Sunday, September 29, 2013
Game 4
Postgame Quotes
Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid

OPENING STATEMENT: "As far as injuries go, really (Eric) Fisher is the primary one. Fisher had a concussion; he tested out to have one, but I'm not exactly sure where we lay with that one, as far as how bad it is. He seemed to be pretty good, after the game, which is a positive. Again, from our little shooter Gannon (Hathcock), from the Dream Factory, he predicted we'd be 31-7 over the Giants, which is amazing. A shout goes out to him for the great job that he did predicting that. This (win) was against a heck of a football team. I know what their record is, but I also know they have good players and good coaches. It's just a blip on the screen for them; they'll bounce back here, off that. I've seen them do some amazing things over time; I've competed against them for the past few years. As far as our football team goes, I was proud of the effort that the guys gave. I thought they came out and did a nice job. We overcame three turnovers with three takeaways of our own, and then the defense, I thought, played well, after the turnovers. They came out with no points with our turnovers, and we were able to pound in that last run and get seven off of their three. Then Tamba (Hali) was—I mean I can go through and pick out all of these things. Tamba, with his two sacks, (Sean) McGrath with five catches, Dustin Colquitt pushing through after hurting his knee; he pushed through and did a nice job. (Marcus) Cooper and (Dunta) Robinson stepping in and just playing what I consider a great receiving corps there; you have to attribute to the coaches, not only of the positions, but the coordinators. They've spent a lot of time with those two and did a nice job of getting them ready. Obviously (Brandon) Flowers wasn't able to answer the bell or (Anthony) Fasano and it wasn't lack of effort. They tried as did (Jeff) Allen, but hopefully we get them back this next week. All in all, every win is a good win in the National Football League. We'll enjoy it here for a little bit and then we have to get ready for Tennessee."

The challenge before the big Dexter McCluster punt return—did you see that or was it the coaches upstairs?

"My guys upstairs did that. The coaches upstairs did a nice job with that. I have a lot of trust in those guys. They called it. That was a pretty big challenge there and they were very accurate with what they saw."

What about the offense?

"Listen, that's a good defensive front. You could probably say it's one of the better defensive fronts in the National Football League. We banged around with them a little bit and finally got some things going. We were able to put together a couple of points, enough to barely squeak by."

How about the performance of Dexter McCluster?

"Listen, Dex has been close on a couple of these, so it's nice to see him bust one. He had a big third down; I should have mentioned him in the beginning, because he had a couple of nice third down catches too, on top of that. I think he'll probably sleep really well tonight; he'll be tired, after all of that work today."

Is the hard work and grind that the team goes through the formula for success?

"Those guys, that's a tribute to the players and (Chiefs strength and conditioning coach) Barry Rubin and (assistant strength and conditioning coach) Travis (Crittenden), for the job in the weight room, getting these guys conditioned so that they can push through, (assistant strength and conditioning coach) Brent Salazar, too. Training these guys and getting them right, so that they can push through situations like this, so that they're able to do this. (Chiefs head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) was busy, too, making sure that everybody was hydrated and ready to roll. So, when we're late in the game, those become important things."

What about your trust in them?

"I know they'll battle. That's what I know. There are a lot of things that I don't know, but I do know this; we're a tough bunch and we'll keep battling. That's something I'm proud of them for. They've been that way all the way through the offseason, during training camp and then continued it on, into the season."

How about Donald Stephenson replacing Eric Fisher and Geoff Schwartz replacing Jeff Allen? Do you think they did well?  The run game was a bit of a struggle.

"I thought they did a pretty good job. You always (have to) see the tape on that. This is what they did; they ran single-safety middle throughout the whole game, so you're looking at an eight-man front. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you can hit a[ seam there, create a seam and other times you get kind of scrummed up there; it looks like a kid's soccer match."

What about Alex Smith's game?

"Well, you saw it. Those turnovers were a little crazy. Everybody has got a little piece of those. I thought he did a heck of a job. I thought he was dead on today, other than the turnovers. There are some things that go to those turnovers that you don't see."

There was a rumor that you guys didn't have a tight end. What about Sean McGrath's contribution?

"That was a bad rumor. I mean, (Sean) McGrath made a game winner last week and came up again this week. He battled through, he got hit in the ankle, he got hit in the knee, and he kept battling through it. I thought he did a good job."

How about (Chiefs CB) Marcus Cooper?

"I thought Marcus (Cooper) did a nice job. That's a tough receiving corps, and they're going to get you every once in a while, but he kept battling. He is new at that position; he was a wide receiver, for a little bit in college, up there at Rutgers. I was proud of him, the way he battled."