Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid
Opening Statement: “We have a couple of injuries, but nothing too serious right now. Skyy Moore
tweaked his left knee. Donovan Smith came out for a little bit just with a stinger, and then Trey Smith hurt
his foot right at the end there, but all of them should be okay. Appreciate our fans and the support that
they gave us today. They were great, and we feel you. And then congratulations to the team. We went
down 14 points, it’s a tough thing to come back on that, but our guys battled back and I’m proud of that.
Defensively, we ended up shutting down for three points in the second half, and offensively we were able
to get some points on the board, so those are all positives. Rashee Rice, nice day with the eight receptions
for over 100 yards. [Isiah] Pacheco, those are the toughest 55 yards I’ve ever been around. He had 15
carries, and he ran really hard. [Travis] Kelce was just under 100 yards and just continues to be amazing
at his age and then Pat [Patrick Mahomes] had a beautiful day as it went on with 298 yards throwing, a
couple of TDs, no turnovers. And then like I said, defensively, the guys just kind of put the hammer down
when needed. Started off a little bitslow and the guysjuststarted making plays and really worked through
their fundamentals. Again, compliments to the coaches for the job that they did. It’s a tough thing to do,
to win a game like this after a big Monday night game and then Thanksgiving, you get that tryptophan
hangover, so you got to work through that.”
Q: Is it as easy as saying you just cleaned up the turnovers here, you only had one dropped pass, you
didn’t have many offensive penalties until that last drive. Is it just as easy saying if you fix one of those
things, the offensive success is going to come?
Coach Reid: “Yes. I’m proud of the guys for catching the ball the way they did. They really did a nice job. I
mean, we do all that in practice and they just did a nice job with that. And then the penalties, we were
able to cut down on those. Still work in that area and we’ll continue to do that. But those unnecessary
things, those things where you are kind of shooting yourself in the foot, we eliminated them.”
Q: Did it feel like you were in a rhythm offensively today?
Coach Reid: “Yeah, it felt like we were moving the ball. Even down towards the end, you’re up by 14
points, so they’re still within striking distance and you have to keep that hammer down. But yeah, I
thought the guys did a nice job with that.”
Q: Not that you guys lost confidence, but did you feel like this was a much-needed win?
Coach Reid: “Well, we went three second halves without scoring, so we needed a score. That was
important. It was good the way we did it. Antonio Pierce has done a nice jo, that’s a tough situation. I
really respect him as a coach and the job that he’s done.”
Q: Rashee Rice seems to be really establishing himself. What do you see beyond his physical attributes
as why that’s been able to be the case?
Coach Reid: “He’s a smart kid and he works tremendously hard at his profession here. So, he has the trust
of the quarterback.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes
Q: Is it as easy as saying you just cleaned up the turnovers here, you only had one dropped pass, you
didn’t have many offensive penalties until that last drive. Is it just as easy saying if you fix one of those
things, the offensive success is going to come?
Mahomes: “Yeah, I think we executed better. We’ve shown that we can move the ball, but penalties and
drops, and me not getting to the right guy at the right time. If you look at the first drive, I go to J-Wat
[Justin Watson], but they dropped [Travis] Kelce on a cover zero pressure, or it might have been the
second drive. And so, just little things like that, it’s kind of stalled some of our drives, but we got to it. Kind
of went back to the fundamentals this week and we kept pressing and pushing, and we’re going to try to
keep going the rest of the season.”
Q: What was the message after the showing last Monday night?
Mahomes: “Yeah, you just have to bounce back. When you have a short week and you’re playing a team
like the Raiders, who always plays you tough, you have to bounce right back. You wash it, you learn from
it, and then you kind of just go back to the fundamentals and working. And so, we still have stuff to learn
from this game. I mean, there was certain situations where we didn’t execute at a high enough level. But
we obviously took a step in the positive direction. Now, let’s just continue to do that throughout the rest
of the season.”
Q: It’s actually a staple of yours to come back from double digits, but does it feel particularly important
to do it with this offense and just where you guys were at recently?
Mahomes: “Yeah, for sure. They got up on us quick, 14-0, and we knew our defense would do a good job
of maintaining and keeping us around, but we needed to get that drive. I think that first one especially
after having like seven plays in the first quarter. So, it was big on us to just really get back to the
fundamentals, take the short stuff when it’s not there, hit the check downs, and then try to utilize and hit
the deep ones when they are there. So, it was big for us to get that first touchdown drive and it kind of
got the momentum back in our favor.”
Q: What stood out to you about Rashee Rice’s performance? How much further does this establish him
would you say?
Mahomes: “I’ve said it all year, he has the talent. He works hard and we’re giving him more and more as
the season goes on. And kind of the flow of the games, we’ve put him in more of a bigger role these last
few weeks, but the flow of the game hasn’t dictated him getting the football. But you saw today some of
those coverages where they were doubling Trav [Travis Kelce], or putting a lot of attention on Trav, he
was able to make some stuff happen like on that shallow cross. He’s a guy who wants it. I think that’s the
biggest thing. He has a talent. He wants to be great. But it’s going to take us staying on top of it every
single week, and he’s going to be a great receiver in this league.”
Q: What stands out to you the most about Rashee Rice?
Mahomes: “I think we’ve only scratched the surface, honestly. You see us hitting him kind of around the
line of scrimmage, but I think you saw the one down the sideline. I think he can do some of the vertical
threat stuff, and he has speed, and he has burst. You see him when he has the football in his hands. So,
let’s start working him in and giving him more opportunities. It’s hard when defenses play us like this.
We’ve put some kind of deep crosses and stuff in where defenses are settling back in, and I can go
underneath. But I think he has a chance to be a great receiver in this league and we’re going to continue
to push him to be that receiver every single week.”
Q: Where does Maxx Crosby rank amongst the pass rushers you’ve seen in your career?
Mahomes: “I mean, he’s at the top of the list. He’s a dog. The fact that he played today, it speaks to who
he is. Not just because he’s getting sacks but because he wants to be out there for his teammates. That’s
the type of guys that you want on your team, and I have a ton of respect for him. Obviously, people see
us trash talking, but I think that’s just the competitors that both of us are. But I know every single time I
go up against him, he’s going to give everything he has, and I’m going to do the same, and it’s going to be a great battle to the end.”
Q: You talked about how Rashee Rice is a guy who wants it. What leads you to say that? How have you
seen that?
Mahomes: “He’ll tell you. And for young dudes to do that, that speaks to the type of player that he is. He
just wants to win. He wants to go out there and he wants to win. And when I say that, he doesn’t do it in
a bad way, he’ll just say like, ‘I’m going to be there. I’m going to do what I need to do to get myself open.
And if you give me a chance, then I’m going to make something happen with it.’ That’s the type of guys
you want. I think we have a lot of guys like that on the team. Obviously, we’ve had a stretch for a few
games where we haven’t played to our level, but we’re going to continue to work at it and keep winning
football games and try to be our best at the end of the season.”
Q: When did he start doing that kind of stuff? Was it back in camp?
Mahomes: “Yes, I think it was kind of at the end of the training camp and in OTAs where he got
comfortable within the offense, and that’s the biggest thing. It’s a complex offense, it’s hard for young
guys to do it. We kind of limit their roles and as the season goes on, we expand them more and more. I
think he’s done a great job with it. There are little things here and there that we continue to work on, but
for the most part, he learns from his mistakes and gets better every single week.”
Q: You talked about Travis Kelce getting double teamed last week and tripled teamed. Are you finding
yourself having to figure out different ways to get him the ball?
Mahomes: “I think it’s just when you do get those right opportunities, you have to capitalize on that.
That’s why I was so mad about the first one that I spoke about earlier where he got man coverage and
won across the field, and I had predetermined that they were going to double team and they ended up
dropping him. When you get those man-to-man coverages, or zone coverages, when he’s out there, you
got to give him those chances because he’s going to make plays happen. And I thought for the most part
guys around him made stuff happen whenever they did double team him, and that takes teams out of
that and that’s when you can get the football back to him. We’ll have to continue to prove that; teams are
going to continue to double team him in big situations. We’re going to have to continue to prove that
other guys can make those big plays, and they’ll take it out of that, and then we’ll go back to Travis and
kind of play with that median of how much we’re going to put him in there and how much we’re going to
use him as a decoy.”
Q: Those first two scoring drives you had, was there a play within those that really stands out to you?
Mahomes: “I think the short pass that I threw to Travis on second down was huge because that was the
plan and we were just trying to make it a third-and-short. They had a good coverage. I got it to Travis, he
got up field and got that first down on like second-and-10 after I missed Rashee [Rice] on a little screen
pass. I think that kind of just jumped started us. And that’s what I’m saying, when you get those
opportunities to get him the football, it was only an 11-yard play or 10-yard play, whatever it was, but it
jumpstarts the whole entire offense. He’s going to make an impact in the game even if he’s getting double
teamed, triple teamed, whatever it is. It’s my job to find a way to get him the football.”
Q: On that play with Travis Kelce where it seemed like the linebacker turned his back for like a split
second, but you still got him the ball. Can you take us through that?
Mahomes: “He did a good job of getting in the backers blind spot. He has always been really good at that
and then he kind of gets the guy where he kind of has to really go at it to try and get back into the right
position, and I actually think I threw the ball just a little too short and Travis did a good job of making me
look good with the late hands. And so, that’s just that type of chemistry that we’ve built, and I mean
whenever he gets in those positions where he has one-on-one, you try to give him opportunities and he
makes good stuff happen.”
Q: With you saying that you wanted to give more attempts for Rashee Rice down the field, how
gratifying is it to have that deep shot there to start the drive late in the game? And is that just another
sign of trust and the sort of chemistry that you guys have?
Mahomes: “Yeah, we’ve been designing plays to get him down the field. It’s just with the coverages that
we’ve been getting and kind of what we have gotten the last few years, people have dropped and I’m
throwing it underneath, but I do think he can take thatstuff. He has the ability and you saw it on that play.
That was tight coverage. He made a big time catch, physical catch, stayed in bounds and stuff like that.
And so, it’s not just go routes, I think he can get across the field. Obviously, you all see the burst with the
football, but he has the speed to win down field. We’ll continue to expand his role. He’s done a great job
with it so far in a complex offense, but I think as the season goes, he will continue to have a bigger one.”
Q: When we came in, we heard some spirited wordsfrom the locker room right behind here. Wastoday
kind of a release for you guys considering what the offense did getting all those touchdowns?
Mahomes: “Yeah, it was a good day. I still think we can be better. There was plays here and there that we
didn’t execute at a high enough level. But we’re going to be going into Green Bay, playing in a great
environment, which I’m really excited about, against a team that’s playing really good football right now,
and a defense that is playing really good. It’ll be another great challenge for us and how can we respond.
How can we not have these highs and lows and continue to build throughout the rest of the season.”
Q: How important was second half success for this offense? Was it really important to establish that
today?
Mahomes: “Yeah, I think it’s all heart at the end of the day. In the second half, it goes down to who wants
it more. You could have plays designs, but for the most part, you’re off your script and you’re kind of
picking up plays here and there, and coach [Andy] Reid put us in the best possible position and coach
[Matt] Nagy. At the same time at the end of the day, you got to go out there and just want it, and I thought
the guys did a great job with that today. Even when stuff wasn’t pretty, they made stuff happen, and then
when coach put us in the right spots, our guys caught the football and I made the right decisions. In the
second half of football games, it is about who wants it and how can you go out there and execute at a
high enough level to win it.”