Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
October 31, 2022
OPENING STATEMENT: “This is the first time that we’ve really had the chance to talk since the 49ers game – which seems like a long time ago. I thought that was a good win for our football team – against a good football team. We all had the chance to see the score yesterday and how they played against the (Los Angeles) Rams. They obviously rebounded very well. Again, the first quarter they kind of were up on us – I want to say 10-7 – then we were able to kind of work our way back and end up having a good fourth quarter and winning the game. Fairly balanced pass and run – it was a little bit more pass than run, but it was fairly well balanced. The turnover battle, we ended up winning that. We had two turnovers – which obviously we don’t want any, but they ended up having three of them. So, all-in-all I thought the offense played well. I thought the defense played well. Special teams ended up being a factor and they played well. In the important areas, the redzone – we did a nice job in the redzone and third down – we did a nice job there. So that ends up being important (on) both sides of the ball. Anyways, with that the time’s yours.”
Q: On Kadarius Toney. How do you see him fitting in as far as what you like to do? Does he give you something that you don’t have at wide receiver right now?
REID: “Yeah, so Adam (Teicher), I think that (he) is a nice addition by (General Manager) Brett (Veach). He (Kadarius Toney) is healthy right now which is a good thing. (I) look forward to getting him into the mix somehow. We’re working through that. We’re meeting as an offensive staff. We’re going through those things now. We’ll just see how it sorts out here. We’ve got one football, and we’ve a few guys that we’d like to get the ball to (laughs). We’ll see how he fits in. I’m not expecting him to learn the whole offense in a day. I think it’ll be a gradual process going forward even though he is a smart kid. I’m sure he’ll pick it up relatively fast.”
Q: I ask this next question knowing that two of your wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling had 100+ yards receiving in your most recent game and a third one, Mecole Hardman, scored three touchdowns. How do you feel about your wide receivers? What have they done so far as a group and what they might give you going forward?
REID: “The part that I like the best is (that) they’ve made improvements every week. They’re getting on the same page with the quarterback every week – a little bit better every week. I think I like what I’m seeing there. I like the strength in which JuJu’s (Smith-Schuster) playing with, (I like) the speed in which Marquez (Valdes-Scantling) is playing and then obviously with Mecole (Hardman), he’s been doing a lot of different things for us and doing them well.”
Q: On Kadarius Toney. How much flexibility do you think he’ll give you also on special teams as a potential returner?
REID: “Yeah again, he’s had experience with that in college, he was actually very good in college at that. Not as much in the NFL as college, but we know he has that potential and we’ll just see where that goes, Herbie (Teope), as we go forward here.”
Q: Understanding that the phrase “starter” sometimes doesn’t mean as much depending on the position group. Isiah Pacheco got the start against the 49ers. How much does the starter depend on the opponent moving forward?
REID: “Yeah so, we had plays in for all three guys. It’s kind of what number is up first as far as that goes. Listen Herbie (Teope), I thought that was a way of getting him more than 10 reps that we got him the last time. And the way that it worked out I knew that 25 (Clyde Edwards-Helaire) would get enough reps, I knew 1 (Jerick McKinnon) would get enough reps. I was trying to figure out a way, EB (Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy) and I sat down and hammered this out, and (Running Backs Coach) Greg (Lewis), ‘How can we get him more than 10 reps in a game?’ and feel good about it. I think the way it worked out, it worked out well for all three of them. Going forward here, we’ll just see though. But they all had certain plays that they were running.”
Q: Given that it is Halloween, do you have a costume from growing up that you remember? Do you have some candy that’s your favorite?
REID: “Yeah so listen, I’ve got two favorite candies for sure, peanut covered M&M’S, I love those. Peanut M&M’s, actually. And then Mr. Goodbar. It seems like every time I walk by Mr. Goodbar he calls me and says, ‘Andy, come eat me.’ So, I very seldom pass those up. The costume I remember most is probably (the) Batman costume which as a portly kid that was probably not a good look, but I felt like it was. I felt like I could fly.”
Q: I know General Manager Brett Veach looks at the personnel side of things and you have a couple receivers that will be free agents at the end of this year. How much do you have time when you’re talking about acquiring a player like Kadarius Toney to talk about the big picture and over the horizon and looking towards next year? How much was that a factor in this trade?
REID: “Listen Soren (Petro), on those you’ve got to look at – we’re always trying to stay two to three years down the road on that part – and our financial guys do a great job with it and likewise our cap guys and likewise (Brett) Veach does a great job with it. They share that with me. It’s my responsibility to get these guys incorporated and so that’s kind of where my energy goes but they do have a plan there and they do talk to me about that.”
Q: Can you envision a scenario where General Manager Brett Veach talked you into trading a piece that made sense for the bigger picture?
REID: “Yeah well, we keep everything open, so there’s a chance that somebody gets traded or we pick somebody else up. Everything seems to happen at the 24th hour in this business and so there seems to be more activity at that time, but we’ll just see how it all rolls here.”
Q: What’s the challenge of getting a receiver in the middle of the season, fitting them in and working them into the offense? What are the reasonable and safe expectations for Kadarius Toney?
REID: “Yeah so listen, Matt (Derrick), we’ve got a handful of guys that are very capable. I joke, you have one football, you can only spread it around (to) one person at a time. But, at the same time, we try to exploit everybody’s strengths and use them as we go, and then work on whatever weaknesses they have. So that allows us to get guys in at least a decent position to do what we think they can do best. And so, it won’t be any different with him than the other guys. We’ll see how it works out, see how fast he picks it up. He hasn’t played for a couple of weeks here, so getting him back into the swing of things and speed of it will be important. Then we’ll just see. We’ll take it day-by-day; we’ll just see how he does with it. But he’s a nice addition. I’m not going to rush him into something that he’s not comfortable with or I’m not comfortable with.”
Q: On Andy Reid’s success coming off the bye week. How much of that is from your ability to self-scout versus having 12-14 days to prepare for the next opponent?
REID: “I think Fraz (Statistical Analysis Coordinator Mike Frazier) does a nice job with the self-scout (and) keeping us up to date. The thing you get on this Nate (Taylor) is you get a little bit (of) extra time to dig in and make sure that you’re not missing something, right? So, Fraz has it up and then he gives it to us to go back through and kind of evaluate. Then if we have any questions as a staff on what the staff might think we need to get better at, we look at those. All in all, I try to get the guys healthy and rest up is really what we try to do with the players. And then the coaches, we work a few days and then we take a couple of days off. I think that helps recharge you just a little bit. Who knows? I have no answer. People ask me about the wins after (the bye) – there’s no secret to it. I don’t know what the answer is. I’ve been blessed to be on good football teams, I think, is probably the best (answer) – blessed with that. So, that’s probably the truth of it.”