The Kansas City Chiefs got back to work on Tuesday after their heartbreaking preseason loss to the New Orleans Saints over the weekend. They suffered a few injuries during their first workouts of the week and may be heading into their second preseason exhibition a bit shorthanded.
Andy Reid, Richie James, Rashee Rice, and Nick Bolton all spoke to the media after Tuesday’s practice concluded, and gave reporters valuable insight regarding their preparation for Arizona, the 2023 regular season, and their teammates.
Check out all their top quotes below:
Andy Reid's opening statement, injury update
“Alright as far as injuries go, Mike Edwards’ ankle swole up, foot and ankle. It looks good off x-ray and all that, just got stepped on. Nic Jones, I mentioned he had a hand fracture. He’s at a specialist right now, so we’ll see how he does. (Anthony) Witherstone we talked about with the toe. The toe is sprained, right toe. And then today we had a couple receivers go down. Nikko Remigio went down with a shoulder dislocation. (Ihmir) Smith-Marsette went down with a groin (injury). And (Justyn) J Ross knee/hamstring. He’s being checked out now. Anyways had a chance to go back and look at the tape. Some good things, and then there’s plenty of stuff we need to work on. But it was good to get the young guys as many reps as we did, everybody got to play which is good for evaluation purposes. Like I said there was some good and then there was some things we got to clean up. Anyways with that, time’s yours.”
Reid on the Chiefs' first-team's disappointing performance against New Orleans
“Yeah so again there are no excuses, but we don’t game plan for these really but with that you’ve got to keep the tempo rolling. I wanted it better than what we had it. Again, they (the Saints) presented a better tempo than what we did. I expect us to be able to get off the field and continue to drive on the offensive side.”
Andy Reid on failed short-yardage plays against the Saints
“That’s what I said after the game – we’re trying something there with the QB sneak – you really can’t work on in these practices here but you can in the preseason. We tried it, we’ll go back to the drawing board on it. It obviously didn’t work and stalled the drive, but it’s good to get it on tape and to see it.”
Reid on Richie James' growing chemistry with Patrick Mahomes
“He’s been working in with (Patrick) Pat (Mahomes) in the practices. We tried to get some of the young guys some reps we have a pretty good feel for him, he’s a good player. We’ve got good tape in this offense of him. There was a little more emphasis put on four (Rashee Rice) and eight (Justyn Ross) in the game and get some work with him (Patrick Mahomes).
Reid on the performances of Donovan Smith, Jawaan Taylor
“I thought they did a nice job. Our pass protection was good with the (first string) offensive line. They did some good things with the run game. We just had the stall. You can’t do that, got to take care of business with that. Then (Patrick) Pat (Mahomes) didn’t play a whole lot of plays.”
Reid on Deneric Prince's performance vs. Saints
“Right now the legs are tired. He’s getting a lot of reps, he’s kind of battling through himself right now. He’ll pop through it, if he just keeps pushing, he’ll pop through all this and be able to put his pad level down and his eyes up and go. He’s got some more opportunities here. I think he’ll be alright.”
Reid on Nick Bolton's development
“Well I like his leadership. Obviously, he’s got a good feel for what we’re doing. He’s a good football player all the way around. I don’t know what to add to that other than he does a nice job. Really last year I thought he played at an All-pro level and people know who he is now, he’s going to have to step up obviously. He’s always been willing to do that.”
Richie James on the quarterbacks he has played with in the NFL
“I mean they all were great leaders. Obviously, Pat (Patrick Mahomes) has done a good amount more than most of them, but he’s just a great leader, great quarterback. (He) knows how to run the show, and obviously, you know he does his job really well.”
James on his growing chemistry with Patrick Mahomes
“Great, like I said getting the opportunity to work with him. He gives you a lot of advice of where he’s thinking and you know where you should be at when he releases the ball. Like I said, he’s running the show right now.”
James on Patrick Mahomes' advice to him, applying advice in practice and games
“You can tell he’s been in the system for a while, and he knows where the ball is going to go pre-snap. He does a really good job of telling you ‘Hey expect the ball right here at this moment.’ (So) eyes better be up, hands ready.”
Rashee Rice on the pace of his first preseason game
“Yeah, I think practice has – everything we do in practice translates to the game. So, the speed we do out here is the same thing we do in the games.”
Rice on the biggest surprise of his preseason debut
“I would say – not necessarily a surprise – just being able to go against another team. I’m used to being in college and knowing exactly who I’m about to go against, but in the NFL, you can only really just watch film and try to understand the person that you’re going to be able to compete against. There’s a lot of guys I’ve never seen before on the field that I got to be in front of.”
Rice on adjusting to the verbiage of Andy Reid's offense
“Honestly, it’s certain stuff that we say in the long play that only a little bit of the play really stands out to me. So, I just find different ways to listen to certain words to stand out, so I know exactly what I have to do in my assignment. Huddling up has been different. I didn’t huddle one time in college unless it was victory (formation). Its been great. Like I said, I have a lot of people around me that are going to make sure I’m staying up to speed with them. So, as long as I’m doing what I have to do off the field, they’re going to make sure I’m doing what I have to do on the field.”
Nick Bolton on Steve Spagnuolo's message to the Chiefs' defense after the loss to New Orleans
“Energy and just executing play calls. I had a couple blocks there early that led to third downs being completed and drives keep going. After that, they started getting momentum, and it was just trying to stop it. So again, we just have to start from the beginning, more intensity, more focus. We’ll start from there and see what happens.”
Bolton on exchanging jerseys with Tyrann Mathieu after Sunday's game
“Yeah Tyrann (Mathieu) had (number) 32 when I was here and 32 is my sister’s favorite two numbers, three and two. When he (Tyrann Mathieu) was here, I never even questioned about taking his jersey or paying for it or anything to try to get it off him. I feel like he represented it the right way and how my sister cared about sports, passion wise, he carried that out in a great manner. So, when I had an opportunity to grab the number and represent it the right way, I was excited for it. Having a guy like that (Tyrann Mathieu) – I watched him a lot in football, grew up an SEC football lover, LSU, Alabama fan growing up. So, all that coming together, you got a lot of respect for him. It was great to have that opportunity and the note he left on the back of it (the jersey) was special. I know this stuff is a little bit bigger than football, so it’s special for me for sure.”
Bolton on Danny Shelton's performance against New Orleans
“Yeah for sure. Danny’s (Shelton) been growing since he got here. He’s one of those guys that came in, he’s played a lot of football as an older guy, so he’s seen a lot of things. He’s seen a lot of different football schemes and how stuff works. Bringing him in on the D-line as another vet (veteran) helps a lot. He’s a bigger guy so he knows he’ll require (a) double teams and that helps us linebackers out as well. So, we’re excited for what Danny brings to the table. He just keeps building and getting better and better every single day, and we can see where it takes us.”
Bolton on his impression of Chiefs' young linebackers
“Yeah, those guys came in and they picked up where we didn’t in terms of energy, intensity. Those guys were juiced up, they were excited. I liked how they tackled, I like the physicality they play with, and they’re going to keep growing. Jack’s (Cochrane) one of those guys that intellectually wise, he’s up there, smart guy, gets guys aligned and he can play football as well. I’m excited for these young guys. We’re going to keep growing, keep getting a little better and make it hard for all eight of us to not make it to that 53 (man roster). That’s the goal.”
