OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, what a great game for the National Football League (and) for the Kansas
City Chiefs. To have the Lamar Hunt Trophy back in our hands here in Kansas City is a real treat to be a
part of that. Appreciate all that (Chiefs Chairman and CEO) Clark (Hunt) and his family have done for us to
allow us to have the players we have and the equipment and everything that goes with that. Then this
beautiful stadium with our fans, it’s incredible what a great experience. But we’re not done. So, we’re not
done – we have another game against a real good Philadelphia Eagles team, and we’ve got a lot of
preparation to go before we have a chance to play them. I’d like to take my hat off here to the Buffalo
Bills and the great job that (Bills Head Coach) Sean’s (McDermott) doing with that group and his coaches
and players. Every time we play them it’s one to store away in the history books, they’re great,
phenomenal games and it’s great for the fans, it’s great for the league. I’d also like to put a shoutout to
the coaches – our coaches for the job they did, the coordinators for putting together these gameplans,
literally a game of inches today and we were lucky to be on that side of it – where we had the most inches.
So, that was a positive thing and then for (Chiefs President) Mark Donovan and the great work he does as
our president and (Chiefs General Manager) Brett Veach for giving us these players so we can go play at
the level that we play at. Anyways, with that, time’s yours.”
Q: Do you think that all these close games over the past few years prepared you for this game?
REID: “Yeah, listen Vahe (Gregorian) I mean this came right down to an inch, literally – that’s what the
stop was. So, it was back and forth, it was going to be back and forth, whoever had the ball last was
probably going to come out on – in the lead and (with) the win. I’m proud of our guys battling like they
battled. I mean Pat Mahomes was phenomenal, Travis Kelce – they’re leadership, Chris Jones, I could just
go through all of these guys, I mean they didn’t waiver at all and that’s how they’ve been. You know that
from training camp. They have this personality where they know how to bear down, they know when to
have fun, but they also know when to bear down.”
Q: On going for it on fourth-and-one inside their own territory.
REID: “I just want to give you something to write about Vahe (Gregorian) (laughter). Listen, again, that’s
a trust thing, you have to have trust in your guys. We called a timeout so we could kind of calm the minds
and take what we thought was our best play against them there. Between that one and that last one at
the end that (Samaje) Perine had, we had some time to kind of digest those.”
Q: On Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo interviewing for head coaching jobs.
REID: “You know I have the utmost respect for him, and I know he’d be a great head coach. I don’t want
to lose him selfishly, but I know what kind of coach he is and I know the situation that he was in with the
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills
Sunday, January 26, 2025
AFC Championship Game
Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
Rams and all that. You give him another opportunity, and he’ll do a great job there. I can’t determine that,
and you don’t have time to worry too much about that with all this going on.”
Q: The team seems to be very motivated by the chance to go for a three-peat. Now that you’re in the
moment are you now motivated by it?
REID: “I think motivation is the wrong word or I’m going to just change that for you. I would tell you we’re
motivated like crazy to win the game. I mean that’s what you’re motived to do. You get caught up in all
that other stuff, all the hype that goes with it and then you forget about third-and-one and detail on that
- either side of the ball so you’ve got to keep everything in perspective and really when it comes down to
it – all the confetti – all that’s great, I mean it’s great (and there’s) nothing like doing it with your home
fans – but it’s going to come down to a football game and the team that prepares and makes the least
amount of mistakes will come out the victor so, you make sure that you keep your head right and bear
down and do the right things.”
Q: On Nick Bolton and what he has meant over the past few years.
REID: “Yeah, (Nick) Bolton. He’s unbelievable. He’s a great, great kid, great player. Pride of Missouri, MU
baby. He’s been fun to be around and coach.”
Q: Nine teams have gone back-to-back Super Bowls, why has it taken so long for a team to get to a third?
REID: “You think of all the ups and downs and arounds that you went through during the season, the
injuries, all those things that have to just happen the right way with – the margin to win or lose in this
league is so small – the parity is unbelievable and that’s the way the commissioner and the owners wanted
that so that every city had a chance and so it’s just some of these games are gut wrenching and I’ve got a
lot of gut to wrench, so (laughter) it’s one of those things. You really have to hit it right, and it’s got to
come out right.”
Q: On guys like Kareem Hunt and DeAndre Hopkins getting to a Super Bowl.
REID: “Yeah, aw, so happy for, DJ’s (DJ Humphries) another one. I was so happy for those guys, the smile
on their faces, their compete throughout the time that they were here has been incredible. I mean literally
took Kareem (Hunt) off the couch after having a couple surgeries and here he comes out and does a great
job for us here.”