SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE TOUB
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Q: Dustin Colquitt is four punts away from 400 inside the 20 for his career and fourth all-time in NFL history – can you speak about what that record says to you and how special that is for him? **
TOUB:"That's unbelievable, really. Says a lot about him as far as being able to place the ball where you need it mid-field. It's almost like we just assume it's going to happen and that's a good thing I guess."* *
Q:I know we've talked about him dropping punts inside the ten – for someone who doesn't do it or for fans who don't understand it, just how difficult is that? Or is it one of those it looks a lot harder than it is?* *
TOUB:"It's hard enough just to take a ball and throw it and keep it in bounds. But he's doing it off his foot. He does it just like a quarterback – he drops it in there with his foot. It's just amazing."* *
Q:What do you like about Akeem Hunt as a kick returner?
TOUB:"I like that he's very fast, I mean he's a 4.39 guy. He's strong. He hits the returns going north and south. He breaks tackles. He kind of fits our scheme in what we're trying to do in our kickoff return game."* *
Q:How did he do in the rest of the kicking game?* *
TOUB:"Good. We played him at gunner so he played gunner. He almost made a tackle on one – he beat a guy with speed then the next step is for him to make that tackle. I think he's a young player that has a real good upside as a special team's player."
Q:What happened on that onside kick?* *
TOUB:"They got it, number one. But really, we overplayed the bunt. We saw this kid in college, he kicked a really good bunt kick, which is a little tap up the middle. We had four guys, they had four guys plus the kicker. We overplayed the bunt. He kicked one outside on us and they got it. The players lined up the way I wanted them to, they were doing what they were coached to do. So we learned from it. Been doing this for 17 years and every year you learn something, it doesn't matter. We learned something from that game and we won't make that mistake again."
Q:De'Anthony (Thomas) has had a couple weeks in a row where he's taken some out then hasn't gotten them out past the 25. What do you say to him or what is he seeing where the angle is?* *
TOUB:"Well the first week I addressed that, it was the blocking. The second week, he popped one out and we had it called back because we had a holding call, so he was close to breaking that one too. We aren't down on De'Anthony by any means as a kick returner. We're going to keep going to him, we're going to keep coming out with the ball like we do. He's going to get his big returns this season, for sure."* *
CHIEFS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT NAGY
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Q: **You guys have done a pretty good job in the red zone. What explains that and is it just a small sample size or do you feel better about what you guys are doing down there?
NAGY:"No, I would say it is a small sample size being two weeks, we'll see. We want to keep that going right now. We keep focusing on the special situations. So the third downs, the red zones, the two minutes. Obviously the base first down, second down stuff you prepare for, but you start getting into situationally what these defenses run and you try to prepare for it. Right now, so far, we've been successful."
Q:What stands out about the Chargers defense when you're watching the tape?
NAGY:"They fly around, they're real physical. Their bookends there with (Melvin) Ingram and (Joey) Bosa, they're fast, they complement each other really well, they get after the quarterback. Ingram right now is playing at a really high level and so I think it starts there. He's an experienced defensive end, and then the rest of those guys all complement each other really well."
Q:What do you think the split would have been at running back if Spencer Ware had been healthy? You've had a lot of success with Kareem Hunt, what was the plan going into the year? If both of those guys were healthy how do you think it would shake out?
NAGY:"I honestly have no idea. You know we went into it and there was the unknown with Kareem, there was the known with Spencer and Spencer's a great back along with Charcandrick (West) and the other guys. So going into the season, we said it from the start, we were going to go together as a committee, and I think you see that with a lot of teams right now. You see guys helping each other out and it's a physical game, so it happened to go out this way and it turned out to be Kareem's job and obviously Charcandrick and the other guys are filling in."
Q:How many backs have you been around that have the range of skills that he seems to have and really showed off this last game? (Kareem Hunt)
NAGY:"It is rare, you know. He's at a spot right now where he's catching a lot of footballs, he runs with power, mentally he knows where he's at, he's able to block for us. So right now, he's doing everything that we're asking him to do and it is hard. You don't always find that with every back, sometimes you have some weaknesses. Now, not to say that Kareem doesn't have weaknesses, because we all have weaknesses, but so far what we've asked him to do, he's doing it all pretty well."
Q:Andy (Reid) said he had talked to Travis (Kelce) about the penalties, as the offensive coordinator do you take any role in that? Do you have a conversation with him over offensive penalties?* *
NAGY:"We'll talk about it as a group, but in regards to Kelce and Coach Reid that's between them. Coach deals with that. But we talk about it as a group, going backwards doesn't help you, but at the same time those guys know that and what went on the other day with Kelce is completely between Coach and him."
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BOB SUTTON
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Q: **Keenan Allen, such a dynamic weapon?
SUTTON: "Highly competitive guy. He's very explosive in and out of his cuts. Every route he runs, he runs hard. Whether he's the primary guy or not, he runs like he's getting the ball every play. Very willing to take the underneath pass, go over the middle. He's just a really good football player. And like I said, he's competitive, he's got great skills catching the ball— he can do it in traffic. He's just a good football player."
Q: You guys called a timeout. Was that for alignment on the final play last week?
SUTTON:"No, we were looking at their formation. Just trying to see if it's going to be middle jump ball or is it going to be jump ball out here or whatever it is. So we had the luxury of having the timeout, so it allowed us to play the way we wanted to play there. The best we could know looking at the formation."
Q: Does that include the players on the field?
SUTTON: "Yeah. You can look at the formation. A lot of times in the game you're going to do that, whether it's that deal or its fourth down or you've got a big down right here, and you say I just want to get an idea what the formation is going to be. Willing to show us again that same formation, what do you find if they don't, that's obviously their first choice. It gives you a chance to do it. It's like basketball when they call a timeout when they line up on the out of bound plays. You could say, I just want to see what that looks like and give us a chance to say hey we think this is going to happen based on what we know going into this game."
