with good energy, both sides. It didn't work as well offensively. And then we weren't able to sustain long enough drives, keeping the defense on the field too long. That hurts you as the game goes on. We can do a better job of that."
Q: On being ranked 30th in yards per play in the NFL defensively right now.
REID: "One thing I mentioned yesterday was the third downs on both sides of the ball. Third downs we didn't get off the field. From a defensive standpoint we've got to be able to do that, we're better than that. Again, you go back and you look at it. We're putting the guys in the right position to make plays on the ball and are you making the play. We all take responsibility for that and get that straightened out. We shouldn't be obviously 30th in the league in that. We're better than that. This time we'll try to use wisely to get that stuff corrected."
Q: What are some of the factors that go into deciding how many snaps Kareem (Hunt) is going to get?
REID: "We do certain things with certain backs and other things with the other backs. We kind of mix and match it. We're not on a number count, that's not what we do. Kareem (Hunt) is our primary guy. When you're a good player, you're playing, that's how it works. Then given an opportunity you make the best of it and you roll with it."
Q: How is (Kareem Hunt) physically holding up as a rookie?
REID: "I think he's good. We try to keep an eye on that. Do our job there."
Q: What's your evaluation of the team's overall tackling?
REID:"I'd tell you secondary wise I think we've actually done decent with it. Linebackers have been decent downfield. I think our open field tackling right now is better than what we're actually doing, we've got to do better at that. That's something we can go back on and work on. We can do a better job in that area."
Q: How about Marcus (Peters) specifically?
REID: "Marcus has done some good things. I'm sure there are some he'd like to have back."
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH BRAD CHILDRESS
Q:Kareem Hunt played about 53% of the snaps in the game yesterday. What are some of the factors that go into deciding how you rotate those running backs?
CHILDRESS:"Some have to do with protection. Some have to do with freshness between him and Charcandrick (West). Some guys take a better look at plays than others. They've all got their little niche that we try to fit them into."
Q:What's been your evaluation of the offense through the first nine games of the season?
CHILDRESS:"I think we've sluffed off here a little bit in the last couple of weeks. We have really kind of lacked something that we had early on. When you have a bye week you go back and reassess. We're a little bit past the halfway point and you're able to kind of sit back and look at yourself the way somebody else is looking at you."
Q:For Mitch Morse and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to get back in there, how important is it for them to get healthy and get back in the swing of things?
CHILDRESS:"It's great. Those are our starters so there's no downside to that. It's just a matter of getting back, getting those turns, getting those reps, regaining that symmetry that front five has to work with to play and play good."
RUNNING BACKS COACH ERIC BIENIEMY
Q:Kareem Hunt's effectiveness is obviously not what it was earlier in the season and there's a million reasons for that. What's his responsibility in that?
BIENIEMY:"We always have to focus on the little things that can help us to be better. That's always a challenge for any of our guys, but primarily in our room we always talk about focusing on the details. What can I do better to help us be a better team? That's the challenge that we take each and every day. There's a lot of little things. It's detailing on footwork. It's detailing everything in the pass game. So when I talk about detail there's always these little aspects of our game that we can correct. I don't want to go into detail and put everything out there so teams can start focusing on that, but those are inner things that we need to concentrate on."
Q:What about Charcandrick's West's skills makes him such a good fit for the passing game?
BIENIEMY:"He's a fighter. He does a great job in picking up blitzes. He does a great job of handling the pass routes out in the flats. He does a great job of just being an all-around football player for us. At the end of the day he does a great job of fighting. Then when it's all said and done, you just trust the little things that he's going to do to help us and drag us up across the finish line when needed."
Q:Has the league adjusted to Kareem?
BIENIEMY:"It's not so much that teams have adjusted to him. This is the NFL, each and every week you're going to be presented with a different challenge. The Dallas Cowboys played pretty good defense yesterday. They did a great job of shutting us down. At the end of the day it's not about what they do it's how well we do a better job of executing our skills and coming out and doing the little things that are going to help us to be better. That's one thing that we have to do. We have to make sure that we're taking a look from within and make sure that we're doing everything possible to help us to find a way to drag ourselves across the finish line on the right end of it."
WIDE RECEIVERS COACH GREG LEWIS
Q:You guys have had your share of injuries with the receivers, how has Demarcus Robinson and the other guys done stepping in?
LEWIS:"All the guys have done a tremendous job of understanding the offense and what we are asking them to do and going out and executing at a high level. They haven't blinked an eye. More opportunities came and they have answered the call with what we have asked them to do."
Q:Are you good with Demarcus's blocking?
LEWIS:"I am excited about it. It is something that we emphasize as a staff and I emphasize as a coach to the group, that we turn those five yard runs into 15 to 20 to touchdown type of runs. We take pride in going and covering guys up each and every play. Does it happen every play? No, it doesn't. But we are giving great effort and we are trying to do what is asked of us as receivers."
Q:Can you talk about that play at the end of the half and the blocking?
LEWIS:"The big thing about blocking is you don't need the knock out blocks. Those are the ones that you see on ESPN and all that different highlight film. But if you are pushing and pestering and covering a guy up, that gives guys who have the ball in their hand, the playmakers we have, opportunities to get open and squeak through holes and to get into the end zone. And that is what happened on that play. But Demarcus wasn't the only guy. Kelce was down there and Demetrius was down there doing a good job of just covering guys up and then it is up to the runner to find that crease."
SECONDARY/CORNERBACKS COACH AL HARRIS
Q:Where do you think you are at as a secondary?
HARRIS:"Play has been up and down. That is a part of this league. Obviously, we have to get better and make more plays and prevent the big play from happening. The bye week is coming in at a good time. We can go back and self-evaluate and see where we need to correct things."
Q:What led to the decision to go with Kenneth Acker over Terrance Mitchell?
HARRIS:"Last year, we started four different right cornerbacks. It is a constant evaluation on our side of the ball and just our football team in general. There wasn't a glaring thing to say, 'OK, Terrance is being benched,' because that wasn't the case. We are just trying to find the right combination of players on the field in the secondary. Those guys have to be on the same page. There can't be a weak link. Not that Terrance was a weak link, I am not saying that, but we just need to find the best combination of guys."
Q:What did you see in Acker that you liked?
HARRIS:"One thing about Acker, I can put him at corner, I can put him at nickel, I can put him at safety. He is versatile. So we are just trying to find the right pieces."
