OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright great to have the military out here today. It’s a neat thing that the Chiefs do, and it’s a great relationship we have with them. Without them, none of us get to do our jobs, right? So, we appreciate that. Thanks to Missouri Western State University here, they’ve been tremendous again for us. Treating us well, feeding us well, and the hospitality is second to none. Then the fans coming out here, they’ve been incredible. Everyday there’s a load that comes out, and we appreciate that. The players feel – it makes practice, as hard as practice is, it makes it go a little smoother for them, it gets their juices going which is special. As far as the play time goes for this coming game, the ones will go for a half, and then we’ll mix in the twos and the threes in the third and fourth quarter. Obviously, there’s things that happen during the game where – don’t hold me completely accountable for all that if we pull people out whenever. I don’t have an injury list for you, but really it’s the same as yesterday. Nothing’s changed. Okay, do you guys have anything?”
Q: You obviously feel Patrick Mahomes gets value out of playing in the preseason. How do you juggle the injury factor, the injury possibility with getting him the work he needs?
REID: “Yeah, I try to get – listen, you try to get equal, balance that player against player. So, if you had your druthers, you’d want ones versus ones and that whole deal when you’re in a game, but I just keep that in mind as I go. Then I just take it my gut feeling after that. So, if I pull guys early, it’s just something I feel at that time.”
Q: What about the risk in Patrick Mahomes and other guys getting injured?
REID: “Yeah, I mean listen, it’s all part of the game. They’ve got to get ready for the game and at the same time – I think it’s tough going into the first game, it’s going to be fast, much faster than what you get presented at practice, a regular season game. This at least is another step up from that, just a little kick up speed wise in the game.”
Q: What do you want to see different from preseason game one?
REID: “Yeah, you’re always looking for execution as you go. Increased execution from the first one. Not that we’ve spent a ton more time with the guys on the (Arizona) Cardinals, that’s not it. It’s a pretty simple game plan again. They’re another week into those plays, so you’re expecting, particularly the young guys to handle that the right way. Old guys knock the rust off, keep chipping away at that.”
Q: Do you have any concerns about the quality of the field in Arizona?
REID: “Yeah, we know what the field has been. We’ve checked on it, which we do every week everywhere. It’s actually in pretty good playing shape. It might not look the best when you’re looking at it on tape, but they say it’s gripping well, and that’s what you want. You want the sturdiness of the turf.”
Q: In these past few days, it’s looked like you had La’Mical Perine more plays with the top team. What did you see from him?
REID: “He’s got a knack. He kind of does everything well. You know, he’s good in the pass game, good protection, good in the run game, good eyes, vision, feet. So, he’s been very consistent through the camp, and he picks things up easy so that’s been good for him I think.”
Q: Was this a good camp? Did you accomplish what you needed to?
REID: “Yeah, up here I just mentioned it to the team that you started this foundation, this is where it starts, you’re building this thing as it goes on. Every week is different, every day is different in this thing, but you have accomplished some things here that’s going to help carry you through the season in a positive way. Then we take it one day at a time from there just like they did when they were up here, you had to focus in, you couldn’t say a month ago that we’re looking for this day right here or you’re not going to get any good work out of it. They figured it out day-by-day and crawled out of bed and got themselves mentally and physically ready to go and practiced hard.”
Q: What’s a guy like Chris Jones miss from not being at camp?
REID: “Probably those things that I just mentioned. You know it’s a fast game, so then when he gets in, he’s going to have to get caught up.”
Q: What did you have for breakfast this morning?
REID: “I actually didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I like your hat (laughter). I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I know that’s hard to believe (laughter).”
Chiefs Player Quotes
August 17, 2023
QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: From day one to now, how would you assess camp? How much has the team improved?
MAHOMES: “I thought it was a good camp. We improved on a lot of stuff. We didn’t add a lot of new receivers but getting those new receivers in and getting them flowing around. The guys that have been here for the second year, you can see the improvements (in) how they practiced. I thought it was a good camp. Offense, defense and special teams kind of just flew around and we competed every day which you always want.”
Q: Over the last month who has caught your eye?
MAHOMES: “I thought the offensive line did a great job throughout camp just battling. There’s some long days and a lot of plays, I thought they did a good job of keeping that mentality throughout practice. I thought the DBs – a lot of those young DBs were moving around everywhere. (Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spags (Spagnuolo) is really testing them to see what they can really do, and I thought they did a great job of responding to that. I thought throughout (camp) there were days when the offense got the defense, and the defense got the offense, and that’s how you want it in a camp. You just want it competitive every day and you want guys out there competing.”
Q: Why has short yardage been a challenge for you guys?
MAHOMES: “Probably because my kneecap was on the side of my leg (laughter). I think we were doing pretty good until that. We were really good at it until last year, I mean last year we didn’t do very well at it. We didn’t get that first one in (the) preseason. We went back and evaluated it and hopefully by the time the season comes around we can get back to converting those.”
Q: Any discussion with Head Coach Andy Reid about putting quarterback sneak back in the playbook?
MAHOMES: “I always want to because I always say, ‘I haven’t got stopped yet.’ Even the one I got hurt on I still got the first down (laughter). I’m pretty sure he’s not going to let me do it unless it’s like for the Super Bowl. I might have to call my own number in the Super Bowl if we get there.”
Q: What did you see as far as growth in Rashee Rice and Justyn Ross in camp?
MAHOMES: “I thought they did a great job. I think y’all know as much as anybody that the receiver position and the DB position at training camp are that hardest place to be (with) how much running that we do. I thought those guys got better and better and they learned how to finish and how to keep that mentality throughout an entire practice. Their talent – they have the talent – every receiver that I’ve always (worked with) have a lot of talent, but you have to learn how to be consistent every single day and I think they got better and better at that as they continue to go.”
Q: You’ve been here for seven camps now, what do you appreciate about this particular setup for camp?
MAHOMES: “I really am interested and really have fun meeting people. A lot of times when you’re in the building, you’re with the offense and even though you’re in the team meetings, you don’t get to see the defensive guys except for really on the traveling on gameday and that weekend. So being able to eat lunch, go to Chick-Fil-A, go get some pizza, whatever it is with different guys that you’re not around all year long. You build those relationships and I think that’s the best part about St. Joe is that you get out here and you really get to see those guys you don’t see maybe as much throughout the year and build those relationships. That’s what builds that bond you have whenever times get tough during the regular season.”
Q: What do you want to see in the second preseason game, compared to the first preseason game?
MAHOMES: “Just better energy, better urgency just from the get-go. I thought the young guys did a great job in the second half of kind of picking it up. But I think just from the get-go, offense and defense, just having that urgency to go out there and compete. It’s a preseason game and obviously the results don’t necessarily matter but they do if you want to build a culture of winning. We have a lot of young guys and even though they won a Super Bowl, they know how to respond and get even better the second year. So, I think just having better urgency from the get-go throughout the entire game, not as much the result, you obviously want to win but you want to have that mentality throughout the entire game.”
Q: Can you tell in camp the difference between the teams the have made it to the Super Bowl and the ones that didn’t get there?
MAHOMES: “You can but I think more it’s just the day-to-day grind throughout the entire camp and then to the regular season and throughout thew season. You have to keep that mentality; I’ve had some great camps where we came in and that mentality didn’t go throughout the entire season and you didn’t get that pay off that you wanted. So, even though I feel like we had a great camp, we have to have that mentality, it’s not done. I mean we still have weeks of practice getting ready for the game – first regular season game against the Detroit Lions, a team that’s hungry and ready to come out there and try to beat us. We have to have that mentality, we can’t just be satisfied with how camp went, he have to keep that mentality throughout the entire season.”
Q: You guys are headed back to Arizona, where you just won the Super Bowl. Are there going to be moments that you are going to reminisce about?
MAHOMES: “I mean, maybe for like a second, we have a lot of stuff that we have to continue to work on, and so I’ve kind of said it after the ring ceremony, it was kind of that’s it, we’re trying to go back and get another one. I’m sure when I first step on the field it’ll be a little of looking around and saying like, ‘Man it was a great time last time we were here.’ But we have a job to do and that to get better – (we’re) playing against a Cardinals team that played a really good first preseason game. We know it’s going to be a mentality of going out there and playing our best football.”
Q: As you leave camp, what do you want to see from this team to prepare for the season?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think it’s just that mindset. I mean the mindset of every single day of just making yourself better and getting the best out of it is something that you have to continue to preach and continue to do with any football team. There’s a lot of parody in this league, anybody can beat anybody, I think you all know that, and so we have to have that mentality every single day or we will get beat. Especially in the division that we are, in the AFC west, and the AFC. Every single week every opponent we play is going to play us to the best of their ability so we have to make sure we go out there with that mentality.”