Kansas City Chiefs' Head Coach Andy Reid met with the media on Monday afternoon. Here are five things that stood out.
1. On the screen passes, what are all of the things that have to go right for that to be perfectly executed?
REID: "So, you are really just taking a blocking scheme and just moving it out into space and you are asking these guys to now go against faster players - for your offensive linemen to go against these defensive backs and block them in space - which is a tough thing to do. As long as they stay disciplined with it and the [running] back - which we are fortunate our backs do a nice job of this - they help set up the defense, so you can run fast. There's nothing worse than watching a screen, you get out there and the offensive linemen are stopping and trying to dance a little bit with the secondary guys, it never works in your favor. A [running] back can take care of you with that. As long as you know where he's at, he's going to kind of force the issue downhill, and good things can happen. Our [running] backs do a great job with it, the quarterback gives them an opportunity and the big guys get out and they run."
2. The plays Patrick [Mahomes] was making outside the pocket and the way he moves his body and can throw from different angles, is that something you guys can coach or develop or how do you coach that?
REID: "[Quarterbacks' Coach] Mike [Kafka] works with him a lot on that type of thing, but not everyone is as flexible as he is or can do the things he can do with the ball. He definitely works with him on it. Very seldom do you just get back in the National Football League, be able to take a drop like you would in practice with nobody [around you] and then just be able to throw. It just doesn't happen like that normally. So, you have to be able to throw from different angles with your weight distributed in different places. Off-balance throws become huge. On the move throws become huge. Going past that first hitch into your second hitch becomes huge and doing it with accuracy. You work on those things, but not everyone does it."
3. When Patrick Mahomes makes those big plays, does that energize the rest of the team?
REID: "It doesn't hurt. These guys, they are accustomed to it, I think. I sit there - I've been around a long time - and I sit there and I go, 'Woah, that was pretty good.' I've been very lucky to be around some good quarterbacks. Starting with [Brett] Favre back then, and I played with Jim McMahon and he did all that crazy stuff. Favre did the crazy stuff, the Donovan [McNabb] thing and so on. I've seen it. But there is a certain, 'Wow, that was pretty good right there.' And he has one or two of those a game. He is blessed that way."
4. How proud of your top three draft picks (Breeland Speaks, Derrick Nnadi and Dorian O'Daniel) are you for getting so much playing time and contributing?
REID: "Yeah, and they are getting better. It's a neat deal. [General Manager] Brett [Veach] spends a lot of time with his crew finding these guys and then working it out where we can get them here and then they've got good coaches, they are good players and they want to be good. They enjoy the game. You take just those three that you named - they love playing the game and they are smart kids. It is easy to coach that. You like that combination. It takes a lot of effort finding those kinds of guys and getting them here."
5. What do you attribute [cornerback] Kendall Fuller's recent success to?
REID: "I think it's just being more familiar with the defense and then that communication thing. These guys, the more they play together, that's valuable from a defensive standpoint. Then, he studies. He's into it. He's one of these guys that loves to come out and he's going to try to include everybody in the studying part of it. If he sees something, he'll talk to his coach, he'll talk to his players - he is great communicator in that way. He's very, very smart."