Conference Call: Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid

Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid

Conference Call, November 15, 2017

Q: Can you talk about what you’ve seen from Evan Engram?

A: Yeah, good football player, very good. He’s got a good relationship with Eli (Manning) too right there, so they have a nice connection going. So he’s a good player.

Q: How important is this game for you?

A: They’re all important, so you ask me that any week, I’m probably going to give you the same answer, so it’s important, yeah.

Q: Are there any secrets to preparing a team coming off of a bye?

A: I don’t know my record or any of that, but I haven’t really studied all of it and the why’s. I just try to give the guys a little breather, you know and get them away from it a bit.

Q: Do you have any theories without even studying it as to what has made it work over the years?

A: Good players. That’s normally how it works, so good players, good situations, good players. I don’t know. Listen, I haven’t studied it, guys. I haven’t really looked at that.

Q: What is it about Travis Kelce that makes him special?

A: He’s got a good feel for the game. He’s got physical skill and he’s got a good feel. He loves playing.

Q: When you face a team that has been struggling the past couple of weeks, do you tell your players don’t worry about them, just focus on us?

A: Listen, I tell the guys that every week. You got to focus on getting better as a team. We got a lot of room to improve. We’re not good enough right now, so we got to keep working so that’s where it always starts. That’s the one great thing about football, you always have something you can get better at.

Q: What have you seen when you looked at the Giants defense the past couple of weeks?

A: They play hard and I have a lot of respect for their defensive coordinator (Steve Spagnuolo). I think he does a great job and they’ve got good players.

Q: How much do you stay in touch with Spags?

A: I stay in touch with him, yeah.

Q: How much do you expect from Tamba Hali after getting a little bit of a break after he returned against Dallas?

A: Yeah, we’ll see. I’m going to sit him down today and we have to be real careful with his knees, they swell up, so we just manage those. So that’s what we’re doing today and we’re just going to see where it goes from there.

Q: From what he showed in his first game, do you think you’re going to be able to get something out of him down the stretch of the season?

A: Sure, yeah. Possibly, yeah. He had some good snaps for us.

Q: Do you have to caution your team not to take the Giants too lightly?

A: No. That’s not what I do. I focus in on what we do and try to get better at what we do and study the opponent. We respect everybody and that’s what we do. This is the National Football League, so anything on any given Sunday can happen. So we got to get us right first, that’s what we have to do. We have no room to look at anybody else.

Q: What has been the secret behind the resurgence of Alex Smith?

A: Nobody works harder than Alex. He’s a very, very intelligent guy. So if you’re coaching him, you’re pulling for him. If you’re playing with him, you’re pulling for him to do well. He’s taken a bunch of young kids and worked with them. I think they trust him and he trusts them, so that would be the number one thing, I think. And you have one up there that is the same way. He’s highly intelligent and he works hard, so you guys know what I’m talking about, but he’s a very, very smart guy.

Q: How has Patrick Mahomes done in his rookie season learning from Alex Smith?

A: He’s done a great job with it. He’s competitive, he stays on top of things, everybody can see that he’s a talented kid and he wants to be good. He’s very fortunate, I think, to be in a situation where he can see how Alex goes about doing the job. That’s priceless. He’s competitive, though. Does he want to play? Absolutely. He would love to play, but he also respects Alex.

Q: How do you develop a quarterback like that even though you know for now he’s not going to get playing time?

A: Yeah, they’re mainly getting the scout team reps, but they can work before and after and get specific things done. Training camp was important, the offseason program was important. So the time that he had here before was important. But right now, most of the time dealing with the offense goes obviously to Alex and him getting prepared to play. But we spend quite a bit of time with him, making sure he’s on top of everything.