Read what Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones said before Thanksgiving…
OPENING STATEMENT: “Mecole Hardman really is the only one to mention on the injury part. He’s got a sprained thumb and we’re having it evaluated now so we’ll just see where it’s at. (We) look forward to the challenge of playing the Raiders, good football team, playing with a lot of emotion. (Raiders Interim Head Coach) Antonio Pierce has brought that to the group and (Raiders Interim Offensive Coordinator) Bo (Hardegree) and (Raiders Defensive Coordinator) Patrick (Graham) are doing a nice job coordinating on either side of the ball there. We’ll have a good week of practice, work out some of the things we need to work on and get ourselves better and then travel out there. Time’s yours.”
Q: What specific improvements do you want to work on offensively?
REID: “We can do better with the penalty part, we can do better attacking the ball and those are things we can work on and will continue to work on and that’s where we’ll start. There’s no reason you can’t do what you did in the first half the second half.”
Q: Is the plan to continue to build Kadarius Toney’s snap count or is he right where you want to keep it?
REID: “We’ll see. I’m not going to put a number on it, it just depends. He’s involved in the game plan and that’s probably the most important thing but to put a number on it, I’m not going to do that.”
Q: After watching the film of the Eagles game, what jumped out to you?
REID: “Probably not much different than what I mentioned to you guys after the game, there were some really good things, some really good things but this second half thing, we’ve got to take care and figure out and make sure that we fix that, as coaches and players. It’s not just the guys, we’ve got to take care of that. I thought our defense played good football; we had the one long throw but other than that pretty spot on. Then offensively, we’ve got to take care of the drops and penalties. If you take care of that, which you can do, you’re going to put yourself in good position. There are other things we’ve got to work on but those are the primary things that have hurt us.”
Q: Do you feel like teams are defending you differently in the second half than they do in the first half?
REID: “Not really, no. All these things have been kind of self-inflicted, we’ve got to take care of that. We just take care of our business there and we’ll be okak.”
Q: What impression did Raiders Interim Head Coach Antonio Pierce leave on you as a player that made you think he could be an NFL head coach one day?
REID: “I actually talked to him about coming here one time as a coach. He’s a good communicator, smart, he was a middle linebacker there at the Giants, had a chance to compete against him quite a bit and he ran the show. I figured he’d be probably a good coach if that was the direction he wanted to go; then (Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spags had an opportunity obviously to work with him too, and he felt the same way.”
Q: What differences have you seen from the Raiders defense compared to the last time you played them?
REID: “Nothing really has changed with 98 (Raiders DE Maxx Crosby). He’s still a go getter, he plays every snap a hundred miles an hour, heck of a football player. But that’s also been contagious I think to the rest of the guys, they’re playing hard and aggressive good downhill football, they’re tackling well, coverages are good, they’re doing a nice job.”
Q: How do you coach through self-inflicted mistakes midseason?
REID: “There are certain things that are in the hands of the officials, then there are other ones that we can take care of. Whether it’s procedure penalty type calls, those type of things so we can take care of those just with a little more focus and work.”
Q: Do holding penalties become an individual thing or is it a group effort?
REID: “I think you need to see why the official called it. Then you work on it from there. That’s one that’s in the officials’ hands that you might agree with, you might not. But you better look at it and see why they’re calling that and if it’s truly something that you’re wrong on then you fix it.”
Q: In the fourth quarter, you made a face when you were talking to Travis Kelce. Were you trying to calm him down?
REID: “Yeah probably, I don’t remember exactly what went on there, and I don’t remember what face I made. That’s all part of it, emotional game, he wants to do well and wants everyone to do well.”
Q: You recently activated Richie James. What is the plan for him?
REID: “Yeah potentially, we will see how things go this week. We all have confidence in him that he can jump in there and play.”
Q: You chipped to help the tackles this week, was that part of this specific game plan or something you’ll do more going forward?
REID: “We’ve done it all year. We do a variety of different protections, that’s one of them. We’ve done that since we’ve been here though, and that’s part of the package. I think most people in the league do it.”
Q: What are your thoughts on Maxx Crosby and Patrick Mahomes previous on-field run ins?
REID: “They probably both get under each other’s skin, that’s part of the Raiders-Chiefs deal so that’s all healthy.”
Q: Your voice sounds different today, are you feeling okay?
REID: “I’m good but I appreciate you asking. It’s close to gameday.”
Q: Travis Kelce mentioned in a recent article that he thinks about retirement, is that something he has talked to you about?
REID: “No, I mean I think he enjoys what he’s doing. I’m sure though the mileage on him he’s got some aches and pains. We try to help him out with that, he doesn’t like coming out, we make him come out in practice. You know, pull him out of plays but he wants to be in on everything but the older he gets, he’s got to handle that part. You get mileage on you, it’s a time and a place.”
Q: It seemed like Justin Watson and Patrick Mahomes were on different pages on the deep ball in the Eagles game. Can you explain what happened there?
REID: “He (Justin Watson) just felt like he needed to climb on top of the guy because the guy was more equal to him. He probably could have kept that higher like he did last year actually against these guys. He had the deep one there where he kept it off of the sideline. You’re always trying to create space though for the quarterback off of the sideline, that was probably a little too much, those things happen but it probably would have been a little bit more like the one he had last year, is what Pat (Mahomes) was thinking I’m sure.”
Chiefs Player Quotes
November 22, 2023
QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: On going against Raiders DE Maxx Crosby. Is he one of your favorite trash-talkers that you face?
MAHOMES: “I mean, I don’t like playing against him because I know what type of player he is and the mindset that he comes in with, but, yeah. I don’t talk a ton of trash. I just try to stay fired up and go out there and win. He’s the same way. He wants to win as much as anybody, and that’s why I have so much respect for him but at the end of the day we’re competing. That’s what competitors do.”
Q: Does he press a certain button?
MAHOMES: “No, I don’t think he’s necessarily trying to press buttons. He just plays hard. He plays hard every single snap. That’s why he’s one of the best players in the NFL.”
Q: How do you resolve the second half scoring issue?
MAHOMES: “All you can do is go back to your fundamentals. Obviously, we had some opportunities in the second half this last game, but we didn’t execute and so we have to go back to our fundamentals and try to do those and then hopefully with just steady progress and steady work, we start putting points on the board.”
Q: There has been a lot of talk about missed connections on the downhill passes. Is there a tie you see there on how you can be a little better?
MAHOMES: “I mean just a couple miscues here and there. At the end of the day, you’ve just got to continue to work at and try to connect on those as the games continue to go on and as the games get bigger and bigger. Hopefully those mistakes don’t happen again, and we can learn from them and hit them this next time.”
Q: Is there something with the communication between you and your receivers that you can just fix in such a short amount of time in season?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, you just learn from the mistakes that were made from me and from the whole group. I’ve got to be on the same page as those guys and just try not to make the same mistakes again, but I have trust that we’re going to continue to work and work and get that thing righted as we head into the later part of the season.”
Q: Are you a victim of the fact that you made it look so easy for so long? Are we expecting too much because it was so easy back then?
MAHOMES: “I mean we expect to win, and we expect to be great offensively, defensively, and special teams. So, as much as everybody expects us to do it, we expect more of ourselves. So, I don’t think it’s anything of expectation or anything like that, we just have a standard that we want to go out and play to.”
Q: What are you seeing on the double teams on Travis Kelce lately?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean I think ya’ll can see it on the tape. I mean they’re putting two (or) three guys on him. They understand how much of a threat he is and how well he’s played for a long time now, and so they’re trying to take him away the best they can. It’s my job to get it to the right guy, so we can execute and if we hit some of these deep passes that we’re missing it’s going to take teams out of those double teams and triple teams.”
Q: Is that what you were expecting going into the season?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, for sure. I mean teams have done it in the past. I think we just have connected on other throws and so it takes teams out of it. Whenever you double team a guy or put three guys there it opens up a lot of space for me running the football and opens up a lot of space for other guys to win. As much as it sounds like they can just do it – double team Travis (Kelce), they’re putting themselves out there for big plays to happen and so I think if we can connect on those it’ll take teams out of putting two or three guys on him (Travis Kelce).”
Q: How different are the Raiders under Interim Head Coach Antonio Pierce?
MAHOMES: “I mean they play hard. I think that’s the biggest thing. (Raiders Interim Head) Coach (Antonio) Pierce is a great coach who was a great player, and he has a mindset and I think you can see that throughout the entire team. They’ve got a lot of guys that love football. I mean it starts with (Raiders DE) Maxx (Crosby), but (Raiders OLB Robert) Spillane. All those guys that are out there, they’re playing hard and flying around every single snap.”
Q: We talked about timing. How difficult is it to build that timing and relationship with your receivers?
MAHOMES: “I mean, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s too difficult. We’ve done it in the past with a lot of different guys, and so it just comes with reps. You continue to work at it. You learn from the mistake that you make throughout a game and throughout a season and you try to be better the next time you step on a field and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Q: On the differences in the offensive performance in the first half and the second.
MAHOMES: “I don’t necessarily think so. I think it’s just, like you said, it’s execution. It’s not having negative plays or if that’s missed passes, or if that’s penalties or whatever that is and trying to just consistently have drives. I’ve preached all year (that) teams are going to try to make us drive the entire field the entire game, not just the first half. We have to prove that. If not, they’re going to make us do that, and it’s not like they’re changing much, they’re just going out there and staying with their game plan and we have to execute ours.”
Q: There’s only been one game this year where you haven’t turned over the football. If you were to eliminate turnovers, what do you think will show on the offense?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, it’s just negative plays. I mean I was talking about penalties. I mean if you look at the – the big one – the interception that I throw to Justin Watson. The play was designed perfectly. He ran the route, and I just lobbed it instead of just firing it and flatting it off for a touchdown and take seven points off the board and really just changes the game. Turnovers are so big in this game and we emphasize that, but I have to be better and we have to be better at just eliminating negative plays, especially when you play a team like the Eagles. We’re playing a great team this week that plays hard, and they’re going to make us earn it. We have to go out there and show that we can do it.”
DT CHRIS JONES
Q: Do you still feel like there is a rivalry between the Chiefs and Raiders?
JONES: “I tend to think so. (It’s an) AFC, a division game which is very important for our standings right now. We are 2-1 in the division, so I think this game is even more important for standings. The Raiders (had a) shift of head coach, they’ve been doing a heck of a job getting (Raiders RB) Josh Jacobs established. They’re a very good team, and they’ve shown a sense of fire over the last few weeks as they transition into a new head coach. I think it’s important to emphasize how important this game is to the young guys. The blood of this game, the history of this game and how it came about even between the owners.”
Q: What does Raiders RB Josh Jacobs do well?
JONES: “Everything, he can outrun you, he can run you over. You look at what he did a year ago and he has picked up where he left off. He led the league in rushing yards last year, and what he’s doing this year is carrying that team once again, he’s been outstanding so far. These past few weeks they have tended to lean more on him, and I think he’s carrying the load.”
Q: Does your body feel the short week Monday-Sunday turn around?
JONES: “I think you feel it after every game. Every game gives you nicks and bruises. We have a few days in between and (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid does a heck of a job adjusting practice for us to make sure we recovered well.”
Q: Do you watch film on and try to learn from a guy like Raiders DE Maxx Crosby?
JONES: “Of course. I respect the position, so I think it’s helpful to watch people who succeed at our position – (Raiders DE) Maxx Crosby, (Steelers LB) T.J. Watt, (Cowboys LB) Micah Parsons. there’s always something you can take from those guys and their ability to get after the quarterback or affect the game.”