Opening Statement:]
“As far as the injuries go, (Chiefs QB) Patrick (Mahomes), his right ankle is hurt. It’s not broken, but it’s sore. He’ll get
started on the rehab part of it and then we’ll just have to see how he does down the road here. (Chiefs DB) Chamarri
Conner has a concussion. He’s a tough kid. He took a wallop and he gave a wallop and took it to the inside of the
head there, but he’s doing well now, which is the most important thing. He should be good. I thought our defense just
played tremendous football today throughout. It was a great job – all the takeaways and turnovers that we had. I
thought it was spectacular. (Chiefs DC) Steve Spagnuolo had a great gameplan for these guys and we were able to
do that against the run and the pass game. My hat goes off to our guys for that. The ve sacks – (Chiefs Defensive
Line Coach) Joe (Cullen) really stresses to rush the passer and the quality of that and you saw that today. It was
good to get (Chiefs DE) Charles (Omenihu) in there and going. And he got going today, which will help us down the
road going forward there, but I thought the whole defensive line played a really good game. Offensively, we battled
and we did a good job in the rst half. I’ve got to take care of business on my end for the third quarter and just giving
our guys things that they can work with. I wasn’t able to do that. So I’ve got to take care of that part. But I thought
(Chiefs G) Joe (Thuney) – I asked him to play left tackle and he hasn’t done that since college – got out there and
really did a nice job against one of the best defensive ends in the game right now. Then (Chiefs C Mike) Caliendo,
what a great experience that is for him to get out there and see a full game. That’s going to help him down the road
and us down the road, so I appreciate it. As far as any changes or any of that, we’ll just see going forward how
things go on the offensive line. Then number 30 (Chiefs CB Chris Roland-Wallace) had a forced fumble on special
teams which was tremendous, so everyone kind of got a piece of the pie on offense and scored a couple different
times. The defense did some great things, and special teams did some great things. We just have to keep going and
keep getting better as we go here. That’s the important thing. The most important thing is that you win the game, so
I’m not apologizing to anybody for that.”
Are the early indications that Patrick Mahomes will be okay?
“It’s not broken. That’s what I can tell you. We’ll just see how it goes. We are going to go day-to-day as we go for it. I
don’t know how much swelling he has or any of that, so we don’t know what will come.”
How much of your decision to take him out was a game decision versus him not being able to go back in?
“He probably could have gone back in. He wanted to ght about it. We got good support there behind him to put
(Chiefs QB) Carson (Wentz) in to get a few reps, and have our guys hear that snap count in case he has to go.”
In the past when you’ve pulled Mahomes out for injury reasons, he has resisted. What was his reaction today?
“He wanted to go back in. He’s a tough kid, but there was no need for that.”
Only four penalties today. You have been in the top half of the league in penalties for about ve straight years at
least. What’s your philosophy on keeping the penalties down?
“Trying to work your fundamentals. But that’s something I don’t really have control over with the ocials. They do a
good job and the best they can. It’s tough. We’re all seeing stuff and they have to make the call out there, but we
were fortunate.”
A lot of coaches will say they talk about fundamentals all the time, but how do you actually prevent them from
happening and what can you control?
“You try to work the fundamentals. We can talk about it all we want, but you have to work.”
When you say taking care of business in the third quarter, what are you referring to?
“I can give the guys better options there. We’ll get that taken care of.”
What was the decision to put Joe Thuney into left tackle?
“The injury to (Chiefs LT) D.J. (Humphries). Then Joe had taken a couple snaps there last week and it just felt
comfortable. A veteran player. I scouted him as a tackle so I knew he could get out there and battle. He’s been an
all-pro at two other positions, so gave him a chance at the tackle spot.”
What went into the decision to not have Chiefs K Harrison Butker kick a eld goal or punt it from the 39 on fourth
down?
“I thought we had a good play. It was one of those games, so I wanted to do it and it looked pretty good in that
situation.”
You were pretty pass heavy in the third quarter and Patrick Mahomes has taken a lot of hits this year and in this
game. What is the balance of trying to get that going versus protecting the quarterback?
“You have to be able to throw the ball in this league and that’s how it works. Some of our runs didn’t work well either,
so we have to make sure we clean that up and get that going. That’s where I can do a better job for them.”
Did you have a dialogue with Patrick Mahomes after the game?
“I did. I talked to him.”
Is there anything in particular you can share?
“It was a good talk.”