OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, don’t have a whole lot to tell you about the injury part of it. I think we came out fairly clean there. My hat goes off to our fans for the job they did today. They were unbelievable, loud, aggressive and we appreciate all of that. Also, to the Ravens and (Head Coach) John (Harbaugh). You know he’s got a team that is a little banged up right now, and he’s battling through that but put up a great fight today. I’m glad things worked out obviously the way they did. I was proud of our big guys on both sides of the ball, I thought they played well. They knew coming into this game here that it’s always going to be physical. Doesn’t matter who is playing on either side, but it’s going to be a physical game, and I thought our guys stepped up and came through in that area. Pat (Mahomes) had a big day. Good to get (Xavier) Worthy back in there in the mix, he had a big day, (Travis) Kelce likewise. Pat hit a bunch of different receivers, which I think was a positive and the run game got going with (Isiah) Pacheco. All in all, a good day offensively, and then defensively I thought right from the get-go after that first drive, we just put our foot down (and) (Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spags had a nice plan there. The guys executed. It was great to get Chris (Jones) back – his aunt died, and it was good to get him back here. Most of all to celebrate her life and then work his way back to wanting to be here with his teammates. Leo’s (Chenal) interception was incredible. Just as being a football fan that was an incredible play. I’m proud of him and the job that he did. Then holding Derrick (Henry) to the yards that we did. He’s a beast, and we were able to take care of him there. Then special teams I thought all the way around, special teams was good. (Harrison) Butker missed a 56-yarder but that’s 56-yards. So, we’ve gotten spoiled, he’s fine and we’ll get right back in the swing there, (like) he did with last two (field goals). I think I hit everybody, so times yours.”
Q: On Xavier Worthy’s performance today.
REID: “I thought (Offensive Coordinator) Matt (Nagy) used him the right way and put him in great positions and then (Xavier) Worthy didn’t flinch at all. People were worried about the shoulder and so on. But right from the start he gets the first play and goes and that’s the way he’s approached his rehab and everything else. I’m glad he came out healthy. I thought the way Nags used him was – that was smart, smart job there.”
Q: What do you think led Patrick Mahomes to be in the zone today?
REID: “I think having all those guys (wide receivers) there, that helps. You start getting guys back in there and mixing it up. I thought the offensive line protected him well for the most part and he feels good.”
Q: On Chris Jones potentially missing the game.
REID: “Yeah, it was close. Listen, he (Chris Jones) had to do what he had to do there. I mean that’s not something you plan on or anything else. So you take care of that first and then the game kinda comes secondary when you start dealing with life and death.”
Q: How did you know exactly when Chris Jones was going to get here?
REID: “Yeah, Vahe (Gregorian) I knew when he was going to get here (laughter).”
Q: Have you had late arrivals happen before and are there some guessing games in the situation?
REID: “You just hope there is no mechanical problems that slow the plane down from taking off. He (Chris Jones) had it all worked out and (Senior Director of Team Security) Brian Shafar did a great job with it, organizing the whole thing and making it work.”
Q: On Leo Chenal’s interception.
REID: “Yeah it was big. I thought it was just all the way around (and) momentum included, spectacular play period (and) athletic.”
Q: Leo Chenal showed you his ability to catch the ball.
REID: “Yeah, not with one hand (laughter). Sometimes he struggles with two hands (laughter). But this was a good one.”
Q: When you have all the guys back does that open things up for everybody?
REID: “It did today. The speed was good, and Pat’s (Mahomes) got trust. He’s developing – I mentioned he was developing more trust in five (Hollywood Brown) and more trust in 80 (Tyquan Thornton). Now you add one (Xavier Worthy) into the mix who he already has time with – game time. I think that’s important. I think that just kinda brought it together and they fed off of each other’s success there.”
Q: What did you see from Brashard Smith’s performance today in the running back room?
REID: “We’ve been trying to increase some of his play time. He’s got a lot of talent so we’re working him in different spots. We were able to get (Jalen) Royals in too, a couple of rookies. (General Manager) Brett’s (Veach) done a nice job with these rookies that are playing in the game (and) we’ve got a few of them. We’re just giving them a little bit at a time as we go.”
Q: On Patrick Mahomes being the youngest player to pass for 250 touchdowns.
REID: “It’s phenomenal. That’s incredible. Whatever you write good about him (Patrick Mahomes) he deserves man, let me tell you, you can give him everything. He (is) a joker. It’s unbelievable, we are lucky to have him.”
Q: On the progress of the offensive line.
REID: “Listen, you’ve got to be able to do that to play against this team. You got to be able to handle the front part of it and I thought the guys did some good things. I’ll go back and look at it and see what was real and not real. But I felt pretty good coming out of it, but we’ll see.”
Q: Do you think the offensive linemen did good on short yardage situations?
REID: “Yeah, they did. Yeah, absolutely. They were getting after it a little bit up front. It’s great competition, these two teams, it’s a competition you love. That’s why we’re in this thing.”
Q: On Defensive Coordinator Steve Spangulo’s game plan.
REID: “He (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) had a great plan. You take that first drive out and then that last run. He had a good day. He got so mad after that last run, he about jumped out of his shoes. Then as coaches too I don’t want to slight the other guys either, but they’ve all done a nice job there defensively and I’d say the same thing with the offensive guys and special teams too.”
Patrick Mahomes
Q: On what he saw from Xavier Worthy.
MAHOMES: “Yeah, he’s (Xavier Worthy) just so explosive. You just see it when you get the football in his hands, the defenses have to adjust and when they adjust, he gets so much attention on his other guys can make plays happen. Just having him out there, not only for his physical ability but just the morale of the room, I thought it was huge.”
Q: On Xavier Worthy’s versatility.
MAHOMES: “I think you saw at the end of last year, he’s (Xavier Worthy) not just this fast receiver that can run down the field. He’s gained weight and he’s kept his speed, and he showed that he can be a guy that can do everything. I think last year was so pivotal of having him be in a bigger role – obviously with injuries and stuff like that, he had the injury at the beginning of the year, but this was the role that we expected him to be in, and he showcased it today.”
Q: On the wide receivers getting in the end zone.
MAHOMES: “I think guys just executed well and the offensive line blocked extremely well. When that happens, you can get the football out and let guys make plays and we did a good job as far as scheme. We knew where to throw the ball on-time and other than the few plays at the beginning of the game, I thought we did a great job at executing the whole day.”
Q: On the offensive groove.
MAHOMES: “Obviously when you have success it’s just – we’ve been working extremely hard and we want to have success and we’ve just been making little mistake here and there and that causes frustration but at the same time, we’ve been learning from them. We’ll learn from this game. I think early in the game you saw the one (to) JuJu (Smith-Schuster) that got tipped at the line of scrimmage and then the other field goal that we had – there’s stuff that you can learn from every game, win or loss (and) I’m proud of the guys at how they’ve responded and want to be even better every single week.”
Q: What did you think of the offensive line today?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, they did a great job, on run and pass. When they play like that, it makes my job a lot easier. They’re starting to gel and build that chemistry that every offensive line has to do. Those young guys are getting more and more experience and they’ve played against some great defensive lines, and they’ll continue to get better and better as the year goes on, but they had a great day today and let’s build on it.”
Q: On his comfortability in the pocket.
MAHOMES: “I think the weeks prior has been something that’s been important to me – seeing that I can sit in these pockets and make these throws and get to my third progression (and) fourth progression and stuff like that. Even the play to JuJu (Smith-Schuster) that gets tipped, that’s third progression and you see the pocket, it’s clean. Having that and having that confidence in them, it’s pushing me to be better and I thought we did that today and let’s continue to do it.”
Q: What is it like to have Chris Jones back in the locker room after those 24 hours?
MAHOMES: “Obviously, we were praying for Chris (Jones) and we love him and we’re just happy to have him here and we can be his brothers and support him. I think it made guys step up and want to play even harder for him. For him to want to be back here with us in times that he is in right now, it speaks to the brotherhood that we have in the locker room.”
Q: On Hollywood Brown’s touchdown play.
MAHOMES: “We wanted to go for it. We wanted to put that final ending on the game and we were talking in the huddle and I can see that 14 (Ravens S Kyle Hamilton) was going to be on that side so I wanted JuJu (Smith-Schuster) to give me a pick. We knew there was going to be a cover zero type of look, and he (Hollywood Brown) was the last read. I told Hollywood in the huddle: ‘Man, if it’s cover zero you gotta win. You gotta win across the field’ and he did that. He beat a good corner and won and was able to get a touchdown.”
Q: On the two deep completions to Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelce.
MAHOMES: “The deep one on the sideline, it was just (Xavier) Worthy just beating his guy. It was man coverage he won and then giving him the throw down the field and letting him go up there and make a play. I think people – they think he is just speed but he can really do it all. He can go catch those footballs over the top and he can be physical and use his body as well. Good to get him going early in the game and kind of have that threat the rest of the game. I missed him like right after that. I think he was a little tired there (laughter) but with him not playing a few games. You showcase the deep stop route that he does, he has a wide variety of routes that he can run and then the one to Trav (Kelce) was cover zero and then it’s just about your guy winning a one-on-one and I will give my guys chances down the field and Trav has shown for years that he can win those matchups.”
Q: On the defense forcing two turnovers then the offense punishing them.
MAHOMES: “At the end of the day, that’s a great offense. That’s a great football team (and) that’s a great offense with two guys that are the top of the league. Top guy at quarterback (Ravens QB Lamar Jackson) and running back (Ravens QB Derrick Henry) and then with tight ends and then the way our defense played today, I know they got the late touchdown but they played lockdown defense and they put pressure on the quarterback, they got interceptions, they got turnovers and that sparked us offensively. Giving us those short fields, we have to execute and score off those and it was a good team football game. It wasn’t just offense, it wasn’t just defense or special teams, it was everybody came together and that’s what we need the rest of the year.”
Q: On how they felt this past week.
MAHOMES: “When you’re playing one of the better teams in the NFL, you know you’re going to have to be a little bit more aggressive and I know their record doesn’t show, but everybody knows that’s the
Baltimore Ravens and they’ve had so much success these last few years. We had a good gameplan going in, we knew we had to raise our game and I think that we finished the game the right way but it was a close game throughout until the very end there and I thought we executed at a high level in crucial situations and that’s what changes the tide of the game.”
Q: How much did you feel you had better answers?
MAHOMES: “Obviously, the offensive line – we just have better communication and that we have better stuff that we talked about through previous games and then with Xavier (Worthy) being back it’s just that threat of being able to win over the top, it’s scary for defenses when they’re gonna bring pressure and you know you can get it to that guy short or deep. He (Xavier Worthy) can make plays happen. We had good answers, there was a couple here and there that I think I could’ve been better on as far as my answers but overall I thought we had a good gameplan and we executed it well.”
Q: On Xavier Worthy’s end around.
MAHOMES: “I was thinking about how fast Josh (Simmons) was running on that one too. Left tackle was rolling too (laughter) so to me, it’s just execution. We got into a big set, extra o-linemen coming on the field. We had run the ball well also then we’ve been running the ball well and as we were running the ball well, they got downhill and we gave the ball to Xavier (Worthy) and the offensive line going in front of him. They should be glad his (Xavier Worthy’s) arm got banged up because I think he might’ve had a chance to take it all the way there but he played it smart and go out of bounds after the run.”