Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
October 14, 2013
OPENING STATEMENT: "On the injury front, Branden Albert has a knee sprain and an elbow strain, so I think he'll be okay; it doesn't seem to be too severe. Brandon Flowers has knee inflammation. Dontari Poe has a sprained ankle that he's been dealing with for a couple of weeks and (he) tweaked it again, during the game. He's a pretty tough character and keeps playing away. Listen, a tribute out to the fans and the great job that they did. The place was very loud and it affected the game in areas. It was tough playing on offense for the Raiders, and from a communication standpoint, that showed. Defensively, I thought we played good football. The obvious is the 10 sacks and the three interceptions. We continue to do a great job with our takeaways with 17 points from those. Individually, Tamba Hali—well, everybody got involved with the sacks, but Tamba had 3.5, Justin (Houston) had a sack and a half, DJ (Derrick Johnson) and EB (Eric Berry), I mean these guys were getting to the quarterback. Quintin Demps, I haven't mentioned up here, he's doing a nice job of finding the football. That's something he did in college at UTEP. I believe he led the nation at one point, when he was at UTEP, in interceptions. He's got a knack for that and he's doing a nice job with that here. (Husain) Abdullah not only had a nice interception, but also was able to return (it) for a touchdown. That's a guy who had taken a year off of football, so that's quite a tribute to him and where he was and where he's come back to now. Offensively, we did some good things and we have some things we need to work on. I didn't think I did a very good job of putting the guys in position to make plays and I think that it was obvious at times. I give credit to Dennis (Allen); I think Dennis called a good game on the defensive side. They did a pretty good job of rolling their coverages and their secondary looks. Again, I've got to do a better job of helping with the calls. I think Jamaal's (Charles) two touchdowns were a positive. Again, I mentioned to you about Alex (Smith) and the affect he has on the team as far as not only the leadership, but also the way he manages that offense and how he handles it. It gets us out of trouble at times when we needed the ability of not turning the football over is very important, when you have a solid defense like we have and a kicking game we have. We have both a strong punter and kicker. I thought our special teams were also very solid. They had that one reverse on us, but other than that, we're talking about the number one special teams in the National Football League. I thought our guys did a nice job on that, in handling that. All in all, I thought we did some good things as a football team. I think we have plenty of room to improve in a lot of different areas and we'll get that done. Time's yours."
Q: How has Quintin Demps matured from Philly to here?
REID: "Well, I drafted him there and I liked him. He was right in that transition when Brian (Dawkins) was heading out to Denver for a couple of years. We asked Quintin (Demps) to step in to be his replacement. He was a young kid and at that point, there wasn't a lot of time to grow. When you step in for Brian Dawkins, your grace period is zero. He went on and has had a very nice career. He did a nice job for the Texans, actually. Now we're lucky enough to have him. He brings a good presence, veteran leadership presence and also he makes plays."
Q: When you came here in January, did you have any idea that you had the pieces for this kind of pass rush?
REID: "Listen, I knew there was—I don't know, however you want to look at defensive ends, as nickels or outside linebackers as the base, I knew that they could rush the passer, I did know that. Now, Dontari (Poe) added onto that. Somebody that can play as stout as he can in a two-gap scheme, inside and then be able to pass rush, that was another dimension I didn't expect. The push that (Tyson) Jackson gets, I didn't necessarily see that and his intelligence is phenomenal. He just kind of knows and he alerts people of what's going on out there; I didn't expect that. The addition of (Mike) DeVito, I didn't know at the time we were going to get that, but once we got that, I think it helps also. I'd say he's a solid player, I'd say he's better than that and he's got enough pass rush. So, you combine all of that in there and then (Allen) Bailey has come on and (Mike) Catapano; he's not getting a lot of reps, but he's got some natural pass rush ability. To answer your question, I knew the outside two had that ability."
Q: Have you ever had this many talented pass rushers on one team before?
REID: "I think, and you can ask Bob (Sutton), but I would tell you that he's got a good menu to draw from. You add EB (Eric Berry) in there, I mean he's got a knack for that, like we had (in Brian) Dawkins before. Eric Berry does that same type of thing. He's just got that nice fuel for that. When you start adding in the secondary players, Akeem (Jordan) has got a good feel, DJ (Derrick Johnson) has got a good feel, but you start adding in those secondary guys in there and (Brandon) Flowers and all of the things he does; that's even another dimension."
Q: Are you surprised by how quickly the defensive guys have come together?
REID: "Well that's a pleasant surprise. I would tell you that you have to go to John Dorsey on that and his crew for bringing these people in. They've done a nice job. I told you before that Scott (Pioli) did a nice job having some pieces here, (like) Dontari Poe; Scott deserves credit for Dontari Poe. Dorsey, on that secondary, kind of fit these pieces in. I think he's done a nice job. These guys have good ball skills. You always joke those defensive secondary guys, that there's a reason why you're a DB and not a wide receiver, but these guys can catch. They have very good ball skills."
Q: How do you view how many special teams and defensive touchdowns you guys have comparing that with offensive touchdowns?
REID: "You want to score more on offense, obviously. You want to score every time we touch the football. That's the mentality we have on the offensive side. I would also tell you though, we also have the mentality on the special teams side and the defensive side that we want X-number of touchdowns from that crew. That's something that we talked about from day one; the scoring is equal opportunity, across all three phases. We want everybody to have that chance to score a touchdown. Those are things we've talked about."
Q: Can you talk more about the opportunistic plays, like when the offense turns the ball over and then the defense makes plays?
REID: "Well it's a selfless football team. It's whoever's on the field. They don't care the situation of the position, there on the field. They're going to try to take advantage of it, whether it's special teams, whether it's offense or defense, they all support each other. If there's a turnover from the offense, the defense doesn't really care, they just get out and they play. They erase the slate and all that stuff and they just go play. Likewise, when the defense gets a takeaway it kind of charges the offense up, and they do their best to score."
Q: How do you get better with the offense? Do you call some plays or override some plays that are called?
REID: "Well I'm calling the plays. A couple of them I would like to override. I'm never going to make an excuse for you, that's not the way we role. The reality of it is we're a little bit young and we have to get better. Progressively, we have to do that as we go. I'm seeing some phases where we're getting better and we have to continue to do that. We're going to work our tails off to get better. Then, I have to make sure that I get these guys in the right positions against the right looks and then we take advantage of those, when we get in those positions. We all have a little piece of this pie and we're getting ourselves right. We are a little young and we're learning on the fly here, but we'll keep getting better."
Q: Is there a fine line between trying to get more offense, but not causing more turnovers and trying to avoid having turnovers and setting the other team up?
REID: "You want to take care of the football. I would tell you, there's a fine line, but I have a quarterback in position that will do it. He's a stud. The things that he does for this team are unbelievable. I appreciate that. He's making people around him better. He takes the blame for it and moves on and that's what good leaders do. At the same time, he's able to teach and explain with a clear head and good vision and all those things."
Q: Can you talk about Eric Fisher?
REID: "Yeah, one of the young guys. It was good to get him back in there. He started off a little rough, then he settled down. You could see his athletic ability. He comes out and had that first break, where he went out to jump the guy and the guy snagged him inside and had a sack; then he started settling back down. The second play, he had his feet right, then his hands went to grab the guy and the guy had a little bit of a bull rush on him, then things calmed down a little bit and it got better. He's a tremendous talent and it's good to have him back. He fought like crazy to get back out there and he's out there and it's a tribute to him."
Q: Does Anthony Fasano have a chance this week?
REID: "Yeah, there's a chance. I didn't mention him because of that. We should be okay. He had a pretty rough workout yesterday, as far as being pushed along there and he handled that well. He felt good today."
Q: Do you anticipate he'll practice this week?
REID: "I think there's a chance, yeah."
Q: How do you keep the blinders on for the next three opponents, who have been having trouble, especially with quarterbacks?
REID: "You focus on getting yourself better. You're playing the number one defense in the National Football League, with a bunch of tough players and good coaching. Wade Phillips is tremendous. Their head coach is an established head coach and offensive mind. He was going through a little bit, but in this league the margin between winning and losing is (very small). Doggonit, you have to prepare yourself every week and get yourself right. You study them, respect them and get yourself right as a football team. You go beyond that and you have problems."
