CHIEFS HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT:"I don't have any injuries for you. I don't think there's anything substantial anyways. The game is basically what I mentioned to you last night. It came down to a few plays and we've all got to do better starting with me putting our guys in position to make plays. When you're given that opportunity, then you have to make it. When it comes to a game like that and two teams are going after each other back and forth, you just need one play. Whether it's offensively, defensively or special teams, you just need one play. We're going to figure that out. We can do better in that area. A lot of fingers can be pointed and all of that, but the reality is you're 5-2 and a pretty good football team. You have some guys coming back that haven't been a part of it that have been hurt. You have an opportunity to play against another AFC West opponent. Those are the positive things. There's always a little positive within the negative. It's hard right now because you went 5-0 and then you have two losses it seems like the whole world is falling apart, but in reality that's not the case. We do have to fix a couple of things."
Q:One of those things, 4:20 to go and you've got the ball, why would you think clock there and not yards?
REID:"Who ran clock? I'm not sure on that. I ran the ball twice, but that's not running clock."
Q: You weren't trying to run clock there?
REID:"No, I was running two run plays that I had there to win the game. That's what I was doing."
Q:Just curious about the status of Tamba Hali?
REID:"We haven't activated him yet. We'll determine when we do that."
Q:Is he eligible to be activated? How's he feeling?
REID:"He's feeling okay. We'll address all of that as we go. We got back late and we're going through everything now. He's doing okay."
Q:Do you feel like teams have started to key in on what you do defensively or is this just two games where they didn't play as well? If that's the case, do you and Bob (Sutton) start to have conversations about the defensive scheme?
REID:"You look at it, and are you close? Do you have people who are close to receivers and the run game, close to the ball carrier? All of those things you look at and then you've got to go 'I could've done something a little better here'. This is what all play callers do. Could I have done a little better here? Am I putting the guys in the right position to make the play and do we have to make the play? So that's what the team part is all about here. When everybody takes accountability for that, normally you can flip things around. To tell you that Bob's not going to go back and look at things, he does that. That's what he does, he's a great coach, he does that. He's a smart guy and has had a lot of success here. You figure it out and then the players do the same thing and then you go make productive plays happen. That's how it works. No different on offense. No different on defense. That's what you do."
Q: How do you feel Kareem Hunt is holding up?
REID:"I feel pretty good about him. They were having a hard time stopping him at times and for that first question, the one that the Raiders knew what we were doing, we had run those plays a couple times and had some success with the same look. So we have a lot of trust in him and we think he's doing well. It's the National Football League, I'm not telling you he's waking up after games wanting to go run a marathon, that's not what he's doing. That's part of his position and how you feel. I think he's doing a heck of job. He was strong again in the fourth quarter and we have a lot of trust in him and the offensive line. We've been running the football very well."
Q:During the course of the week is there anything you guys can do to maintain him or is there anything you're doing that's out of the ordinary to keep him fresh?
REID:"I don't think he's not fresh. I think he is where he is in the season. He's strong and obviously we're aware of that. We look at it, he is a rookie so Eric Bieniemy, I think, does a phenomenal job with that stuff along with the trainers and Barry (Rubin) our strength coach. That's where we're at. We rotate enough that he gets a breather with rotation. He'll be alright."
Q:How important is this extra few days you're going to get before playing next Monday against the Broncos?
REID:"It's good depending on how you handle it. When you have an opportunity to rest up a little bit you have to do that, which I think the guys will do. They understand and have been told that. Then coaches have a chance to go back and evaluate all of the things that the first fella there asked me. You go back and you look at everything. It's a mini bye week, you go back and you evaluate things you can do better, put the guys in better positions. All of those things."
Q:Do you think Derrick (Johnson) is still working his way back into 2015 form? How do you think he looks and feels physically?
REID:"Derrick is doing some good things for us. He's in a leadership position. Obviously been doing this a long time. I'm not going to tell you he runs the same way he ran when he was a rookie, but he's got great instincts and really works at putting himself in a good position."
Q:Did all the plays get officiated correctly at the end of the game?
REID:"The only thing you ever ask as a coach is that there is consistency. That's all you care about. Those are human beings over there making those calls. You just want consistency. We are never going to point the finger at the officials, that's not what we do. It is no different than what players want and what coaches want from each other is consistency. (The officials) are part of the game just like the players and the coaches are. Those are things I look at and go back and look at. Where did that factor in? You hate to have a game come down to that. That's my only point. I don't think as a viewer, fan, player or coach, and probably the officials themselves, you don't want the game to come down to where you have these calls when guys are going after each other. What is real is you can probably call a flag on every play. That is what is real, if you come down to it. Somebody, somewhere a hand slips outside, these things happen in the game. It is a live action game here. It is real. This isn't like a computer game. Physical things happen. You just hate to have the game come down to that. And that is for both sides, that's not just for our side."
Q:Is there a way to protect Terrance Mitchell in all of those one-on-one coverages?
REID:"We try to change things up and mix things up as best as we can. Obviously, that last play, any out-breaking route, it really doesn't matter the coverage. If you have an out-breaking route or a stop route, it is tough to double a guy that way. Bob (Sutton) had doubles on most of those calls down in there to help out the people. When you are outside there, you are on a bit of an island, particularly with stop routes and out-breaking routes. That's just how that works. The one thing we've got is we are getting tight coverage for the most part. And then we have to make sure we are making the play at that particular point when given the chance."
Q:Do you feel like you are going to have Morse and Duvernay-Tardif back for the Broncos?
REID:"Yeah, there is a chance. There is a chance we get some guys back. Not only those two, but a couple of the other guys back, too. It will be good to get them back in the mix. But the guys that have been in there, they have done a nice job for us. Again, they stepped in and played an important role for us."
Q:Can you talk about the development of Demarcus Robinson?
REID:"Again, it is not all perfect, but he has gotten better at every opportunity he has had. He has a good feel for it. He and the quarterbacks seem to be on the same page. There were a couple things he had to adjust during the game and made good adjustments. There were a couple things were Alex had to move and he was able to get in and out of the route and get on the move with him and make plays there. You'd like to have the one back where he caught it and his mind was probably going faster than his legs or he might have had a touchdown there. He is doing some good things for us."
Q:What have you been most happy about with Tyreek Hill as your number one receiver?
REID:"First of all, he is a tough kid. Very tough. He knows he is a targeted guy and he keeps battling on everything. He does it week in and week out. He doesn't want to miss a practice, doesn't want to miss a play. He has had everything from his helmet ripped off to his head driven in the ground out of bounds. All these different things that teams are trying to do to him, he has had done. He doesn't lose his cool, he gets right back out and competes against it and makes plays. That's what I see."
Q:How much rest do you plan to give the guys?
REID:"They will get three days here off. Then we will come back for a short practice on Monday, then they will be back into a regular week, they will have another day off and they will go. They will have plenty of time here to get themselves back and going."
Q:Does the loss of Berry and Nelson change some things you wanted to do defensively?
REID:"I would never tell you different with Eric Berry. You are talking about the best safety in football. But, what we do is the next guy steps in and plays his tail off. So they have made some plays. The guys that have filled in that role have made some plays. Is it everything that Eric Berry would have done? No. But it is good enough where we should be winning football games. And then Stevie (Nelson), you have a chance of him getting back potentially now. You can't have enough of those secondary guys. Whether it is corners in that position there, guys that can cover, you have seen how this league is and how the receivers are. You need to have as many of those guys as you can in there. We welcome him back in there as long as he can go."
