Head Coach Andy Reid
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Heinz Field ▪ Saturday, August 24, 2013

Head Coach Andy Reid: "As far as the injuries go, Dexter McCluster was ill when he went out for warm ups with every intention of playing but didn't feel very well so I pulled the pads off of him; he is a tough nut [Laughs], so if he is not feeling good, then something is wrong. Quintin Demps was another one that tried, but he had the flu earlier. I think he was just cramping up a little bit so, with his hamstring so we decided to not let him in. Dunta Robinson had the shoulder; he actually tried to go but he didn't play either. Within the game, Jon Asamoah sprained a calf and we will just see how he is in the morning. Tony Moeaki had a bit of a stinger, again, we will just see how he does. I was proud of the guys for the way they battled. I think the ones and the twos, they were able to come back from a 10-point deficit and tie it up at halftime and we came back and won the game at the end. There were some big plays all along that are important. You can't just chip away five yards at a time; you have to make a bunch of big plays, the guys did that and the attitude was right. I thought they played very well against a good football team."

How important was it to get Chase Daniel critical time?
"I tried to get him a good drive that stalled there at half and you know, we came back and he was able to finish up time. I thought he played well. He makes plays and I thought he did a nice job. I obviously have a lot of trust in him and he didn't do anything that was disappointing, that was for sure."

You got the ball a lot to Dwayne Bowe and Donnie Avery, did you try to do that or was that just the way things worked out?
"You know, we tried to get it to them, I don't want to say we didn't try to get it to them, that kind of was what the defense alluded itself to. We made plays and we caught a lot of footballs. It was a good thing. They had what, six catches? So, I would say that is a good thing and it will increase as the season continues."

Re: Going five yards at a time to get anything done, would you have liked to see the ball go down the field a little more tonight?
"We had tried. We had a few calls up for that, whether they cover him or tracking them down, so there was pressure. We will continue to work on that. I liked our two-minute (offense), so that was a good thing."

When Alex Smith took that hit from Troy Polamalu,  were you concerned?
"Well they are both competitive guys; I'm going to leave it at that."

How important was it for Avery to get balls early?
"He played a lot of football before he got here, so he knows what to do, I think, and how to do it. It was good that they were on time with one another. We got the one tough kid there in traffic and that was nice. There was a penalty there, but again, I thought it was important for both of those guys to get the ball."

Re: Knile Davis is averaging 94 yards per kick return:
"That's pretty good. The thing I was proud the most about for him was that he came off of a fumble and then put together the big return. He didn't hang his head and went back to it and came up with a nice return."

Re: Special teams being a storyline each week:
"They did good. The guys are playing well. Dave Toub does a heck of a job."

Re: Alex Smith's overall performance tonight:
"I asked Ted for his stats, he was 17-for-24 and a 102.4 quarterback rating, so I'd say that's a pretty good day. I thought he was accurate and competitive. I thought he managed things well. A lot of those plays we turned over to him and he put on what he thought he saw there. I thought he did a nice job managing that and getting us in and out of good plays."

Re: Closeness of the players on the team:
"It is a preseason game but the part I like is that they're all pulling for each other. The one's pulling for the two's, the one offense pulling for the two defense and the one defense pulling for the one offense. So, that's good. That camaraderie is important when you're building a football team like these guys are building. They believe in each other, they trust each other, they support each other. They've done it all through camp. Everything I've thrown at them they've handled."

Coach Reid will be on a media conference call later today at at 5:00 PM CDT and we'll post those notes as well.