What The Chiefs Said Following Their 24-10 Win Over The Seahawks

Featuring postgame quotes from the following:Head Coach Andy ReidOPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, good win. (We) appreciate the fans and them sitting through that cold – that was brisk out there. I was proud of our guys for the job that they did in the game. (Juan) Thornhill’s pick I thought was (a) great way to finish there. Trav (Kelce) and Pat (Mahomes) with that series there, it ended up being a big one for us. We kind of went through a stall there and had too many mistakes, dropped balls, fumble – whatever – too much. But anyways, (we) bounced back and took care of that. I thought overall our defense had just a great day. And some of those young guys, 21 (Trent McDuffie), 6 (Bryan Cook), 35 (Jaylen Watson), these guys played their tails off. (Nick) Bolton, another big day with 17 tackles. And the D-line, I thought, was extraordinary. I know it was an emotional game for Frank Clark having played there, so making sure he came out of the right tunnel, right? He did a nice job. Other than that, we had no injuries, so time’s yours.” Q: What went into the decision to have L’Jarius Sneed shadow/lockdown Seahawks WR DK Metcalf the whole game? REID: “Yeah, well, that was the scheme that Spags (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) had set up going in. I thought he did a nice job, that’s a good football player right there. And so, (L’Jarius) Sneed is a good football player too, so matching them up, I thought, that was a smart thing by Spags. I thought our coaches did have a good game plan together too. My hat goes off to them.” Q: What was it about today’s matchup that worked for you guys? REID: “Well, we thought it was a good matchup and they’ve had some injuries there. Their other primary receiver was down.” Q: What kind of testimony is it to the character and grit of the team just to take care of business today with the elements the way they were today? REID: “Yeah, again, it was a little cold, but I thought the guys did a nice job with it. They didn’t let it hinder them. I think a couple of the dropped balls, however, might have been that and we weren’t squeezing it hard enough. But, I was proud of the guys and how they took care of business, and especially on a short week. So, Seattle was coming off a long week and they came in, I would imagine, pretty fresh there and our guys powered through the week. For a short week, (they) did a nice job.” Q: Does it feel a little bit more important to get something out of those young guys at this point in the season knowing that you’re going to need them? REID: “Yeah, (it’s) real important because I’ve mentioned it the other way the last couple of weeks that they need to – they’re making progress, but we need to get better and I thought the guys did a nice job of that today. And I do think that’s important down the stretch.” Q: You were kind of struggling there on offense with dropped balls, but you kept plugging away. When you finally got something there at the end with it, did it feel a little bit better? REID: “Yeah, we weren’t doing very well – whether it was the run game, pass game, I take responsibility for that too. I got to try to work things in our favor, but that’s not where we were going. And then, we hit those couple to Trav and I thought that was big. Obviously.” Q: When the offense is going through that, how important is ball security? REID: “Yeah, ball security ends up being important and so is how the defense is playing. The defense was playing well and so we didn’t force anything on the offensive side, although we were trying to score touchdowns. You don’t want to slight that, we just – things weren’t clicking. But, if it weren’t for the defense playing so well, then that could’ve been a real issue.” Q: How big were those fourth downs for the defense? REID: “Yeah, unbelievable. The guys, that’s a lot of intestinal fortitude there.” Q: Ever since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starter, you have had at least 12 wins a season. How do you continue to do that with being in such a competitive league? REID: “Yeah, well, how great is that though? And the accolades that he receives, he deserves all of them. And then, the guys around him also working in with that and making it happen. But, it’s a tribute to Pat and the energy that he’s brought to the group and then the guys rallying around him, obviously.”QB Patrick MahomesQ: Looking at the play of the defense and holding them, how proud were you? MAHOMES: “I was extremely proud. That’s a really good offense. They’ve put up points on a lot of teams this year and so for our defense to stop them in so many critical moments, that’s what we need going forward. When they play like that, we’re going to be a hard team to beat. Offensively we’ve got to execute at a little higher level, but we got what we needed done and credit to the defense of kind of holding us in there when we were struggling.” MAHOMES: How much did Juan Thornhill’s interception energize you guys? Q: “Yeah, I mean I went to the sideline kind of after we had a few drives in a row where we fizzled out really fast and I said, “Hey how the defense is playing we just need one more score to put this game away.” And I thought the guys responded well. Obviously, Travis (Kelce) got lost in space two times in a row where we wanted to throw deep but when they play that deep of coverage hitting Travis over the middle usually is a good thing and he was able to get us down there in the red zone and we were able to punch it in and get the touchdown.” Q: On putting together a game with no turnovers. MAHOMES: “Yeah, I’m going to keep saying it, but when the defense is playing like that it’s my job to not make those struggles worse and so if that’s just throwing the ball away or if we’re not getting the first down not forcing it, that’s what you have to do. So, defense they stepped up, made a lot of big plays and I was just patient enough to get us enough points at the end of the game.” Q: On Patrick Mahomes’ rushing TD. MAHOMES: “Yeah, they did a pretty good job. After I looked at it after I realized that they dropped - like my last guy was JuJu (Smith-Schuster) was wide open in the endzone but we had a play where we kind of had a front side read where I either wanted to either throw a flat to a little hook route to (Travis) Kelce across the middle and they covered it well and I started running trying to find the edge and I was able to just get enough of the pylon. I grazed it and I knew it was close. I grazed it and I knew the rule that if you touch the pylon, you’re good so luckily enough I stayed out of bounds and was able to get in the endzone.” Q: Was the handstand on purpose too? MAHOMES: “No, no, no. That was definitely not on purpose, but it shows that the wrist is a little strong. I had a little push up position (laughter). I’m not going to say I’m the strongest guy in the world, but I’ve done a little bit to hold myself up.” Q: Is there any way to practice that rush? MAHOMES: “Not that one. There’s no way to practice that one. I mean we do different things to try to put me in different positions to go out there and excel but at the end of the day you get down there towards the endzone in the late parts of these football games you have to just go out there and be a competitor and we were able to get it into the endzone on a big drive that kind of helped put the game away.” Q: You had a pass to Travis Kelce when he was covered by Seattle safety Teez Tabor. Do you get the sense that if you just throw it down there, he’ll find a way? MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean it’s all about matchups. I think that’s a lot about this league. 39’s (Teez Tabor) a bigger safety, a good player, (Teez) Tabor. Whenever Trav (Kelce) has a guy on his back I try to put it in that one spot only where he can make a play on it. Tough conditions today, obviously cold but I thought the guys battle through and made a lot of big plays. When he’s one-on-one, like I said, I always try to give him a chance and I’ll keep going back to him.” Q: When the defense is playing well like you mentioned, do you change anything? MAHOMES: “Yeah, the only thing I really change is kind of more for like on those scramble plays. Instead of trying to force something and make a big play whenever it’s not there or throw a deep one and kind of put it in a 50-50 ball I’ll kind of just take what’s there. Throw it underneath or try to scramble for it. I think that’s what I’ve learned as I’ve kind of grown in my career is when the defense is rolling don’t give the momentum to the other team. Keep playing the field position battle, we have a great punter (Tommy Townsend) and play the field position battle and whenever we get our opportunities, we’ll strike then.” Q: Do you think about that while you’re scrambling? MAHOMES: “I don’t know if it - I think it subconsciously does. I think about it before. You think about it throughout the defense is out there. You’re on the sideline and they’re getting the spots and they’re punting you just say – we want to go out there and score obviously. We want to score a touchdown, that’s what we’re always thinking first but if it’s not there, don’t force it. Just take what’s there and keep the chains moving and we were able to do that there on the last drive.” Q: Do you think about that more after what happened in Denver with the unusual interceptions? MAHOMES: “Yeah, for sure, you always take away from everything. The only thing that sucks is in Denver I was thinking about that on the last drive, and I still threw an interception (laughter) in the field goal range so it’s just something you have to deal with. I’m an aggressive player. I like to go out there and score and put up a lot of points but as I’ve kind of learned throughout my career it’s a team game. I mean that’s what it is at the end of the day and when the defense is playing like that don’t put them in a bad position and try to do whatever you can to put points on the board but don’t put the team in a bad position.” Q: It looks like you have a one two punch with Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon, what are you seeing from them? MAHOMES: “Yeah they’re both playing hard. At the end of the day that’s the biggest thing. Those guys – both can do everything. They can run the football, but they can also catch the ball out of the backfield. We’ve got a good room. We’ve got RoJo (Ronald Jones) - when he gets in, he’s making stuff happen. You’ve got Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) hopefully coming back soon and I’m sure they’ll get those guys all opportunities to go out there and make plays and I mean (Isiah) Pacheco is running the ball hard and Jerick (McKinnon) is making plays every single week so I’m excited just to continue to grow that room.” Q: On there being little to no drop off between Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon. MAHOMES: “Yeah I mean that’s the great thing is at the receiver position and at the running back position and even the tight end position guys are coming in and making plays happens. We’re able to get other guys rest, especially like Travis (Kelce) and stuff because we’ve got guys like Noah (Gray) and Jody (Fortson) and now Blake (Bell) that can come in and fill those roles to a degree. I mean Travis is a special player, I mean all these guys that are starters are special players, but we’ve built up so much depth within this offense that we can kind of rotate guys in, and everybody can be fresh when they’re in there.” Q: There was a lot of focus on the holder and the kicker this week. What did you think about the kicking game today? MAHOMES: “Yeah I believe we have one of the best punters (Tommy Townsend), one of the best kickers (Harrison Butker) and one of the best deep snappers (James Winchester) in the league and (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Toub is the best special teams coach in the league and so I have confidence in those guys that they’re going to go out there and make it happen every single time. Every great team has great special teams and I feel like that’s why we’ve been who we are these last few years.” Q: Frank Clark mentioned that you can’t have any let up after winning the AFC West, can you speak about that mentality? MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean obviously we don’t control our own destiny as far as the one seed but we want to put ourselves in the best position to be at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium as much as possible in the playoffs and that takes us getting better as a team every single week and we play a lot of great teams at the end of the season and how can we get better? I thought we got better as a team this week. The defense played really good against a really good offense. The offense, we executed at some points really well but we’re going to learn from this and try to get better next week and you want to be playing your best football going into the playoffs and I feel like that’s where we have to continue to get better and better is let’s put that full game together - offense, defense, special teams and I thought we did a pretty good job of it today but we can be even better going into these last two weeks.” Q: How will you be celebrating Christmas? MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean the schedule worked out well. I saw this early in the year. To play Christmas Eve at 12 O’clock, now I get to go home and spend Christmas Eve with my family. We flew all the family up so they’re going to be there at the house and get to enjoy Christmas with everybody and (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid gave us Sunday off, so we have Christmas day off. We’ll get to watch football, basketball, everything and so it’s going to be a great day with all the family. I’m trying to do the gingerbread houses and I’m going to be competitive. I’m going to try to win it.”Defensive End Frank ClarkQ: On facing his former team. CLARK: “It was pretty dope, but we’re on a mission here in Kansas City and the goal is to finish the season strong. Our last few weeks we haven’t been getting the job done as far as finishing strong. A lot of close games, overtime last week. So, it was pretty dope to get out there today and finish the game pretty strong. I think we held them to three points, well they got that score at the end, for the most part we held them to three points except that score at the end. (Seahawks QB) Geno (Smith) has been playing some great football this year, you know Pro Bowler type of guy, so we knew the task coming in. To be able to put that flame out. Great receiver on the other side in 14 (Seahawks WR DK Metcalf) I feel like our young DB’s, we have the youngest DB’s in the NFL, I don’t know if you guys know that or not. They did a hell of a job holding DK and holding that side of the ball down. So, hats off to those guys.” Q: The defense did a great job on third and fourth down. Anything you can put your finger on as far as that goes? CLARK: “I give hats off to our coaches. They prepare us. (It) usually starts Monday, fresh off a victory normally, or a loss. You come into the building you’re prepping for the new team and the new week. Our coaches started off the week doing just that. We had a tough game in Houston so when you come back you got guys dwelling on it, our coaches do a good job of washing that away from our memory and getting us back into the week. We had a short week so of course we got to get rolling, we got to get the ball rolling faster. Coach Spags (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) did a hell of a job giving us the game plan and it’s just on us to execute and you saw some execution out there today.” Q: On keying off todays effort going into the end of the season and the playoffs. CLARK: “I just keep going. I try my best to inspire the man next to me and then bring along another person in the process. Whether that’s inspiring an older guy or a younger guy that’s typically what I tend to do. And in this game, it was our DB’s honestly. I look at my young guys, look at that back end and just tell them ‘Just keep playing.’ Make your mistakes while you’re young. You make them early so when you get to this point in your career — year eight or whatever — you understand what’s asked of you, you understand what’s needed of you in those clutch moments. You see guys make mistakes like holding or whatever it is we always tell them ‘You good man, wash it away. Have short term memory and make the next play you can.’”Linebacker Willie Gay Jr.Q: How is playing in the cold? GAY: “These are the games we have the most fun in because we’re up against the weather (and) you’ve got to win this game. Once again, it’s just a stone to step over and not let it affect us in a negative way and we did that today. And like I said, when you’re having fun man, nothing can stop us.” Q: One of your ways of leadership is energy. Do you feel like it’s on you to be that type of force? GAY: “I’m just going to be the best version of me that I can be. Whether it’s considered a leader or whether people look at me as ‘the Juiceman, Willie Gay Jr.” Whatever title they give me, it really doesn’t matter. It’s really just (doing) all that I can do to make sure that my energy is contagious around me and to bring others up around me whether we’re winning, losing, you know – all the time. Rather it’s 80 degrees or -5. That’s how I see it. Just keep continuing to be me and let everybody else handling all the name calling.” Q: What are your Christmas plans? GAY: “I’m actually spending it with my family and that’s the best feeling ever. My son, Josiah, my mom (and) brother and everyone is here this weekend. It’s a blessing (and) we got a win to go with it. Yes sir, a great weekend ahead.”Center Creed HumpheryQ: How big is it that the offensive line is able to get to the second level on screen plays? HUMPHREY: “They (the coaches) do a heck of a job of coaching us up on it, (telling us) our exact angles and what they need to be so credit to the coaching staff. They give us a really good understanding about what we’re trying to accomplish on that play so because of that we’re prepared on those screens (and) we know exactly what to do. We just go out there and have fun with them (the screens). You see Trey (Smith) out there destroying guys on them. I haven’t got one as good as that yet but hopefully we get there. Those have been fun, though. Those screens have been awesome for us.” Q: Congrats on your first Pro Bowl nod. How big is that for you? HUMPHREY: “Yeah, it’s a huge honor. I’m very excited about it. It kind of just shows how good the guys around me have been playing. I couldn’t be in this position without them, so you know those guys around me made my job a lot easier and have just made me a better player overall because of them. So credit to them and thanks to them. Hopefully we’re in Arizona instead of being in Vegas. That’s our end goal, going to Arizona and playing in that Super Bowl.” Q: Any big Christmas plans? HUMPHREY: “Just hanging with the family (and) getting to see them. We get tomorrow off too, so that’s pretty exciting to get Christmas off so that’ll be really nice to be able to do. Just being around the family and hanging out with them.”Cornerback Trent McDuffieQ: Is there a “cumulative affect” when one guy makes a good play, others will follow? McDUFFIE: “For sure. I think everything in this game is just about energy. And good tackles, good plays and just little things like that, I think really help not only in the game, but just later on in the season. Just the excitement and the energy of just making good plays really just rallies the whole defense.” Q: It looked like on the fourth-down play that you knew he was going to run an out route. Is that true? How did you process that play? McDUFFIE: “Yeah, what was it? The last drive they tried to throw the over ball, trying to slip the safeties. And so, when I saw this in formation, I was like, ‘Ok, let’s for sure just take away that play. And if he does do the route, undercut it and make the play.’ And it just happened to be that way.” Q: How good does it feel to recognize a play before it happens? McDUFFIE: “Yeah, it just goes back to confidence like we always talk about at DB. Being able to recognize certain things that you study, certain things that coaches tell you just adds to your weaponry and just adds to your mental state of the game because at this stage everybody’s good, everybody’s fast, everybody’s physical, so if you’re able to lockdown that (mindset) that’s sort of 90% of the game. That’ll make it a lot better.”Safety Justin ReidQ: After the overtime game against the Houston Texans, what was the message going into this week knowing that the Seattle Seahawks need this game to stay alive in the playoffs? REID: “We came in this game knowing that there’s playoff implications on the line. We’re still playing for that first round bye so we know if we want that, we’ve got to go out and win. The lesson we took from last week was ‘good team’s find a way to win even in dirty situations’ we still found a way to get that win. So (we) build on that (and) came out this week (and) felt like we played a dominate game for the most part from the defensive side and we’ve just got to continue to do that. We’re getting ready to play playoff caliber teams (and) if we want to be the team we say we are, we’ve got to start playing like it.” Q: The defense played well today. Is this what you expected from the beginning? REID: “Yeah, we knew we were capable of it. It’s just about going out there and doing it, though – not just saying it (and) going out there and executing it. Really putting it all together and this is the time of year to piece it all together. This is when you want your good teams to start getting hot and get ready to make that big run in January.” Q: What’s L’Jarius Sneed doing right now? REID: “He’s a physical player, very technical. (He) will match the physicality of anybody. (I) can’t tell you how many times you can put on the film and see him jacking somebody up at the line of scrimmage on a quick jam or whatever it is. (He’s) a very smart player (and) a very physical (and I) have a high level of confidence with him in one-on-one matchups.”Wide Receiver Juju Smith-SchusterQ: On the offense not turning the ball over. SMITH-SCHUSTER: “Yeah most definitely, you talk about turning the ball over that’s something I did last week. I gave Houston a chance to come back into the game and make it a close one. Like you said, this week there was no turnovers and (Head) Coach (Andy Reid) made a big emphasis on not turning the ball over. Especially when you talk about a defense who, they punch out the ball that’s what they’re known for. So, it’s actually really nice that we didn’t turn the ball over we finished out how we wanted to. It was a good game.” Q: Do you feel like you’re playing complementary football between your offense and defense? SMITH-SCHUSTER: “Our defense played great today. They helped us out and kept us in the game. There’s been multiple situations when we just kept going three and out, three and out, three and out but our defense stepped up having the turnover in the game and making them go three and out. Like I said, shout out to the team for doing their best.” Q: What’s the inspiration behind the Grinch costume? SMITH-SCHUSTER: “Man, everyone likes the Grinch. Honestly, my top two favorite Christmas movies I’m going to say the Grinch and I’m going to say Polar Express. Hot chocolate, baby.”Guard Trey SmithQ: How does it feel being from a winning standard? SMITH: “To be able to accomplish a feat like that, it’s amazing. I come from a college program (The University of Tennessee) where the most wins we had was like nine wins. Obviously, college and the NFL (is) a huge difference but being from a winning standard, it’s a lot different here and it means a lot.” Q: You were the closest one to Patrick Mahomes when he scored that rushing touchdown. What did you see? SMITH: “Just realizing he was scrambling out and I said ‘okay, is he going to follow me? Crap, crap, crap, he went outside. Then like 15 (Patrick Mahomes) does always, he just makes a play and then it was a touchdown. It’s just another testament to him as a player.” Q: That pylon barely moved. Does that kind of sum him up? Just getting that extra inch that he needs to succeed. SMITH: “I think he’s just the ultimate competitor, man. Whatever the team needs to do to succeed and win, he’s going to go out there and do it. Putting his body on the line, like he did today. He’s always going to do what this organization needs him to do to win.”Safety Juan ThornhillQ: L’Jarius Sneed followed DK Metcalf around the whole game. How do you think he did? THORNHILL: “I think he did a heck of a job. I had to keep reminding him (L’Jarius Sneed) like, 14 (DK Metcalf), he made some great catches but Sneed played a heck of a game. I take my hat off to him because 14 is a good player.” Q: You guys tackled well today. Anything you guys worked on? THORNHILL: “That’s something we talk about each and every week. We’ve got to eliminate the tackles and the yards after catch. I think everyone did a really good job today focusing on bringing the hips and then making the tackle when it counted.” Q: How did the interception feel? THORNHILL: “Man, it felt great. I felt like I was in a little drought for a while, and I finally got me one. They call back two – they call this one back today and they called one back the other week and I finally got one so I’m proud of that.” WR KADARIUS TONEY Q: How did it feel to get back into the real flow offensively? TONEY: “It felt good. As much as I can contribute to the team, that’s my job.” Q: Take us through the touchdown. TONEY: “It was an obvious like reverse pass but when I got the ball, (I) just did what I did best, just find a way into the endzone.” Q: Two games left in the regular season, what’s the message? TONEY: “Really just keep building. We’re on a roll (and) we’ve got a goal at the end of the year. We’re just trying to get there right now.”Defensive Tackle Brandon WilliamsQ: How does it feel to be close to your community again? WILLIAMS: “It feels good man! All my buddies – all my college buddies hitting me up (and) telling me good luck and all that stuff. It feels like home (and) it feels like all my friends are here, like it was at college. Everybody’s rooting for you.” Q: Big defensive performance today. How much confidence does that give you guys going into the playoffs? WILLIAMS: “It’s a big confidence booster. We know what we can do (and) we know what we can do better. It’s some things that we left on the field today but we’re nipping it up and we’re going to get better on Tuesday.”

What The Chiefs Said Following Their 24-10 Win Over The Seahawks

Interviews, transcripts, and press conferences from Week 16 at Arrowhead Stadium.