CHIEFS HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT:"I don't have anything to talk to you about injury wise. We have the guys coming in now so we'll know more later. As far as the game goes you can probably narrow that down to turnovers and penalties. As you look at it there are a lot of things that go into it. I take full responsibility for it. I thought defensively we played well enough, in particular early, to win the game. Offensively we weren't able to be consistent enough. We were going backwards at times instead of going forward. So I've got to make sure that I'm putting guys in the right position and when they're put in the right position we have to make plays. It doesn't matter what position it is, that's what you've got to do. We definitely can't move backwards against teams and do that, not at this level. Then special teams wise we did some good things, but there are some things we can do better there likewise. Collectively we have to get ourselves back together and get ourselves in a rhythm here. A positive rhythm and sustain drives, when we're in the red zone score touchdowns and defensively stay aggressive and continue to tackle when given an opportunity and so on. The best way to do that is to get back to practice and work on those things and that's what we'll do here tomorrow."
Q:There were comments yesterday made by yourself and players that this was a little bit of a wakeup call or time to "man up" I think is what Travis Kelce said. Can you walk me through how hard it is to deal with success and does this team not handle early success well?
REID:"I'll tell you we can do better. I don't know how you define that, but we've all got to do better, that's what we have to do and you need to do it now. I think that without hearing what Travis said I'm telling you that's how I take it and what I'm talking to the team about. We've all got to go right now."
Q:Do you look at it like this is a slump that can be fixed, there's not something fundamentally wrong with the team?
REID:"Yes, I think that this can be fixed, yes."
Q:What are your thoughts on Reggie Ragland and how he played yesterday?
REID:"I think he did a nice job. There were a couple plays he'd like to have back, but for the most part he did a nice job. He's getting better every week, I think we're seeing that. You have to remember this is really his rookie year. I think we have a nice rotation with DJ (Derrick Johnson) and him and (Kevin) Pierre-Louis. We're able to keep everybody fresh and playing downhill and the whole deal. I think it's a positive thing."
Q:Can you take us through the Kelce pass yesterday and did he have another option on that play?
REID:"10 (Tyreek Hill) was the primary receiver on that. They did a good job of covering it. I take responsibility on that one. All said and done I should have just left that one on the play sheet."
Q:Without having Chris Conley and Albert (Wilson) out there how much does that really change the identity of your offense and some of the things that you really like to do with those guys?
REID:"To say you wouldn't like to have those guys, that's wrong. This is one of those questions that can be taken either way. It's a good question, but it could be taken either way. I'll tell you that we've got young guys out there that are learning and getting better as they go on and we're still able to do some things out there with them. Again, it's new for them but I'm still very positive about them."
Q:Physically where is Parker Ehinger at and is there a chance we're going to see him on the field this season?
REID:"We're not ignoring him. We look at those things and right now we felt Zach (Fulton) was the best option there."
Q:After going through the video do you feel any differently one way or the other about the way Alex Smith played yesterday?
REID:"He mentioned about getting in rhythm, I know that was said. I felt the same way that we, over the last couple of weeks, we get going and then all of a sudden something takes you backwards. In this league that's a tough thing to overcome and it's a proven thing. It's a little different from the week before. The week before we were driving along the field and this wasn't quite the same at that. I've got to make sure I'm putting the guys in the right position to make the plays, Alex included, and then when given the chance we've got to make them. Right now it's one of those things where we're off by one tick on a play. Now unfortunately that's costing us and we have to get out of that. We have to all pull together here and keep pulling that rope in the tug-o-war in the right direction. If we do that we're going to be okay. You have to dance the same dance, everybody has to be dancing that. You have a mistake here or there and bad things happen unfortunately."
Q:I realize there's a lot that goes into it but what's Alex's responsibility for getting you guys in that rhythm you guys talked about?
REID:"The quarterback has the responsibility there. He's a standup guy and he's always going to tell you he can do better. It's what I think one of the guys asked this after the game, that you can take an interception and you can say the quarterback threw the ball, but was there a late pressure on his arm, was there a route that was run at 12 yards instead of 20 yards. Those things are things that we look that and analyze. So what looks like it was a botched play by the quarterback inevitably he'll take the responsibility for that, but there are other things I look at that go into that that I look at that need to be done. Then was it the right call for the coverage, we don't slight that either. Did we put the guys in the right position to make the play. That's how we go about it and that's how you play, all of those things go into that and that's how we analyze that. It's been fairly successful for us. We're going to keep doing that. We're going to tweak what we need tweaked and we're going to keep working that system that we're doing and try to get better at it."
Q:The play I wanted to ask about specifically I believe it was on your first possession of the game you guys were moving a little bit and he was rolling out to his left and it looked like Kelce was open and the throw was off. Is that something where he could have got you guys going by making that throw?
REID:"I don't know. You can go through every play and say that. You can say that 54 (Olivier Vernon) was right in his face. You can go through all of these things. There's always something on a play. The bottom line is that we have to get it done at everything position including the play caller and so on. We've got to get it done and be sure when given a chance we make it happen."
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