Andy Reid
Opening Statement: “It was good to get a game in under our belt here. I thought the ones on both sides of the ball did well. The twos did a good job. I thought it was a great experience for the threes and the fours to get in there and get some experience. Like I said, under their belt.
“We’ve got plenty to work on there, and we’ll do that. But, again, some of the young guys that had a chance to play today with the ones and the twos are guys that we’ll be asking to play this season. So, I was happy with their production there.
You mentioned some of the young guys. Isiah Pacheco was one of them. How do you think he looked out there today even with the limited repetitions?
“I thought he ran hard and played fast. He didn’t look like he shied down from anything. Pretty accurate with the things that he did, so I thought he did a nice job. He is one of the young guys that I was happy had a chance to play.”
Andy, Karlaftis had the sack, but it wasn’t the only time he was making trouble back there. How did you see his game?
“I thought he did some good things. I thought the D-line, those first couple of units played well. They put pressure on, and Karlaftis was part of that. He had a sack. He had another chance for a strip sack and was close on another sack. He was pretty productive there.”
A couple of things that stood out about him, but obviously, the motor you’ve been talking about from day one, and the feel for the game is also there too. Did you see kind of the convergence of that already?
“Yeah, he is a sharp kid. He wants to do the right things. He talks to everybody. All those veteran players, he asks questions. He is not afraid to learn.
“He has a good D-line coach that can teach him, so I think he is a sponge right now with all that.”
Justin Reid with the extra point. Is he now officially your backup kicker?
“Listen, it’s hard. Truthfully, it’s hard to find a backup kicker. You can’t carry two of them, right? That’s a tough thing to do.
“So, for him to be a legitimate kicker, I think is a positive thing for us. He can boom it now. He had the one muff-up in training camp, but he has been pretty good with his kicks.”
Patrick’s day, I wonder if you could sum that up and maybe just provide any insight on the one pass to Marquez? It looked like, I think, he had a different option, and he adjusted pretty late to go back across the grain?
“Marquez was one of the primary parts of that route, and he looks through the Y and shoots at it. So on that, his arm got hit, or it would be have a touchdown. He was on it, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
You mean on the incompletion?
“Yeah. Which one are you talking about?”
I think it was Marquez. Patrick was running hard right and came back across the grain, got completed.
“Completed to him?”
Yeah.
“7-for-8. There was only one that he missed, and that was the one, so yeah.”
You felt that the rhythm was pretty good?
“I thought he did some good things there, yeah. Tried to throw the ball a little bit with him. Came out throwing the first couple of plays.”
Did you get worried about the field condition at all, or it wasn’t a factor?
“No. No. A lot better than my high school field was. Not much.”
Patrick Mahomes
Patrick, can you just sort of describe how you felt out there? Brief but pretty potent it seemed like.
PATRICK MAHOMES: We did what we were supposed to do. We went out there. We were able to spread the football around, get a lot of different guys involved, and found a way to get in the end zone.
That was what our goal was, to come out here and score touchdowns, and we did that. It was definitely a good day, and something we can build on.
Can you describe what happened on the one misfire? Your arm got hit?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah.
But it looked like a shot at the end zone. Everything you wanted there? Is that how it went?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, exactly. Arm got hit, so I didn’t get to fully get through the throw. Kind of yanked it down a little bit.
I thought Marquez did a great job in one-on-one coverage on that post route getting open. I felt the safety kind of cheated over to the left side, and so I was trying to make that throw.
Obviously, arm got hit and didn’t make the throw, but it was good to see him get open on man-to-man coverage down there in the red zone.
I think you are talking about the play with Marquez. How much of that comes from — you, obviously, had these guys down in Texas, and how much of it comes from your comfort level that you gained over the last –
PATRICK MAHOMES: I think you saw it. Obviously, you saw me get out of the pocket a little here and there, and they were able to kind of find those open spaces. With Marquez especially being with Aaron, I think he has done a lot of that in his career so far.
So I think it will be an easy transition for him. I think you’ve seen JuJu in training camp doing the same stuff. And guys like Mecole and Trav are always going to be able to do that.
It was good to get that first series out of the way and get a touchdown to have something to build on when we watch the film.
Do you have option on that play, though?
PATRICK MAHOMES: There’s several option on all our plays, but it’s good to just see the guys working, being in game speed, being able to think, run the right routes, get in and out of the huddle, and then make plays happen.
That’s what you want. I mean, obviously, it’s a very simple offense right now, but being able to go out there and execute at a high level, that’s the stuff we see in practice, but to see it in a game against another team is definitely something to build on.
What’s your sense of Karlaftis’s readiness after just seeing him more and more and seeing the whole pace with which he plays and applied against a game today?
PATRICK MAHOMES: He is going to go hard the entire time. That’s just who he is. That’s what’s got him here. I think he will keep crafting his skills every single week to get better and better, and he is a guy that works extremely hard. I know he is going to keep getting better and better.
The only thing we have to work on is his celebration because I don’t know what that was. He did a double-arm flex down. I’ve never seen that one. I was, like, at least go up with the flex if you are going to do something. We’re going to work on that, and we’ll get back to you.
What did you think of the field conditions?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I mean, it was good. I think they had some kind of controversy. There was some stuff here and there, but it wasn’t any crazy bad shape or anything like that.
I love playing here at Soldier Field. It’s an awesome stadium. You feel the history of it. Hopefully I get to play a couple more games here, and try to do whatever I can to win them.
I want to say that your completions came to six different guys. Is that what we should expect with this offense as far as you are so used to Tyreek and Travis, but what excites you about having that diversity?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I think it’s going to be a lot like that this year. It’s going to come from everywhere. You saw kind of six different receivers. JuJu didn’t even get a catch. You didn’t see any other tight ends get catches.
I think you’re going to — any of the running backs. I think it’s going to come from everywhere this year. It’s going to be hard for teams to game plan against. Obviously, Travis is going to probably have a lot of catches. That’s just who he is.
Other than that, it’s going to come from the whole group, and I think the guys have kind of embraced that and know that whenever their number does get called, they’re going to play, and if the other guy makes the play, they’re going to be happy for him. That’s what you want on a team and as an offense.
You’ve had a little bit of a sense of connection with Justin Watson. I’m curious what you thought about his game and how much it is for him to get in the flow?
PATRICK MAHOMES: You’ve seen it all training camp, and I saw it all OTAs and everything like that. He can fly, but he is a bigger guy and can make the touch catches. Props to Shane because I was saying throw the underneath route on the sideline and get the first down. Shane threw the post down the middle and gave Watson a chance to go up and make the play.
It’s good for him not only show his speed but be able to make the touch catches, get across the middle of the field, and get in the end zone.
Just like everything else, the guys are just ready for their number to get called, and they go out there and make plays and then their number is called.
Appreciate, y’all