CHIEFS HEAD COACH ANDY REID
Opening Statement:
“There are no injuries to give you. I will tell you that I didn’t have our guys ready to go well enough, and it’s my responsibility to put our guys in a lot better positions during that game. I didn’t take advantage of that. So, I thought we had some real good downs, but we also had some turnovers and some mistakes that shouldn’t have taken place. We’ll correct those and get ourselves back ready to go.”
Chris Jones on that fourth down play, what was your message to him? I know it kind of changed the game. What do you say to him after an error like that?
“I didn’t see him push him or shove him. I’m not exactly sure. There were two guys talking to each other, I know that. It seemed like Chris (Jones) got called on that, so I guess the best advice would be, don’t talk.”
So you didn’t get any further explanation on that play?
“No, that’s what I was told.”
Can you walk us through the decision to — it looked from our vantage point that it was a fake field goal. I guess A, is that the case, and what the decision was for that?
“That’s what I probably should have called.”
From the start of the game, it seemed like special teams had a few mistakes. How much of that carried over?
“Listen, in the NFL there’s the parity is crazy, so any mistakes get magnified, and that’s just how it goes. So, we have to clean that up. We have to clean it up. We’ll get that taken care of.”
How would you characterize the offense right now?
“I’ve got to make sure I’m putting the guys in a better position and get us in a rhythm. I’ve got to do a better job of getting us into a rhythm, and that’s not taking place. I have to go back and look at that.”
As you guys were getting ready to go into the locker room for halftime, it appeared that Patrick Mahomes and EB (Eric Bieniemy) didn’t agree on the decision. I don’t know if it was whether to go for a Hail Mary. You had to separate the two. Can you tell us what happened from your vantage point?
“I’m sure that’s how it looked, but there really wasn’t – he wanted to go for it.”
For a Hail Mary specifically?
“Not a Hail Mary. Something else we had in mind. But I thought it was best not to do it, so he was just – he is a competitive kid. He wants to take advantage of every opportunity. I thought it was best just to let that ride there. Really, if you heard the words that were said, that wasn’t – I don’t know how it looked to you guys, but there wasn’t a confrontation at all. That’s not what it was.”
On that opening drive of the second half, you went for it the first time on fourth down and decided to kick the field goal the second time you were on the fourth down. What was the difference?
“It was a little bit longer, and I thought we had a shot at making a field goal right there.”
How much trust did you have in Matt Ammendola today?
“Listen, I had trust in him because he made it last week, so at a certain spot. I wanted to make sure we didn’t put him in a bad position. He is a young guy that’s just starting off here, so tried to make sure it was the right position to put him in.”
Was there any decision to have Justin Reid kick today for you?
“No.”
You were asked a minute ago about the fake field goal. Can you elaborate on your answer? I’m not sure what your answer was.
“My answer was, I probably should not have done that.”
That’s easy to see now. Can you elaborate on your reasoning for doing it in the first place?
“Yeah, we thought we would have it.”