OPENING STATEMENT:"Alright, so I think Rick [Burkholder] covered everything that you needed to know on that situation. The rest of the guys are coming here as we speak. So, we'll have an injury update for you later. Good team win. As you look at it, I thought all three phases contributed, which was a positive. I thought the coaches had a nice plan, and the players, I thought, followed it to a tee. We have a ton of things that we can still get better at, which we'll continue to work on. It was good to see some of the young players, again, get a little bit more experience under their belt. There were some backups that had an opportunity to play, and they seemed to do a nice job in there. So, again the turnovers, we ended up on the positive side of that with the two turnovers – Ramik [Wilson] getting the fumble and then [Phillip] Gaines on the interception. Shout out to our personnel staff – [John] Dorsey in particular with bringing in Nick [Foles] to the mix there. That paid off yesterday, obviously. You don't like seeing what happened, happen. We were in a good situation with that happening where we didn't have to change the game plan, and we were able to move forward. So, it's a tribute to Dorsey."
Q:What were your thoughts on the two hits on Alex Smith?
REID:"I think Rick [Burkholder] answered everything for you. Rick took care of all of that."
Q:He didn't talk about the football part.
REID:"As far as if it was a cheap shot or not? I can't answer that. I'm not. I enjoy my money too much to make a comment on that. So, the medical part, Rick [Burkholder] took care of it all."
Q:Were you happy with how your players handled those hits and didn't retaliate?
REID:"I thought the players were great. I thought they handled the whole thing – the whole game situation – the right way. They played hard, which was important. I thought their team played hard. It's a tribute to Chuck [Pagano] that they came out and Ryan Grigson for the guys they've brought in. I thought it was a good, hard fought game. I got asked about the turf. We haven't had a lot of luck on that turf with this. Remember, Jamaal [Charles] had the same situation the last time, Brandon Flowers had it. We had a bunch of things happen on that turf. I don't know what the records show on it – stats.
Q:Does that turf have a reputation of being thinner than normal?
REID:"I don't know that. When you're standing on it, it doesn't feel that way necessarily. Our luck on that turf hasn't been great as far as the injuries go.
Q:How do you square away what Rick Burkholder said about not having a concussion, as a coach, looking the way Alex Smith did after the second one?
REID:"Well, I think Rick [Burkholder] explained that. They give you the information. The NFL is put in a position now where they take the coach out of it, and they put them through enough tests where you've got to believe with what they say – one way or another. So, that's how you go."
Q:If Nick Foles would have gotten hurt. Tyler Bray was inactive. Who would have went in as quarterback?
REID:"We have two of them. One of them was also in the concussion protocol [Spencer Ware]. [Anthony] Sherman was the other one. So, we definitely weren't going deep there, I don't think."
Q:If this was 20 years ago, if Alex Smith said he wanted to go back in and was arguing in the locker room to come back in – would he have come back? The rules have just changed so much.
REID:"Yeah, but I think it's in a good way. Everybody has put so much emphasis in this. I think that's a positive thing. There's a lot of things, I would say concussion and knee surgeries, all those things you get asked today. Everyone is different. The bottom line is they are trying to attack that issue. So, we've got experts dealing with it. Instead of football coaches dealing with it, you have experts dealing with it who are in that field. I think that's a positive, positive thing. Yesterday was a weird situation, but the important thing is that Alex [Smith] is up, and he's good, and he's being evaluated and everything else. I think that's all positive."
Q:Having Nick Foles in the game, did it allow you to expand the game plan and do some things that you couldn't do with Alex Smith?
REID:"No. Alex [Smith], I'm not sure you realize how good he is. We've opened this thing up for him more than we've ever opened it up. He does a tremendous job. It was a shame that he didn't have a chance to finish off the game plan because he would have had a ton of success with it. Not taking anything away from Nick [Foles]. We didn't have to cut a thing out for Nick, so that was a win-win for both guys. To think one would have done better than the other – I don't think that. I think if Alex would have been in, we would have done the same thing."
Q:You guys hit four passes in 30 yards down the field yesterday, which is rare for you. Just wondering if that was the way it was going or who was playing quarterback?
REID:"I think it was part of the plan. That was all in the game plan, so those would have been called. They were right on the first 15. They were coming up. Whether it was Alex [Smith] in there or Nick [Foles], they were coming up. A couple of them formation wise. There was a little confusion on the formation and guys popped open."
Q:Does Nick Foles give you more capability in that area?
REID:"No. I'm not even sure I like the way you're going with this. Alex [Smith] can do all the things that needs to be done in this offense and do them at a Pro Bowl caliber level. That's all that matters."
Q:Is Alex Smith your quarterback when he's healthy no matter what?
REID:"Yeah."
Q:What do you attribute to the defense's consistency in the final 30 minutes of the game?
REID:"We have good coaches and good players there. I think that's a pretty good combination. The guys are playing hard, playing aggressive. These last two weeks have been against what I think are really good quarterbacks. You just never feel like either team here is going to be out of it with those guys pulling the trigger. I think it was a nice accomplishment the defense had there, playing against Andrew [Luck]. He's something else, now. We were able to get pressure on him, and he had his speed receivers back. He's a good football player."
Q:Where have you seen the biggest development from Nick Foles since he has gotten to Kansas City besides the mental aspect of it?
REID:"He's just getting comfortable. We've changed enough from what we did in Philadelphia to where he was going to have to learn some, he had the basic fundamentals of this thing. There was enough learning that was going to take place that he was going to have to get in there and crank on it. Then, he had been in another system since then. That's a good room, and he gets in and attacks it. There's great conversation in that room, which I think is important. Alex [Smith] shares with Nick. They developed a relationship over at the Pro Bowl one year. Alex [Smith] was willing to share ideas with him, thoughts and how he sees things, and then, both the coaches [Matt] Nagy and Brad [Childress]."
Q:What did you see from your pass rush?
REID:"So, they got pressure on them. Not necessarily always a sack, but where you have to make the quarterback throw off balance or move. There's a lot of value to that. That exposes the sack part of that, but the guys played hard and were able to get a push."
Q:This is now back-to-back weeks where Alex has been hit on a slide. Is this an explanation that the slide happens to late, or the defender can't hold up or is there an explanation to come?
REID:"Can you slide a little sooner? You can slide a little sooner. The league takes care of all that too. There's a part that they have to take care of that I'm not going to get into, but we just can't have those hits, obviously."
Q:In the media we all focus on quarterbacks, are we missing something with Dee Ford though?
REID:"So, I think he's put together back-to-back-to-back weeks here. He was the number one pick, so he's under the microscope a little bit. I think he's raised his game and played at that level. So, you saw him yesterday flying around. We always knew he could rush the passers, it was the part about holding the point and all those things that he had to learn. Remember, he had his hand in the ground, so he had to learn a whole new position coming in with all these eyes on him. He's learned how to do this now. I think this experience here and all these reps that he's getting is really shown everybody what he's all about. He's playing good football.
Q:What's the plan for Justin Houston this week?
REID:"So, we really don't have to make a decision until a week from Wednesday, I believe it is. So, not this game here, Jacksonville, but that following week. What we're going to do is take it like we have been and see how he does this week, and then, keep communication with him and if he needs the week then he's got this week and all the way up to next Wednesday. If he's ready to go, then he can go. I'll listen to the docs and talk to Justin [Houston] and see how he's doing. I can tell you that he's made tremendous strides from that first week he was out there to last week. I know he was soar. He was moving around and taking a lot of reps last week, so he' pushing himself through it, and we'll just see how he does."
Q:You say tremendous strides – what did you see?
REID:"Well, he went from doing all the periods from just doing kind of the individual, the plays – the seven-on-seven things where there wasn't a lot of contact. He jumped in and did all the contact things last week. You could just tell his awareness out there was better, the speed of the game, it looked like he was settling down to that a little bit."
Q:The last couple of weeks on Monday, you've been pessimistic about his ability to play that Sunday.
REID:"Yeah, I would still tell you that. It'll be a stretch for him to play this week – I'll tell you that. But, we'll see."
Q:You don't have any information yet about Jamaal Charles visiting Dr. [James] Andrews today?
REID:"I don't have any information."
Q:Is there any concern on your part that Jamaal Charles has to go back and visit? REID:"I think it's a positive thing. He's been checking with Dr. [James] Andrews. This person has done his surgery, which this isn't uncommon. Let's just figure out what it is and go from there. He had a little swelling in it, so let's figure out what it is."
