Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid
Conference-Call Quotes
August 30, 2013
OPENING STATEMENT: "I don't have much for you on the injury front, other than Ricky Henry did rupture his bicep, so that will require surgery. I can't tell you exactly when he's going to have that, it'll probably be sooner (rather) than later. That's the nature of that injury, but nothing's happening today."
Q: How will the uncertainty with Tony Moeaki and even Devon Wylie – who had this issue this time last year – impact the roster cut-down decisions in the next 24 hours?
REID: "John (Dorsey) and his staff are meeting and then we'll get together later today and hit it again tomorrow. We'll just make decisions on everybody really. That'll be all part of the—I guess what I'm saying is we haven't gotten to that part."
Q: What pleased you most about last night? There were a lot of good things defensively.
REID: "I thought the guys, defensively, came out of the gates and really played very aggressive early and then maintained that throughout. I didn't see guys— and this is probably attributed to (Head Athletic Trainer) Rick (Burkholder) and (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Barry (Rubin) for getting the guys in pretty good shape—they were taking a lot of reps and it was hot and they seemed to handle the heat very well. They were able to maintain that intensity throughout the game, which I thought was a positive."
Q: Nico Johnson, with that high ankle sprain, how is he responding and where are you there?
REID: "I don't think it was a real bad one, not that any high ankle sprain is a good one. But there are different variations of it and I think this was on the lower end of it. He's not used to missing practice or games; I'm not sure he's ever missed. He's been really after Rick (Burkholder) about letting him go and practice. We'll see what it looks like this next week. You just have to see how he can function. You have a pretty good idea of those pretty quick and we'll see if he can, see what he can do day by day."
Q: What are your overall thoughts on your defense and how much more progress they need to make with defensive coordinator Bob Sutton's system?
REID: "They're picking it up and picking it up fairly well, I think. The more they play in it, the more familiar they become and more comfortable they become. I can't really tell you what degree they're at right now, but with what he's dialing up, they seem to be functioning well and handling (it) well. We'll have to see. We'll have to measure it against a team that's giving you their full offense and we're giving them our full defense and see how that measures up. What's been thrown at them so far, they've handled really well."
Q: What are your thoughts on Tyler Bray's performance last night and your decision to keeping him over Ricky Stanzi?
REID: "I love Ricky Stanzi and he was a heck of a player; I think Jacksonville got a good one there. But we felt very good about Tyler (Bray) and the way he performed. Does he have room to grow? Absolutely. That's what's exciting about the whole thing. We'll see how he does as time goes on here. He handled what we threw at him last night. He executed well and had a little knack for throwing the football."
Q: What are your thoughts about young guys coming into the league and finding their way up the depth chart? Is that something Tyler Bray could do?
REID: "We'll see how all of that works. That's not where we're at right now, so we'll see. We'll just see how things work out for him. We've got a couple of good players there, but I don't want to take away from his performance last night."
Q: You ran the ball a little better last night with the back-ups, how do you feel about that part of your game right now?
REID: "I think we have to test it with the ones against the ones, and we would kind of need to have our full thing in against theirs. We'll see how it works out. I know we have a good runner there. He's had a lot of yards and he's done it mostly behind this offensive line. So, we'll see how that goes, once we get in the regular season."
Q: Was the run game one of the more disappointing moments of camp/preseason?
REID: "Well, I was trying to get the pass game going. I felt like this team has run the ball well in the past and hasn't necessarily thrown the ball as well as I thought it needed to be done. I wanted to get that taken care of as best we could before we get into season. Then you get into season and you keep the blend going and it's kind of mix and match. I think it will be okay. We were just average at it this training camp, not the camp, but the preseason games. I think we'll be alright, once it's all said and done."
