Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid
Postgame Press Conference
ANDY REID: As far as the injuries go, we had a couple of them. So Xavier Worthy hurt his shoulder early in the game. And then Tranquill, Bolton and (inaudible), but they all finished and they should be okay as we go forward.
I’d like to thank the people in Brazil here and São Paulo for the hospitality. We didn’t give all those fans who showed up the best show.
We can learn from this as we move forward, which I’ve got to make sure I get my team in a better state there coming out, playing with more emotion. We were a little flat that first half, and that cost us.
There were some good things in there, but, again, we’ve got to make sure we take care of business. And that’s my responsibility.
Q. Any indication for Xavier Worthy?
ANDY REID: We’ll know tomorrow once we get back and do an MRI.
Q. What did you think of the passing game?
ANDY REID: I thought it was like a two-halves passing game. I think the first half we were off a bit. And then the second half it picked up a little bit. We had a few more explosives there and got into better rhythm than what we had there. We’ve got to, again, I’ve got to make sure we start faster.
Q. You said there just wasn’t emotion. Was it something that you noticed early on or do you think the Xavier Worthy injury had more to do with that?
ANDY REID: I expect more than that. I need to make sure we come out with better emotion. It’s a nice big stage for us against a good football team. They made a couple of plays early, got things going. And we weren’t able to do that. And I thought they did a better job in that area.
Q. What led to them playing flat?
ANDY REID: Listen, I’m on the sidelines. I expect there to be emotional support there. I also expect the players to fly around and do things that I’ve seen us do.
Again, it’s my responsibility to get them in that frame of mind to do that, whether you have an injury, a turnover, whatever it is. You fight through that and you make yourself better, whatever situation you’re in.
Q. Can you talk about the deep shots that were taken today?
ANDY REID: We normally like to mix and match, but we did take a few more shots today, completed a few and we were off on a couple. But you keep firing in those situations and work through it.
Q. After the first game of the season, what do you think will be the first thing that you’ll have to fix for the next game besides start faster?
ANDY REID: Sure, we’ve got to clean up some of the penalties that we had, especially in crucial situations as you get ready to go in and potentially score. And so we’ve got to take care of that. I expect more from our guys than that. And then there’s some little mistakes here and there that we’ll take care of too.
Q. Can you evaluate the offensive line tonight?
ANDY REID: I thought we did a decent job up until that last drive there. I thought there was pressure on Patrick, when we had to throw the football, just absolutely you’ve got to bear down. That’s, again, be in a certain frame of mind to do that. It’s a good learning experience.
Up to that point, though, I thought they really handled it well.
Q. Mahomes ran the ball a bit today and ended up leading the team in rushing. Can you speak on that?
ANDY REID: Pat’s always going to get his runs in. That’s just how that goes. And we don’t plan for those. We’ve got to do even better in that area. We can do a better job there.
We’ll keep working on the run game and make sure we can get our yards per carry up a little bit higher with the running backs.
Q. I’d like to ask you what stood out about Brazil, about São Paulo, the stadium?
ANDY REID: Sure, now, listen, the people were phenomenal. The people that we ran into, fans, whether it was at the airport, whether it was today, on our travel here and throughout the game.
And then the people at the hotel I thought did a great job. My hat goes off to the Marriott and the folks there for really having a great plan for us.
Q. What about the crowd?
ANDY REID: That’s what I was saying earlier, the crowd was great. The crowd was great, passionate. I got goosebumps there with the National Anthem, the Brazilian National Anthem. That was spectacular everybody participating like that.
Q. What did you think of the Chargers’ offensive gameplan?
ANDY REID: I thought Jim had a great plan there, he and his staff. And they executed, and their underneath game was good, possession throws were good. They didn’t really hit too many deep ones. But the ones that, that intermediate range, I thought they did a nice job with.
Q. What was your evaluation of the front four right now, protecting the quarterback?
ANDY REID: I always expect more from the bigs on both sides of the ball. So we can do better in those two areas, for sure. That’s where it all starts, right? So we can do a better job. We will do a better job.
Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes
Postgame Press Conference
Q. How do you think you guys performed today?
PATRICK MAHOMES: It wasn’t good enough. I think just in general they came out with more energy than we did — their defense and our offense. So, we didn’t execute. I missed some throws down the field. And obviously we didn’t play good enough in the first half.
Q. Andy mentioned the lack of emotion. What do you think of that?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I mean, it’s hard to say. I feel like we had energy at practice yesterday and all throughout the week. But when you don’t come out and play with the right mindset, you get beat. And the Chargers came out with the right mindset and we didn’t. And they beat us.
Q. How do you think you guys can come back to have a great season after not playing well today?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I think it’s a learning moment, especially for the young guys on the team. We’re going to get everybody’s best and we have to play up to that standard if we want to win football games. I feel we didn’t play to that standard today, everybody — offense, defense, special teams. But credit to the Chargers. They had a great plan, came in and played great football and beat us. And we have to learn from that knowing that next week is going to be just as tough.
Q. You guys played the Chargers a number of times. What did you learn today that can help you guys in the future?
PATRICK MAHOMES: They had a good game plan. When you play a team a lot, they kind of know what you’re good at. I thought they did a good job of kind of taking away some of our quick throws and some of our throws down the field. I thought we adjusted well in the second half, obviously. But if I can hit some of those throws early, it kind of loosens up the defense. So I’ve just got to be better early in the football game, just like everybody else.
Q. How much did Xavier’s injury change the rhythm, change the energy, change the sort of game plan?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Obviously other guys had to step up. I thought Tyquan and Hollywood and JuJu did a great job of filling some of those roles. That’s someone that’s a huge part of our game plan and someone that we’re counting on to go out there and make plays against some of the man coverage that
they played. I thought guys did a good job kind of stepping up in those roles. But you could tell it took us a little bit to get going.
Q. I know your goal is to win, but how big was it playing in Brazil? How do you feel the crowd was and the excitement?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I thought it was awesome, the crowd and atmosphere. It was really cool. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Even like the anthem, Brazil’s National Anthem and hearing everybody sing and how passionate they were about American football. So that part was really cool. I won’t remember the result, but I’ll remember being here for sure.
Q. You threw some deep balls that you don’t usually miss but did today. How important is it to make those plays?
PATRICK MAHOMES: It’s definitely important. That’s two of our best receivers and they’re two great receivers in this league and obviously threats down the field. I thought the guys did a great job stepping up and making some of those plays. But you’ve got to get with the timing of those guys. So it takes everybody. You’ve got to protect. You’ve got to be on the same page with the receiver and you’ve got to make the throw. If I can make some of those throws early in the game, I think there would be a different result.
Q. What did you feel like the intensity would be for the international game and is it something that needs to be addressed with the team itself?
PATRICK MAHOMES: For sure I could feel it pretty early on. I don’t know exactly when that point is. But they definitely came out with more energy than we did. In this league everybody is too good for you not to match the energy of your opponent. I think we learned a valuable lesson today. We’ve got to be better from the get-go, from the start. We’re not going to be able to just come back and win every single game. Teams are too good in this league. It’s a big lesson for us, a division opponent, someone that will be there at the end of the year. But we’ll have to learn fast. We’re playing the reigning Super Bowl champs next week.
Q. How satisfied are you with the deep balls that you did hit?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I’m never satisfied, especially after a loss. We hit some, obviously, but we missed some as well. So if I can be better there, hitting some of those deep shots, it opens up the rest of the offense. So we hit a couple of them. So that’s cool. But it wasn’t enough to win the football game.
Q. There were a lot of complaints about the field and how it wasn’t great for the game last year. How about you, was it better than in the past games you’ve played in?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I thought it was good. Both teams are playing on the same field. There wasn’t a lot of people slipping. There were a couple here and there. But that’s football. I thought they did a great job. I thought Brazil in general hosted us really well, from the hotel, the food, the ride to the game and the stadium, I thought it was a great experience. Obviously not the result we wanted, but something I thought was really cool.
Q. How do you feel about playing the Philadelphia Eagles next week?
PATRICK MAHOMES: It’s not going to be any easier. That’s a good football team that we’re playing against next week. I think we should have a great week of practice, come in with the right mindset. The leaders on the team need to step up. When we step up on that football field we’ve got to bring it, because it will takes our best in order to find a way win against that team. We’ll go back to the drawing board and be ready to go at practice, knowing that it’s going to take everything we’ve got next week.
Q. First game is over, how do you feel the offensive line did without Joe Thuney?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I thought they did a pretty good job. Some of the games and stuff, the D line stunts I think got them a couple times. I thought they did a good job and they battled. That’s really all you can ask for, is the battle. Joe is a Hall of Famer. He’s someone who will have a gold jacket. These young guys are talented and they have a chance to be really, really good. I thought they did a good job against a good defensive line. But we’re going to keep pushing them to be even better and better as we go throughout the season.
Q. Can you talk about how you got your teammates excited on the sideline after you ran into Donte Jackson on the sideline?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I think, more than anything, you saw, even the run before, when I ran into the linebacker, sometimes you’ve got to do something to jump-start the team. I was not in the mood to be running out of bounds. I wanted to try to do something to get us going. We kind of got going as an offense in the second half. But it takes everybody. I mean, we’ve got to start faster and we’ve got to be better on both sides of the ball and special teams. So we understand that, we’re going to be accountable to that. And we’ll come back better this next week.