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CHIEFS COACH ANDY REID (Opening Statement) “Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) got twisted up. He had the splits. The X-rays were negative, but we will evaluate him as we go. Emmanuel Smith tweaked his hamstring. You know about the guys who didn’t play (Mike) Remmers had the stinger. Darwin Thompson was ill. This was a good football team that we played. We had ups and downs. We had opportunities. There were things where we were off a tick on the offensive side. Defensively, I thought we played good football. Exclude the last drive. I felt like all in all we started the game fast offensively. I thought we beared down on them. It carried through for three quarters and parts of the fourth. I talked (to) them about playing four good quarters of football. Offensively, you have to bear down when you’re playing one of the best defenses in football. Everything’s not going to be pretty. You have to stay with it, trust each other and go. I thought we did some good things on special teams with the exception of the fumble. We try to keep moving forward and keep getting better as we go. The bottom line is that we won the football game against a good football team. Sean (Payton) does a heck of a job.” (On if they needed toughness to win the game) “I think so. I felt like that. We needed resiliency and mental toughness. We had drops. We had guys open down the field and we weren’t quite able to get to them. We had linemen playing in different spots. These are not excuses, but there is a point where you have to bear down. Things are going to happen and you have to go. I think the guys did a heck of a job with it. They didn’t let it bog them down mentally. If they got beat, then they got beat. They got back on the horse, kept going and tried it again. I appreciated the fighting part.” (On the Edwards-Helaire injury) “He got stretched. You probably saw that where he did the split. Both legs were sore. He is going into evaluation right now. He already got the X-rays done and they were negative.” (On how the offensive line played) “We scored points against a good defensive front. You are talking about one of the best defensive fronts if not the best statistically. I thought we ran the ball efficiently especially in the second half. We threw the ball well with the exception of a couple of blitzes that they had. They got us at the end, but we were clean for the most part.” (On having a perfect record on the road) “I’m proud of them for that. It’s different when you are on the road. It’s unfamiliar territory. You still have to crank it up on the road and rally things. There were a couple of people here, but not as much red as black and gold. I thought the guys did a good job.” (On responding to a team when they have just scored) “I don’t know. I can’t tell you that. The way they respond to urgent situations is unique. It doesn’t have to do with me or anybody else. It’s how they go.” (On the close games) “You are not trying to do it. You figured this one would be close. This is a good football team. They are coming off a loss, so you figured you would get their best shot. It’s like most of the teams that we’ve played. They bear down and give us what they got. I’m proud of our guys of being mentally strong and working through everything.” (On the offense handling the physicality) “I thought they were real physical too. I agree with you on that. There back are against the wall. You have two teams that need to win football games right now. I thought our guys did a nice job to run the football like we did and throw the football like we did. We had a couple of more opportunities that let get by us. I thought the guys did a nice job.” (On scoring in the red zone) “Things worked in the simplest form. We were able to capitalize on it. I wish we would have gotten a touchdown on the last one. It worked out the ones before. I think the guys did a nice job with execution. Patrick (Mahomes) made some really nice plays. I thought the offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage very well.”CHIEFS QUARTERBACK PATRICK MAHOMES (On the play of the offensive line) “They battled. They fought the entire game. They got better as the game went on. The guys stepped up into their roles and found a way to get us across the finish line. Obviously, that’s a good defensive line. I thought they did a good job of battling the entire game.” (On the Le’veon Bell addition) “He has been a great addition. You have seen him in spurts. Big plays happen when he is in the football game. We are hoping Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) gets back quickly. We have good guys in that running back room that will step up and embrace that role.” (On his conversation with Drew Brees today) “It is just a bunch of respect. Obviously, I watched Drew growing up. I have the same financial advisor as Drew. I have met him over the years at different things and he’s given me advice. I just show him the ultimate respect. He’s one of the best to ever do it. He is still doing it at a high level. It was a great game. Obviously, we came out with the win, but it was a great game by him as well.” (On the third down conversion to Sammy Watkins earlier in the game) “Sammy was my last read. I got flushed out to the right. I was trying to get the edge and realized I wasn’t going to get there. I stopped and stepped up. Sammy kept working and I was able to get him the ball. You see the offensive linemen continue to work as I am out there scrambling You have to have guys that our going to continue to battle the entire game. It was a great job by them and a great job by Sammy.” (On the touchdown pass to Travis Kelce) “We actually ran it a couple of years ago against Denver in a Monday Night Football game. It takes a lot of practice to get the blocking right that quickly and finding a way to push it in there. The guys gave me a lane to throw. I got it to Kelce and he punched it in there.” (On having trust to win a game) “It’s trust in the entire offense. A lot of times in those four-minute offense you’re getting straight man-to-man coverage. When the linebackers come up to stop the run, then you have to have guys win. Kelce won today and you’ve seen guys win over the last few weeks. We have to be able to run the ball. I thought we did a great job of that all day long especially at the end. We have to execute every time we have an opportunity to throw the ball.” (On being 8-0 on the road) “It’s mentality. It’s all about coming in with the right mentality. You know it is going to be a dogfight wherever you are playing. We do a good job with mindset. We step up on offense, defense and special teams to find a way to win.” (On winning the close games) “I’ve always felt it was a strength. You have to be able to win games in this league. It looks cool and feels awesome to win by 20 or 30 points. Teams that find a way to win on offense, defense and special teams no matter what the score is are the teams that make a run every year.” (On the red zone scoring) “It’s just execution. Being able to run the ball and executing. I thought we did a great job of both of those today. When you play a defense like that, you know there are going to be few opportunities. You have to make sure that you execute when you are down there. I think the guys did a great job executing the game plan. The coaches called great plays and we ran the ball whenever we needed to.”

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Transcript - Kansas City Chiefs postgame quotes | Saints-Chiefs 2020 Week 15

Get postgame reactions from Chiefs coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes