CHIEFS QUARTERBACK PATRICK MAHOMES
On today’s interceptions
“It was just three bad decisions. The first one, I could have taken an easy throw to the outside but tried to force it to [TE Travis] Kelce. The second one, I was just trying to burn it and he made a hell of a play. I was just trying to throw it away at someone’s feet. The third one was just bad because of the situation. We are in field goal range, especially at altitude, and if I throw the ball away we can let [K] Harrison [Butker] end the game. Luckily for me, the rest of the team stepped up. The defense made a lot of stops in critical moments. We were putting them in bad situations. Even the special teams was making field goals and [P] Tommy [Townsend] flipped the field a couple of times for us. The guys around me stepped up and made some plays.”
On the first touchdown pass
“I was committed to running. I saw that I was probably going to get hit like I did last week in Cincinnati, so I just kind of flicked it. I was just trying to get it to him whatever way possible. I just flicked it. He made a great play after and some guys made some blocks down field and he scored a touchdown. I just have to find that fine line of when I am doing that kind of stuff and it is good for us versus when it is bad for us. That is something I continue to work on and continue to get better at.”
On Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid’s advice after interceptions
“He told me to keep throwing it, to keep slinging it. He did not want me to lose who I am. I promise you, I know I am messing up. When I go to the sidelines, I am hot. Those coaches come to me and they know I understand but they still let me know what I can get better at. I just cannot put our team in that situation. Luckily, we got the win. You do not win a lot of games when you have three interceptions.”
On commonality between interceptions
“They were each unique. I was just trying to force it when it is not there. I think that is the biggest thing. The first one to [TE Travis] Kelce, he cannot pull up. That is the rule because the guy is underneath him. I was trying to pull him up into that window and he is doing his rule so I lead him into the linebacker. It is just little things like that. It is just being a little too loose with the football. I have to correct that because we are going to continue to play good teams and we are trying to make a run in the playoffs. I have to correct that and take all the good that I am doing and get rid of the negative stuff. That is what loses you games in the playoffs.”
On 15-straight AFC West road wins
“First off, I think it is really cool [with] the stadiums and the fan bases that we get to go to. If you look at our division, the stadiums and the fan bases are top notch. You know when you go, it is going to be loud, and it is going to be at an awesome stadium. You are going to have to play your best football to win. I did just enough today against a really good defense to win. I mean they have a really good defense. We focus on those teams all offseason, Denver, the Chargers and the Raiders. We try to game plan for them and we try to execute at a high level.”
On pressure building after interceptions
“Luckily for us, we built a lead up early. Even though we ended the half not the way we wanted to, we had a lead going into half. It was kind of glass half empty, glass half full. You have a 13-point lead, you would have taken that when you got in there but we did not end with the momentum in our favor. I think you know with me, I am not going to be scared to throw it. I am going to keep shooting. I think that is what it takes in order to win. You do not want to play scared or timid. When you throw an interception and kind of shut down, I think you lose games that way. Luckily for me, I have guys in there that believe in me. Every guy in there was coming up to me telling me to keep firing it and we did enough to win.”
On being 10-0 against the Broncos
“I think we just have a good game plan going in. Denver is always a great challenge for us. When you look at the record you see 10-0, but if you look at the games, they are always a dog fight. You are going in there trying to battle and you are going to get their best effort. We try to focus on winning games in the offseason. Luckily for us, it kind of went our way. We will try to keep that going.”
On defense stepping up to regain momentum
“It was huge. They came out of the half and gave up a screen play for 70 yards for a touchdown even though I thought the defense was playing good. Denver called a perfect play versus the perfect blitz. That is what happens when everyone is NFL-caliber players and coaches. For them to respond, us to go three-and-out real quick and the defense to go right back on the field. [P] Tommy [Townsend] flips the field and we go right back on the field and get a stop. That gave us a chance to get that touchdown drive there at the end of the third quarter. The guys stepped up. I did not play my best football, especially at certain points in the game. But guys stepped up around me and we won as a team.”
On possibly winning another AFC West title
“Our goal is just to continue to get better each and every week. We go into every season saying we want to win the AFC West, we want to get home field in the playoffs and we want to win the Super Bowl. We have not done it yet, but if we win the AFC West, that is our first goal. It is special. I want to make sure that guys remember that it is special to win the AFC West. Our next goal is to try to establish home field advantage. That is going to take us playing great football week in and week out. Then we will try to win the Super Bowl. That all takes building. You are not going to play your best football every week, but how can you build on your past week for the rest of the season to make sure you are playing your best football when the playoffs come around.”
On challenges of getting up big early
“With a big league, you should try to press and keep getting better and better. It seems like with me, I like to get down before I play good. So I am trying to change that around and make sure I play good all the time.”
CHIEFS DEFENSIVE END FRANK CLARK
On today’s outcome versus Denver
“We beat them in the first half. They beat us in a second. We just won the game. I feel that that’s the perfect way to describe it. I feel like in the first half, for the most part, we came out strong, we came out excited, we came out energetic. Everything was going right, offensively everything, defensively everything. We made mistakes here and there, I feel like, in the second half, I felt like they went in, and they came out with a better attitude. They came out more ready to play and they weren’t conceding to victory. They weren’t conceding to the defeat against us, and they wanted to win the game. They showed why [QB] Russell Wilson has been continuously one of the best fourth quarter comeback quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. People like to take that away from him, I’ve played with him. So I know him, I’ve been in games where I’ve watched what he’s done in the second half of games. We were told that too. We were told that in the meetings throughout the week. You don’t sleep on this team. They have a great quarterback, still, they have the weapons around you. You see one of their receivers, I believe, had three touchdowns today. That’s not shade to nobody on our side of the ball. This is my defense. It just shows that we need to do better. We need to do better. And there was a lot of times where they had chippers in and different things.
“Having seven-man protection, six-man protection looks, we rushed and three people were tagged, having dropped from a defensive tackle dropping. One was said we should get home. Another one said we need a better plan. You got guys out of position and you got guys making plays. They have great players at the end of the day. You got a guy in [WR] Jerry Jeudy, who had a hell of a game. You got [CB]Pat Surtain [II] on the defensive side, he had a hell of a game. That No. 47 linebacker [ILB Josey Jewell], he had a great game, too. But when you play in these types of games, this is their Super Bowl. You know what I mean? We’re a great team. We’re on the hunt. Our mission is way bigger than just this game. When you have a team like this in the way, things can go left, and I feel like that’s what happened. We had to get back to playing Chiefs football in that last quarter, for us to walk out of here with a W. I feel like it could have simply, easily gone the other way if Russell Wilson hadn’t gotten hurt. I felt like we kind of see him turning up and heating up and we kind of felt that and thank God, we kind of slowed it down, put that light out, because we don’t know what would’ve happened. We just know we’re walking out here with a W today.”
On landing on QB Russell Wilson in the fourth quarter
“I didn’t know he’s hurt. I mean, I looked down at him after the play, and I’ve seen like him squealing and stuff like that. My thing is that you don’t ever want to see anybody hurt and one thing I say before every game is cheers to a healthy one. I’ll make sure to tell all the guys like, man, have it and have fun, have fun but be safe because you know the nature of the game and if that’d be one of my guys, I don’t want to see them hurt, but like you said, it’s football. I think that I had to prevent a touchdown from happening. You know what I mean? I feel like if I wanted to run to the ball like I ran, I feel like it could have been easily a touchdown type of play. Like I said, the outcome of the game was much different right now.”
On checking in on QB Russell Wilson postgame
“I don’t know, I’m going to check on him, of course. You want to make sure he’s good, but I mean him not coming back into the game. That’s not always good. That’s not a good sign. You pray that everything goes well with him. You pray that he’s healthy and he gets back right. At the end of the day, I’m on the Chiefs man. I’m focusing on where we have a lot of problems we have to fix in house. Defensively, especially we can’t let the team come out and second half and score 26 points, whatever. So it’s a lot of stuff we have going on in house, you know more about us.”
On processing the game
“You just have to be able to keep finding ways to get first downs and keep putting up points there through the end of the half and then the start of the half. A lot of stuff to clean up on the offensive side but, I’m not going to complain about a divisional win up here in Denver. It’s always a tough game.”
On his milestones
“Honestly, right now the win means more than any of those stats. Everybody’s kind of been talking about me getting those stats at some point this year so it was on everybody’s radar but to come up here and get a win and be a part of the crowd that is the 10,000 crew: [Antonio] Gates, [Jason] Witten, [Tony] Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe, Broncos, the main guy who I was chasing today. Obviously, all those guys are unbelievable company and [I am] very fortunate that I’ve had the coaches and the players around me to be able to have this much success in the NFL as I have.”
On what makes QB Patrick Mahomes exceptional
“Even more so towards the end of the season when a lot of guys or a lot of teams’ scheme becomes even more important. Sometimes it’s just the other team’s guys [and] they’re a good defense. They got us on a few, but it’s the play after the play that I like to call kind of the extended play that makes [QB] Pat Mahomes the best quarterback in the National Football League. Even when you think you got us, we have got one-five back there making plays in the wide receiver corps [and] the offensive line to be able to understand that this play might get extended. When a play does get extended, we’re capable of not only moving the ball downfield but getting big plays out of it.”
CHIEFS RUNNING BACK JERICK MCKINNON
On touchdown from QB Patrick Mahomes
“That is just [QB] Pat [Mahomes] being Pat. He is incredible at making plays like that. When he moves out of the pocket, he does a great job of keeping his eyes downfield. Once I saw he was out of the pocket, I kind of just tried to get downfield and he made an incredible play to get it down there. There were some great blocks down the field, and I was able to make a play.”
On if QB Patrick Mahomes looked at him on the touchdown throw
“He peeked at me, but I was not sure what he was going to do with it. I kind of was just waiting to see what happened and he got it out there.”
On QB Patrick Mahomes play-making ability
“You have seen it since he has been in the league. He has been making plays like that. We always emphasize scramble drill throughout camp and the season. Whenever he breaks the pocket, guys do a pretty good job at getting open. Mostly he finds [TE Travis] Kelce on some crazy stuff. We always just try to be there for him and make plays.”
CHIEFS WIDE RECIEVER JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER
On the offensive mindset in the huddle in the second half
“It was the drive. I think the mindset for us was just go down, put points on the board to put out the fire. Our whole offense was set on that, and I felt like it kind of hurt us with these interceptions. So going down, putting points on the board helped us out a lot. It takes the cushion off of us and our defense but they’re a great team and in divisional play I’ve noticed that it’s a dogfight no matter what their record is, they’re going to come out and play their hearts out.”
On being able to improvise with QB Patrick Mahomes
“Oh, yeah. Scramble, always improvising. I think on at least three out of my nine catches today. I pretty much ran a route that I wasn’t supposed to run, and I just did it anyways.”
On QB Patrick Mahomes’ sling-pass play
“That was crazy. It was crazy, that was a crazy one. I haven’t seen that. I mean, I’ve seen him make a lot of stuff in practice, but I’ve seen him make that underhand throw and he did it. It was like no look, like he had a stiff arm and then threw and then touchdown.”