Chiefs head coach Andy Reid addressed the media, following Sunday's 26-17 win in Tennessee.
(Opening statement)
On the injuries, (Donnie) Avery's the only one, right now. We will see how things go on the flight back. He has a shoulder contusion and the x-rays were negative; he's having a hard time raising his arm. It was a resilient win. I thought the guys played hard. They stuck to it. There were some ups and downs. There were two good teams and they played each other. Both teams had a couple of turnovers; there was a muffed punt, early. We were able to capitalize on that. That was good. Ryan Succop had a heck of a day. He really did a great job. Jamaal (Charles), down the stretch there, he's a tough kid and he willed his way through there, along with the offensive line in the fourth quarter. My hat goes off to the fans. The fans really controlled that lower bowl there. We heard them and really appreciate all that support they were able to give us, especially down the stretch.
(On the confidence of the offense, in the fourth quarter)
The eyes that I was looking into were positive eyes. Alex (Smith), he wants the ball back and he knows it's just a matter of time, before it kicks in and the offensive line was that way. Dwayne Bowe was a constant energy, throughout the game and Jamaal (Charles), what can you say? He just grinds it out. That was my picture; that's what I'm looking at. I was confident. I was confident throughout the whole game that we would just get it going. It kept stalling there and that's my responsibility. I'm the one calling the plays and I have got to make sure I put these guys in the right position to make plays early.
(On the vertical game)
They played a lot of man coverage, so we thought we matched up okay there. I thought the line did a good job, gave us an opportunity to throw it down the field and let Donnie (Avery) and A.J. (Jenkins), who were in on a couple of those, let those guys get out and roll a little bit. Dwayne (Bowe) had a couple of nice ones and Dex (Dexter McCluster) was just off by a tad on one of them, just over shot him on two of them, actually.
(On Marcus Cooper's performance)
He did a nice job, a really nice job. He competed out there. That's a good receiving corps. Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) was on fire there, that second half, and he got in there and competed and didn't back down at all. He challenged receivers.
(On QB Alex Smith's performance)
This is what you know about him...when you're playing man coverage, there are going to be some that don't look as pretty, but you got to keep firing and he knows that. He's a veteran player, you got to keep firing. You don't get down on yourself and then you're going to hit a big one. That's just how it is; that's how it rolls with man coverage. The guys, the receivers are trying to work it, so they're not always in that same position they're in, when it's zone. He did that, he kept battling. He's a tenacious competitor, the kid. I love that. I love that part about him.
(On the presence and poise of QB Alex Smith)
I think that's big. The players are all looking at him; they look at him every snap. That's their leader out there, and so, if you're wavering at all or you don't have the right look in your eye, these guys sense that, they can tell. So, how you present yourself is huge. When you're in that huddle or you're checking at the line and get some hurry up stuff, how you present yourself out there is very, very important.
(On defense in the first half)
Well, Bob (Sutton), I think, had a great game plan and players were flying around. There was tight coverage and they were moving around and we had a little pressure on the quarterback. I thought he did a nice job of moving around and gaining a few yards on us, but I thought all in all, it was tight out there. As far as the coverage, when needed in the run game, they've got a pretty good running back, so they were able to kind of hold him in check for the most part. He had the one that Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) dropped to him on kind of a crazy play, but opportunistic as you would say, right, and he got a big one on us.
(On 5-0 record at this point of the season)
Yeah, listen, we are 5-0 and we don't…we're not ashamed of that, I mean, that's not it, but we also know that we got a ton of room to improve. It's important that we continue to do that, these guys are wired that way. But, they'll enjoy it for a few hours here, and we're right back at it. Starting tomorrow, the guys will come in to lift and do all of their stuff there.
(On first touchdown of the game)
I don't remember the first touchdown, but it had to be a good one. Oh, the special teams. Yeah, that was a muff, I thought…I actually didn't see it. I was back getting things straight in the back end, so I didn't see the whole thing, but I'm glad we came up on the good side of that one.
