Head coach Andy Reid on his decision to kick the field goal on 4th and Goal in the first quarter, and passing the ball late in the game instead of trying to burn the clock:
“Yeah, so that one I just felt like I wanted points coming out of that. I know they’re tough in the red zone and points were important there, especially early. Then, the last one was I learned a long time ago you don’t give Tom Brady another shot. That’s why he’s the GOAT, right? So, don’t give him the ball back, and that was the mindset there. So, we got Pat (Mahomes) on the move and we sealed the edge, did a nice job there, and then man coverage with Tyreek (Hill) and Sammy (Watkins) and they beat it up there, so they did a nice job.”
Head coach Andy Reid on how the team can get better at limiting penalties:
“It was later in the game, so is it because you’re trying to make a play, you’re grabbing a little cloth on the offensive line—I mean, those are big plays that we took back off and went backwards on, so we need to move our feet more. Whatever it might be, we’ll go through and analyze those and make sure the guys learn from them and we get better. I don’t think it’s an effort problem at all. I mean, it’s probably too much of an effort. So, when you get guys down on that, then that’s a good thing. With 55 (Frank Clark) hitting the quarterback there, I’m glad he was getting there, and we’ll see. The first one sure didn’t look like it wasn’t but a scrape. I’m just glad he’s working like crazy to get home and get to the quarterback, and we’ll clean up the other part.”
Head coach Andy Reid on whether WR Tyreek Hill’s big day was just a case of finding preferable one-on-one matchups or something more:
“Well, we feel like he’s a pretty good matchup anywhere with anybody. He’s strong and quick and fast and he can catch, and the quarterback trusts him. I’m not going to tell you that—they were banged up at the corner position, so I’m not sure that helped Bruce at all, but listen, I would put him against anybody. He’s been doing this all year.”
Head coach Andy Reid on Travis Kelce’s pass attempt:
“Son of a gun, that’s why they moved him to tight end at Cincinnati. Son of a gun. We probably should have scored there. 24 (Carlton Davis) did a nice job on that play though. Anyways, yeah, we’ll get the next one.”
Head coach Andy Reid on the defense:
“I thought the defense did a great job. The second half, just putting it down—the two picks, our two turnovers, and an opportunity for us to offensively take over and go, and the offense, we weren’t able to get that thing going. So, we keep playing like that on defense, being opportunistic, pressuring the quarterback, moving his feet—you don’t have to hit him all the way, but you get him moving in the pocket and that can be just as effective as a sack. And that’s what we did. That’s a great player and they’ve got a good offensive line and good receivers. I mean, that skill group that they have is ridiculous. So, for our defense to do what we did there, I thought was big.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes on how disappointed he is that he didn’t get his first TD catch (from Kelce) and what that play was called:
“Me and Travis (Kelce) made it up first off and we called it Black Pearl because we were bringing it to the Bucs and the Pirates of the Caribbean and everything like that and I talked him into it. Coach (Andy) Reid for sure told him if he can run it, run it in there first, but I just talked to him on the side and was like, “If I’m open man, just throw it to me” and I think that little hesitation that he had was just because I talked to him too much about it.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes on how Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill’s success so far this season opened up what he saw up top:
“Yeah, I think it’s just taking what’s there, I think that’s the biggest thing. I mean you’ve seen how teams have played us these few weeks, they’re playing very far back, and we were able to find ways to move the ball down field and score that way. This week, especially at the beginning of the game they came up tighter and played up close and we were able to hit some shots down field. That’s just the maturity of this offense as a whole of knowing how to run their routes based on coverages that they’re getting, and I’ll try to get them the ball and let them make plays.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes on the risk/reward balance when he knows he has to keep the clock going:
“I mean its just a lot of trust Coach puts in me to make the right decision. You can see I’m trying to get the ball out of my hands quickly, get it to the guys, let them make plays in space. Another thing, they have a really good defense especially against the run and so they’re getting a lot of penetration up front and I’m trying to get it to our playmakers in space and let guys make plays.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes on if he felt like he got used to the field enough to come back in February:
“Man, I hope so. It was hot, it was definitely hot early when the sun was out. Once the sun went down, I felt like I was back in Texas and it was pretty nice to get this weather. Just like that, I’m ready to get back to Kansas City and get this cold one next week.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes on what that win does for his confidence — especially if the Chiefs see the Bucs again in the postseason:
“You get a familiarity with the stadium, with the process of going to the hotel and the city and that’s definitely something that eases your mind when you try to get to Super Bowl if you know you’ve been in this place before and you understand what kind of pregame and stuff happens and then to beat a good football team. That’s a good football team with a lot of talented players and so we played well enough to win. I still think there was times offensively we could’ve been better in the second half in the red zone like we talked about and then defensively they’re going to want to try to get better and better every week and that’s the great thing about football and the NFL is you build and build and try to execute and be the best at the end of the season.”