CHIEFS HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT:"I don't have anything to mention about injuries, the guys are coming in now. Looked like we came out fairly healthy. We obviously need to do better as a football team. On the positive side I thought we did some things, made some improvements defensively. We did well in the run game part of it and pretty much shut down a running back that I consider one of the best in the business. Offensively we continue to start slow. That's my responsibility and I'll address that with the offense. I always go back and look at what I can do better. I think we all probably need to do a little more of that. With the core group that I've got on the offensive side I know they'll look in the mirror first and demand more from each other. I'd say that all the way through with our locker room. We've got a good locker room. There's an ebb and flow in the National Football League that takes place at times. Every year is different. You're going to have some highs and lows. We're obviously not playing as well as we'd like to play and the end results are showing that. Everybody has to feel that urgency to change it. Again, I thought we had a good week of practice last week, but we stalled coming out of the gate on the offensive side of the ball. We can't do that. We all have to pick our game up."
Q: To what extent of the stalling is a play calling issue?
REID: "I'll take full responsibility of that. I have to do a better job there. The plays aren't working that have been called there. I know I've got responsible guys on the offensive side that I know will also take responsibility there. We've all got a little piece of it. But I definitely need to do a better job there."
Q: Alex (Smith) said there was some miscommunication with Tyreek Hill on the interception – is that something that just happens in the course of the game?
REID: "It shouldn't happen. Too many little things like that that we need to take care of. Like I said, I trust our core group here. We've been through some things in the past but there's got to be an urgency there to fix problems and it starts with me. Little situations throughout, they can't happen. Whether it's doing a better job of communicating that and/or executing it, needs to take place."
Q: Is Alex (Smith) not in sync, is he missing some opportunities?
REID: "I think it's everybody. I think we've all got a piece of this. I'm not saying that it's Alex (Smith). It starts with me. Because I'm the one giving him the plays. I would tell you that every play there's a little something and it kind of spreads out to different positions. When you're not quite in sync, that's what takes place. There's a breakdown – here or there. You're not able to point it at one exact person, there's a flow here of one guy doing something that needs to be better. That's what we've got to do. You've got to make sure you're putting them in position to do that. Giving them the right looks against the right defensive looks."
Q: 26 plays inside of 10 yards for the passing game – is that affecting the run game?
REID: "Depends on what the defense is doing. You saw that they were bringing an extra guy right from the start. So there are times where you've got to get the ball out relatively quick. So that's what we did. Can we get more downfield throws, we probably could. That's part of it. But again, early in the game, that's what they were doing."
Q: Did you call more downfield in that game?
REID: "I could have done better there. I probably could have done a lot better with that one."
Q: You said there are other things you want to get done – can you elaborate on that?
REID: "Possibly, yeah I could give you a little. But I wouldn't want to give too much. That wouldn't be real smart. Again I've got to make sure that I get done what I need to get done from the coaching part of it. Then we've got a couple little wrinkles that we've got to clean up and we'll get that done too. That's about as much as I'd give you."
Q: Not lineup type things?
REID:"Either way. I'm looking at everything. Which probably needs to get done right there, you need to look at everything. That's my responsibility to do that. I'm not sitting right here in a position to give you an answer to that."
Q: Are you seeing the same things from defenses in the past month?
REID: "No. Everybody has got their own little wrinkle here that they've given us. This group actually played all nickel to us, even when we went with our personnel group, our big guys out there. With an extra lineman out there. They still played nickel. I mean everybody's been a little different. Teams shouldn't be able to do that and get away with it."
Q:With the significant difference between the first month of the season and now in the run game, do you have to block better or are they actively taking the run away?
REID:"What the team did yesterday was they put an extra guy in the box and that was their answer to the run game. They brought five. They played zone behind it and played press on the outside. You have to do certain things to counter that. I didn't think we did a good job of that from my standpoint or the execution standpoint."
Q:With not being able to take advantage of them being in nickel, is this the most disappointing offensive game of the year?
REID:"We have to do better. We have to do a better job. That is why I am standing here and I am going to tell you I am going to give the guys an opportunity to do that. I didn't get that done yesterday."
Q:Is this a game where the other team just got you?
REID:"I will tell you that they won the game, so inevitably, they got us. To say we weren't sure what they were doing, I wouldn't tell you that. We have to get the right things called for the right situations and you have to execute. That is where we are at right now."
Q:How do you keep the guys focused on living for the next down?
REID:"Well, you got a glimpse of it in the second half. There is no reason you can't, and that was with a penalty involved, which shouldn't take place. We shouldn't be jumping off sides. That isn't what you should do. It is hard to go backwards and still have a successful drive like we did. It shows what this offense, when it is executing properly and getting the right plays in, what can take place. You have to string together that. You can't go backwards in the National Football League. You know that statistically it drops your percentage and chance of scoring way down. It is hard to drive a long field, period. Let alone without and explosive play and without a penalty included on that."
Q:Does it make an impression on the team when fans are booing?
REID:"Well, you don't want that to happen, obviously. We have great fans, tremendous fans. We didn't do very well. Like I said, it was more one-sided on that. The offense didn't do as well as we needed to do. I understand why they were booing. We surely don't want that to happen. We are going to work our tails off to make it better. That part guaranteed. We are going to work on those things we need to get better at and get this changed around."
Q:What can you do to beat certain coverages presented to you?
REID:"We have to make sure we dial those up and give the guys an opportunity to execute them and then, if the defense is presenting it, we have the route going the right way that we throw and complete it. Have to do a better job of protecting. You can kind of go around and see, if you are on a three step drop and you have a guy in your lap, that is a tough thing. You have to execute and you have to take pride in that. There has to be an urgency. A back-to-the-wall mentality and so on. There is a certain desire that goes into this sport no matter how you cut it from a player's standpoint and a coaching standpoint. And it has to be collectively. If it is not, then you have a problem. So you have to fix that. And there is no better time to fix it then now. That's how we are going to go about our business here."
Q:Was there some of everything that went into not getting the offense going at each position?
REID:"I would tell you, yes. I would tell you, throughout that, if you look outside of that one drive, there might be a little one of everything, is what I am saying. We have to clean that up. And that is my responsibility that we get that cleaned up."
Q:Alex is your guy?
REID:"Alex is my guy, yeah."
Q:Would you say he is your guy barring injury?
REID:"Without getting philosophical, I am not sitting here with a crystal ball projecting things like that. That is not how I roll. We all have responsibility to do our job. At all positions. Staring with me. That is not getting done the right way. It is not one guy. That has to be understood. It is not one person. And we all have to pull together as a football team, in this case, as an offensive football team, right now and get that taken care of. As a team. Not one guy. That is about as clear as I can make it."
