Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
October 19, 2022
OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, as far as the guys who won’t practice today, Mike Danna won’t practice although he’s doing better. We’re just going to hold him out. And then (Joe) Thuney fits into that same category with the high ankle sprain, so he won’t practice today. We’re just monitoring those two guys. And then, (Rashad) Fenton won’t practice with the hamstring. (Trent) McDuffie will practice, and we’ll just see how he does as we go. We look forward to the challenge of playing the 49ers. (They’re) a good football team, very talented and very well coached. So with that, time’s yours.”
Q: As you approach the bye week are Blake Bell and Lucas Niang guys you’re looking to bring back after the bye?
REID: “Most likely it would be after the bye, but somewhere after the bye. They are getting better and we just have to see how it goes.”
Q: Is Bryan Cook back to practice today?
REID: “Yes.”
Q: What are your expectations for Willie Gay this week? Will he be active on Sunday?
REID: “We’ll see how things go here this week. We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. (We’ll) see where he’s at.”
Q: Is Bryan Cook out of the concussion protocol?
REID: “Yeah, I think this is a part where he has to go through a practice, I believe. (Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance) Rick’s (Burkholder) got all of that.”
Q: The roster has turned over quite a bit since the last time you played the 49ers. Do you develop an appreciation of where you guys still are competing and for what you’re competing for despite the turnover?
REID: “Yeah listen, I always give credit to (General Manager) Brett (Veach) on that stuff. He deals with it and his guys deal with it – and you guys have gotten to know Brett now, so you know the energy level and the amount of time he puts into this thing and bringing us good players to coach. So we appreciate that. It gives us an opportunity. Now we’ve got to coach guys up and guys have to play. We’re early in the season, we got to keep growing together, but we appreciate the talent we’ve been given for sure.”
Q: Can you speak to the difficulty of maintaining this level of success once you win something? I know Patrick Mahomes helps a lot, but there are teams with good quarterbacks out there that aren’t competing every year.
REID: “Yeah, there was a good nucleus, I guess, of a couple of guys (laughs) – if that’s considered a nucleus – that have been here and kind of get it and they have a voice in the locker room. And then there’s some veteran players that we brought in that go, ‘Yeah, you know what? That’s the way it needs to be.’ So, they’ve bought in and again, I appreciate that part because that’s not always that way. But we’ve been blessed to have some good guys here that understand the hard-work and all those things pay off for you down the road.”
Q: What are your impressions of 49ers Defensive Coordinator DeMeco Ryans as a former player and now coach?
REID: “Yeah, phenomenal person and absolutely brilliant as a player, just understanding the game and you’re seeing that now as a coach. So, I’m very happy for him. He’s one of those guys you pull for – unless you’re playing them (laughs) – but you pull for him.”
Q: Patrick Mahomes said that during the Raiders game, you pulled something from a previous week. How often does that happen? And how important is it to have the guys that have that memory bank to be able to go back and remember the play?
REID: “Yeah, so working back to Sam’s (McDowell) question, with the record that we have, we seem to get different looks than maybe what the team has shown traditionally. And so, we’ve seen that for the last couple of years now and you’ve got to be able to be a little flexible on your feet there to maneuver around it. Again, we’re lucky that we’ve got guys that can retain, we got a quarterback who gets it and so we’re able to pull a couple of things here and there if needed. And our coaches have good retention there to help.”
Q: How far back can you go?
REID: “Normally what you do is it’s things that maybe you’ve worked on in camp but then you’ve put on the back burner or you may use three, four weeks down the season. Potentially there’s something you had the year before you might sneak out, but normally it’s from the whole grouping of plays that you put in in camp. It’s like a reservoir. And you kind of draw from that as you go through the year where you might have to draw a little sooner than you might think so you can pull those out. It isn’t 10 years ago, it might be the year before or potentially training camp.”
Q: To that point, you guys have been through this enough to where you’re seeing more single-man coverage. How much can that be beneficial versus doing it in training camp or maybe seeing it in spots versus a team being more deliberate against you in man coverage this early in the season?
REID: “Yeah, the thing we’ve seen is a mix – a huge mix. That’s kind of the flavor of the league right now, I think. And then they’ll pick a little bit more of something percentage wise to play against you. So, man has been something that we’ve seen. We were lucky that we saw it in training camp with our own defense. And so, we’ve worked the routes – most of the routes – against it. Then it’s just a matter of trying to defeat the guy that’s covering you. But it’s not a – right now most of the coverage that we’re getting we’ve seen because these teams are doing these things. It’s a variety pack.”
Q: With three talented running backs, how are you determining who goes in and when? Or is that up to Running Backs Coach Greg Lewis? Or is that a combination of things?
REID: “Yeah so, we’ve got trust in all of them. And they’ve all got kind of their plays and times that we try to use them. It just depends on the game. So, this game might be different than the last game. We try to give them as close to equal opportunities as we can, (Isiah) Pacheco came up a little short this last game here. Ten reps I think it was.”
Q: Do you have a different appreciation for WASP now three years down the line? And the changing moment that it was for this organization?
REID: “Yeah, that play got a lot of publicity. I’m sure they’ve worked on it, but we don’t run it anymore so (laughter).”
Q: On using the run game to land the ‘body blows.’ Is it important to beat the defense up a little bit during the game so that you have an extra step ahead in the fourth quarter?
REID: “I think you do that in the run game and the pass game and to think different than that as a lineman is a mistake. So normally – in a normal pass rush – there’s an uncovered lineman. You’re just not standing there picking your nose, you’re working and letting people know that you’re around. You need to be physical in the run game – likewise and finish your blocks. That part is still part of this game, and those guys are very important guys to set a certain tempo.”
Q: When you look at the 49ers defense what unique characteristics do they have that makes them as good as they are?
REID: “Their front is special, and their linebackers are special. Their back end (defensive backs) – when they’re healthy – they’ve got good play. Then they’ve brought in some guys that are new that are playing fast. I think (49ers Defensive Coordinator) DeMeco (Ryans) has done a nice job of teaching the basics to these guys so they can play fast and that’s the thing that jumps out at you. You expect the new guys to be a little hesitant coming in but they’re flying around and making plays.”
Q: I want to jog your memory back to your time at San Francisco State University and playing under (former San Francisco State University Head Coach Vic Rowen. What does that time mean to you and how much does it mean as you reflect on your time in San Francisco?
REID: “Yeah, it was a great growing time. Vic Rowen was a great teacher of coaches, and he had this huge library of playbooks in the office – from every school. He’d call up a coach and go, ‘Hey, can I get your playbook?’ and guys would send him their playbooks. I mean – that was a beautiful library. He had all this stuff that you could look at and dive into and he was great about teaching you – sharing with you, his knowledge. I appreciate it.”
Q: What have you seen in the last two games from Skyy Moore and where do you see it going next for him?
REID: “Listen – I think he’s going to continue to grow through the season. I think the more he plays, the better he’s going to get, the more familiar he’ll become (and) the faster he’ll play. Those things that take place with young guys, so we give him a little bit more every week and he’s been doing fine with it.”
Chiefs Players Quotes
October 19, 2022
QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: One of your teammates said it’s important to get the bad taste out of your mouth? How do you do that this week?
MAHOMES: “I think you just have to come to work. We have a heck of a challenge this week against the 49ers. One of the best defenses in the league, so as an offense, we have to know that we’re about to take advantage of every day. We’ll have to practice great, watch film great, and so we can put ourselves in the best position to have some success on the field.”
Q: You’re facing tough defenses it seems like every week. How much of a challenge has it been for you guys? What have you learned about yourself and the team with that challenge?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, it’s a heck of a challenge to go up against the best and that’s what you want to do. You want to prepare yourself to be in those situations towards the end of the season and hopefully in the playoffs, and so for us, we just have to accept it every week to know that we’re going to play the best teams week in and week out because of the past success that we’ve had. It’s been a great challenge for us, and I think the team has responded well.”
Q: How often are you and Head Coach Andy Reid feeling like you’ve been seeing some un-scouted looks? Is there a way to prepare for that type of thing?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think over the last few years we’ve seen it where defenses have played us a little differently than they’ve played everybody else, but you have to come up with a gameplan for it. I think we do a good job of adjusting on the fly, making quick adjustments throughout the game, so that we can go out there and have success.”
Q: There was a time during the 2019 season where you saw teams start playing more man-coverage against you guys.What do you remember from that time and that season that helped you win the Super Bowl and how might that be applicable with this group of receivers?
MAHOMES: “I think it’s just defenses are throwing us different pitches. They know that last year was kind of more shell and zone coverages and they had some success with that and then we kind of started beating that and then they went back to the man coverages again now. They’re doing a good job of trying to mix and match it where they’re not going to let us get the same coverage in the same situation every time. They’re going to keep changing it. So, for us it’s about having good versatile play and then me getting to the right checks and getting to the right read and the progression whenever the opportunity presents itself.”
Q: Success in this league is pretty fleeting, at what point after beating the 49ers in the Super Bowl did you start thinking about making that an annual thing?
MAHOMES: “I mean I’ve always wanted to try to compete for Super Bowls. And then when you win one, you want to get back because you know how that felt and now, I’ve known how it feels to lose too, so I obviously want to get back. But even looking back on that game and that team (they’re) still a great football team that – a lot of that team is still there, and they’ve stayed together, and they’ve gotten better and better. So, I understand it’s going to be a challenge because I’ve played against them before and know how many great players they have on that defense.”
Q: Do you appreciate the difficulty of winning right away when you win? When you win you’ve accomplished the goal, did it take losing a Super Bowl to appreciate it?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think I would appreciate it more now than I did back when I was young. That and winning the MVP early in my career. I think I just kind of thought that’s just what you did, you went out there and played football for (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid and you win the MVP, and you win Super Bowls (laughter). But now I see what the grind and being in there every single day and not succeeding and not winning the Super Bowl. I think if I had the chance to go out there and win another one, I think I’ll appreciate it even more.”
Q: WASP was a huge play in the Super Bowl, Head Coach Andy Reid joked today that you don’t run it anymore. With teams hyperaware of it now is it tougher to have that? What is with that play now?
MAHOMES: “Yeah when you have a top offense in the league, I mean teams are going to study you in the offseason. They’re going to see what you do because it goes around the league too. I mean offenses steal from each other and run some of the same plays and so you see that defenses have accounted for that, accounted for some of the stuff that we’ve done so how are we going to combat that? How are we going to go out there and make plays that go off of it to get other guys open? That’s something that we – that’s a challenge every day – and we try to continue to do every week. We know that we’re going to have to continue to evolve if we want to be a top offense in this league.”
Q: Bills LB Matt Milano cuts by you, especially in the second half. Is it important to get ahead of the chains to make that a little more manageable?
MAHOMES: “Yeah and I think most teams do. It’s kind of the pattern rush that – I mean we even do it on our defense and so I’ve seen it a lot especially with mobile quarterbacks. They like to have someone there in case the pocket does break down and I just have to be better at working from within the pocket and then when I do scramble know that there’s going to be a guy there. So it’s something that I’m obviously aware of and like you said, it’s usually a third-and-long type pressure so I just have to make sure I think continue to be even better working within the pocket to make those throws down field.”
Q: On the throw to Michael Burton last week. How much does that stick with you knowing how much there was an opportunity there?
MAHOMES: “Yeah whenever you check to a play and you get to the right play and the right time with the pressure coming and then you miss the guy, I mean that definitely hurts, especially against a team like that. If that’s me having to throw it higher or whatever it is to find that window to make that throw, I mean that could’ve been a big point of the game, he could’ve scored a touchdown. (Michael Burton) Burt’s pretty good in the open space and so just trying to find ways to not let those little plays within the game be missed because those are the plays that really change the outcome of the game.”
Q: You mentioned having to make adjustments against defenses. Especially when they rush three and drop eight, how have you gotten better over the years to attack defenses?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, it’s something I’ve seen since college so it’s a down and distance thing like we were talking about where it’s third and long (and) they want to get guys in coverage and they also want to have someone there for all my scramble plays and stuff like that so just continue to stay firm in the pocket, have good pocket presence and trusting the receivers and the tight ends and running backs to get open downfield even if it takes a tick longer. I have to trust that the pocket’s going to be firm.”
Q: On Nick Bosa. How important is it to be aware of where he is at all times?
MAHOMES: “Very important (laughter). That dude’s a monster out there. (He) does everything well, but obviously extremely good at rushing the passer with power, with speed and so it’s someone you have to account for on every single snap.”
Q: With bye week on the other side of this game, do you worry about guys lacking focus? Does it make it easier to focus?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, guys better be focused. After losing the game and then turning on the film and watching this opponent we’re about to play, guys better be locked in because (if) we don’t play our best football, we’re not going to win so guy’s will be locked in and ready to go.”
Q: How has your recognition of different defenses grown over the years?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, we do a great job of motioning and stuff like that and even when defenses (are) giving me the false man-zone IDs and stuff like that you get a good feel by the alignment of the DBs or how the linebackers, their eyes are in the backfield. There’s little tells you can get from every defense, and I think I’ve done a great job with that but now it’s about getting through your progression and getting to the right guy. And that’s something that I think I could’ve been better than I was last week, and I’ve been better this season but as the season goes on, we want to stay on top of that.”
Q: What’s the key for a quarterback to be able to get into a rhythm and stay in a rhythm in the passing game?
MAHOMES: “Yeah obviously it helps when you start off fast, early and you can kind of get that rhythm set, but when you don’t, how can you find easy completions? How can you kind of limit what you’re seeing on the field and just get to the easy completion to move the chains? I think that’s something that I really try to stay on top of as the game goes on. I think we’ve seen we haven’t been as good in the second half, I feel like at the end of games, so we’ve got to be better about getting those easy completions in those situations, so we can get the chains going and get in a rhythm.”
K HARRISON BUTKER
Q: How’s your ankle feeling?
BUTKER: “I’m good. I wanted to make sure (that) I was able to play a whole game without getting any setbacks and I was able to do that. So, I was really happy with going into the game, kicking relatively well and waking up Monday still feeling good and ready for a good week of practice.”
Q: On his franchise record 62-yard field goal.
BUTKER: “Yeah. It’s funny, after the game, Tommy (Townsend) told Matt (Wright) that, ‘You should keep that ball that you made the 59-yard field goal with – get it painted – Chiefs record.’ And Matt said – funny enough – to him, ‘Oh, I’m not going to get that because Butker’s going to break it the next week.’ So, it kind of came true, and I was able to break that record, but it is funny. A lot of guys were saying to me about Matthew breaking the record in basically his second game here. As a kicker, you can only do as best as you can with the opportunities you’re given, right? So, ‘Oh Matthew Wright broke the record,’ I can’t force (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Toub or (Head Coach Andy) Reid to put me out there for a longer field goal – that’s just kind of what the game provided me. Tommy and James (Winchester) did a great job, and I was able to go hit it.”
Q: You turned around right after the kick, so did you know you were going to make it?
BUTKER: “Yeah. You know it’s funny, I do that a lot of times. I think the Chargers game in 2020 I may have done that. I don’t know if that’s something from soccer. I was a defender, but I’d go up and score a header on a corner kick or something and then you’d just run away to the sideline to your teammates so maybe that kind of carried over a little bit. I don’t do that on purpose, it just kind of happens. I know it’s going to go through, and I just want to do something and yeah – it just kind of happens.”
Q: Any doubts going into a game about your ability to make long field goals like that after dealing with an injury?
BUTKER: “The concern wasn’t the distance. I felt like I was hitting the ball far enough. It’s just making sure that I can repeat that every single kick because when you do kind of have an injury – it might just be completely mental – you are kind of thinking about it a little bit. So, the only concern – if there was one – was just the consistency of being able to do that for a whole game.”
G TREY SMITH
Q: How do you get a bad taste out of your mouth as you go on to prepare for San Francisco?
SMITH: “Yeah, I think the only way that I know how to do it is to go right back down to work. Put your head down, go to work, do what the coaches tell you to and just get right back on track.”
Q: Talk a little bit about the San Francisco defense. When you look at them, what is it that makes them so dangerous?
SMITH: “Yeah – they’re well coached. That’s the first thing for starters. They do a lot of different things. They play very violently, physically and they play fast. When you have a group and a combined effort like that it’s going to lead to great things. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge up front. They have a lot of really good players as well – guys like (49ers DE Nick) Bosa, (40ers DE) Arik Armstead (and) some young guys they brought in as well, but they are a very talented group. It’s going to be a challenge up front.”
Q: The offensive line has had some good and bad moments this year. How’s the temperament of the room and the attitude right now as you try to get back on track?
SMITH: “Yeah – I think once again it’s sort of like a ‘hard hat’ mentality – just go right back to work. Identify the things that we didn’t do well, correct it and be better at it. And I think the biggest thing – and I can speak for myself – is just being consistent. Consistent in my game, consistent in my approach (and) consistent on the field.”