ANDY REID: Okay, really don’t have any injuries. Bryan Cook was okay at the end.
Good win to get, particularly when you haven’t had one. That was important to take a step forward. The second quarter was hard to watch there. The third and fourth quarter, I thought our guys really came together and played well.
I thought defensively we did some really good things with the turnovers and with the interceptions and turnovers. I thought Bolton, with the 14 tackles, did a heck of a job. And our third downs were incredible. Great pressure up front and it starts there.
And likewise on the offensive side, Pat had some really good things he did out there and the offensive line, I thought — probably the happiest for Pacheco coming home and putting up a 4.5 per carry. And Kareem did some good things there too. Thornton, great to get him involved in the game plan.
But, again, it all starts up front. The defensive line, Brian has done a nice job in the personnel department, given this defensive line. That’s as good a defensive line as there is in this league. And offensively he’s got some good things going.
He’s got Wilson there, which is a plus, and then you’ve got a young quarterback behind him which is also a plus.
The sky’s the limit. I think they’ve got good receivers. We looked at the tape. We looked at them playing Washington and barely squeaking — Washington barely squeaking out the win. We watched Dallas. They really got after it in the Dallas game and played well.
Again, this game is — the margin between winning and losing is so small. I know New York people are so passionate. Give Brian an opportunity, he’s got a great personality for this sport and for the people here.
Q. What stands out most about the Tyquan catch there late in the game?
ANDY REID: Both of them. He had one back-to-back, and he does a nice job making the second one go there. And he’s showing some things. He’s a guy that I know Ju-Ju spoke highly of him when he was with the Patriots and Bill Belichick and compliments. And he’s come here and done nothing but work hard. It’s nice to see him get an opportunity.
Q. Did Patrick, was it the call of the play that had you go right back to him on the second play, or was that Patrick’s read all the way?
ANDY REID: Yeah, it was Patrick.
Q. But it wasn’t by your design?
ANDY REID: Nags and I tag team those things. Give Nags the credit on that one.
Q. In the second half, looked like some juice and execution that maybe you didn’t have. What went into that?
ANDY REID: We were better together. We had too many mistakes. One thing here, one thing there. Some of that can be that you’re just trying too hard at times and dumb things can happen. So, you’ve got to really stay on top of that.
Everything’s about execution on the opposite side but you have everybody doing it. I have to make sure I get them in the right position to be able to do those things. Team effort, but everybody has to come together on that, and I thought they did a better job.
Q. Late in the first half when Patrick recovered that lateral and ripped the ball out of Okereke’s hands, when a quarterback makes a play like that what impact does it have on the rest of the team?
ANDY REID: That was big. That’s how he rolls. He’s 100 miles an hour. You’ve seen it in the last couple of weeks what he’s done, when he’s carried the ball. You saw it again tonight when he carried the ball.
These kinds of things he does it seems like every week he does something like that. The guys know that he’s all in. It’s not like he’s just throwing the ball back. He’s going to do whatever it takes to come out on top of the game.
Q. What message were you trying to get across to Travis there in the first half?
ANDY REID: I love Travis’ passion. I’m okay with it. We didn’t have enough of it in the second quarter. We weren’t where we needed to be, he knows when to back off the pedal and push it too. That’s the part I love about him, this guy is all in.
Q. Is there a certain play that was bothering you or was it more trying to get something out of him?
ANDY REID: No, he was all in. Listen, he’s an emotional guy; he’s Irish.
Q. Related to that, looked like — it felt like maybe you were telling him — I hate to put it this strongly — to back off a little bit. Do you think within reason —
ANDY REID: Don’t make — he’s a passionate guy. I’m okay with it. I’ve been through a lot of things with him. So that’s all part of the game. I love that he loves to play the game. That’s what I love. But it’s an emotional game. That’s it, I’ll tell you.
Q. The second quarter, just not working right, was halftime a welcome thing at that point? Was it hard to dig out while it was going on?
ANDY REID: We had the big PI towards the end there. That was a good thing, so end on a positive note. But at the same time, we needed to tighten things up as far as making mistakes, getting the guys in the right position, and making sure we were doing the right things, giving them the plays; likewise, they’ll execute.
Q. What did you think of just the secondary tonight, specifically the way they defended?
ANDY REID: Those interceptions, turnovers were a beautiful thing. And then they’ve got good receivers. Number 1, Malik, is as good as there is in this league. For us to be able to put the clamps on them a little bit, that’s not an easy chore. He’s a heck of a football player.
KC Postgame (at Giants) Transcripts: QB Patrick Mahomes
September 21, 2025
Q. Can you take us through the pass to Tyquan (Thornton) there in the first quarter?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I mean I think we had the pass on the field, and with the review I got to talk it over with the guys on the sideline. We thought they might play a man coverage. We had a good play that we got to.
It was just about buying time, that defensive line. So, I wish I could have got it a little bit further and made it an easier catch. But a tremendous catch by him on that right there. And securing it and getting us to the 1 so we could score a touchdown.
Q. That was your first read on that play?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, it’s kind of a go read where it’s kind of man or a zone type read. So having the man coverage, we had a play where we run towards the post and move back out.
And he did a good job of winning. Obviously, I was rolling the other way, so it was a little further throw. Just give him a chance to make a play and (inaudible) made a play.
Q. When you went to the sideline you’re intending it’s going to be to Tyquan specifically?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I like the play just in general. Just knowing that they probably could play man, that was a good big match-up alert. So going in there talking to (offensive coordinator Matt Nagy) Nags and (quarterbacks) Coach Girardi and (head) Coach Reid and saying, if it’s man go there, if it’s zone, we have another place we can get to.
All else fails, you throw the ball short, get more yards so we can kick a field goal. We were all on the same page and we were able to go out there and execute.
Q. Seemed like you guys were in the rhythm in the second half. What could you say that was maybe different from the first half?
PATRICK MAHOMES: We just executed better. I think the first few drives we drove the ball down the field really well. We just had mistakes, penalties and alignment stuff, stuff that we’ll have to clean up for sure.
But I felt we were moving the ball the right way. Kind of struggled there at the end of the second quarter, but we were able to get points at the end.
But it was just finishing the drives. I think it’s something that’s important in this league is getting touchdowns not field goals. And when we score touchdowns it looks a lot better than kicking long field goals.
Q. When you are getting field goals instead of touchdowns, what does it say about your defensive performance (inaudible)?
PATRICK MAHOMES: They’ve been playing great these past two weeks, playing winning football. For us, we have to clean stuff up and get better and better. But they’re playing good, they’re playing tight coverage, they’re rushing, they’re blitzing. They’re doing all type of different stuff that you’re supposed to do as a winning defense.
For us, if they can continue to do that and we can do clean stuff up, we’ll win a lot of games.
Q. Coach said the second quarter was ugly, kind of hard to watch. What was it out like there just trying to find your way through? And then you had a couple of weird passes that kind of got behind the line?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I can’t throw the ball backwards. That’s not good. So just letting the rush get to me a bit and trying to throw it out, looking to see if the guy is actually in the spot that we’ve got to
get to.
Obviously did it once. I knew immediately it was backwards. You could tell I’m running to go recover the ball even though they had blown the whistle. In the second, did it again. I don’t think I’ve done it maybe ever in my career. So, to do it in twice in a short span like that. I will say it was a great tackle by myself. That was a big-time tackle. I’m not going to try to do that again, but that was — we’ll throw the ball forward from now on.
Q. There was a spot that we saw on TV, coached talked to Travis (Kelce) over on the sideline. You guys get emotional about these things. What was Travis like out there in the huddles and all?
PATRICK MAHOMES: He’s Travis. He’s normal Travis. He’s a guy that loves it. He loves it, passionate about it. That’s what made him so great.
I’ve not seen what y’all are talking about, but I know Coach Reid loves him and Travis loves him. That’s what you want from the greats.
Q. The touchdown pass, seemed like maybe Tyquan wasn’t your first option. Does that play a combination of the trust you sort of developed in him to see sort of on that back shoulder to see that he’s open?
PATRICK MAHOMES: For sure. Just knowing kind of the coverage, I think that was a good job by him, knowing that we were trying to get something to JuJu (Smith-Schuster) or Travis out in the flat and having a spot route for JuJu and how their double (inaudible), ran to get to Travis, get out of the way because Tyquan in a one-on-one situation there in the backside, did a good job getting open and being in the right spot when I turned to get that third progression he’s in my view and I made the throw.
Q. That play you made, huge play, seven points. What kind of impact do you think it had on the game?
PATRICK MAHOMES: It was a huge play. It was fixing my own mistake. It’s hard to take credit for it because the reason it happened. But obviously a big moment because he’s about to pick that ball up.
I could see his eyes get big. He’s about to score a touchdown. You’ve got to finish this game. You’ve got to compete, love the game. Whenever you make a mistake, you’ve got to still leave it all on the line. We were able to get the ball back and the defense had a huge stop for us there at the end of half. We were able to got three points. Definitely momentum swing and making a play not as bad.
Q. You hit Tyquan earlier on that drive, like on a third and eight I think it was. Were you targeting him?
PATRICK MAHOMES: No, I was throwing it to Hollywood (Brown) who was open, but Tyquan was running the post, I think he got jammed up with the line of scrimmage.
I saw Hollywood. I also saw Dexter Lawrence. I was trying to throw it to his spot. I heard the crowd reacting in a bad way. I looked up and the guy I wasn’t throwing it to caught it. It’s like let’s go.
Q. That first drive in the second half looked like you guys were as sharp as you’ve been. What went into that? Was it some kind of reboot at halftime in some way?
PATRICK MAHOMES: We talked at halftime. I think more than anything, guys — we wanted to execute. Like at the end of the day, it’s all about execution in this league, and you make one mistake you can really hurt your drive. Defenses are good. They do a good job capitalizing on that.
We had a couple drives early in the game we drove down the field, pushed ourselves back, had to kick long field goals. For us, just executing all the way throughout a drive and seeing that, that’s what we want to be. And we have to continue to do that more often.
Q. (Inaudible) you probably didn’t have many reps with Tyquan last year, right?
PATRICK MAHOMES: No, but he would come in — like, you get in those practices sometimes and guys are banged up in the end of the season. He came in, ran some of those deeper routes. I would throw to him a couple times last year to see what he had. You could see he had juice.
Now just getting into OTAs and into training camp, he was one of the guys down there working with me in Texas. I knew he was going to be a good football player, but he’s even exceeding my expectations. He’s stepping up whenever the opportunity has been provided for him.
KC Postgame (at Giants) Transcripts: WR Tyquan Thornton
September 21, 2025
Q. Can you take us through that fourth quarter catch, the one that didn’t count?
TYQUAN THORNTON: I got another opportunity to go out there and make a play for my team. Pat put the ball up. I’m went out there, stuck my hands out there and grabbed the ball, couldn’t hold onto it.
Q. At what point during the play or before do you feel the ball’s going to come to you on that?
TYQUAN THORNTON: Once he came through the first time I kind of get a feeling it’s going to come to me on those routes when I have an opportunity to go down the field because we want to be aggressive and take shots down field.
Q. Is that tough to do back-to-back plays? I know you had a break in between, but just the pace of going all the way down field on a second play in a row like that?
TYQUAN THORNTON: Not really. We train for that in training camp. We’ve got long-drive drills. Coach Reid, he makes it real difficult for us. When we go out there and we just work.
Q. I know it’s three games, but what would you say is the reason you’ve had so much success so far given how much Pat has been able to trust you?
TYQUAN THORNTON: Practice.
Q. Why do you say that?
TYQUAN THORNTON: I mean, practice reps become game reality. You go out there, you work at the little things, you challenge yourself, you don’t shy away from it. You go out there on Sunday and give yourself a chance.
Q. Was it a reassurance with all of that being in Sao Paulo? I know it’s an unusual situation with Xavier, but how you stepped up in that game, does that reaffirm everything you went through?
TYQUAN THORNTON: It’s definitely reassurance. I knew what I could do. This team taking a chance on me and Pat giving me an opportunity to make plays, proving myself right.