Head Coach Jack Del Rio
OPENING STATEMENT:"It was a good, tough game on the road. I thought we battled throughout the ball game. We let them get away a little bit. We fought our way back in it and had some opportunities but didn't fully take advantage of those opportunities. We came up a little bit short but it was a heck of a ball game. I give them credit -- they found a way today so they get the victory. I liked our effort, I just didn't like the execution. We have some opportunities to get a little better in all three phases and we end up a little short. We have what amounts to a mini bye weekend with the Thursday night effort and then we'll get ourselves ready for the remainder of our schedule and then beyond. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see this team again. Depending how we do and they do over the next three weeks, it'll determine if it's at our place or theirs now that they're a half of a game up on us. With that, I'll take your questions."
What went into the third and one call with not going to Latavius Marray late?"I'm not sure which one you're referring to specifically. We had a plan put together and ran it pretty well throughout the night. I can't speak for that one particular play. I trust our guys. We go make plays and we just didn't make enough tonight. We had some missed opportunities. I thought we had several drops and times where we didn't get the ball where it needed to be. How much does the weather play a factor, how much does not doing it early in the game play a factor? We didn't throw it and catch it the way we needed to tonight. We'll have better days for sure doing that."
Did Derek Carr's finger bother him tonight?"I don't think so. Derek would have to speak on that. He's a great player who's played really, really well for us all year. It was tough conditions for us tonight and some of our dropped opportunities early didn't help us. We created some momentum that went the wrong way. We hung in there, made some plays, had some shots and certainly came out in the second half had some opportunities with forcing turnovers. We kept knocking on the door, we just didn't get enough done there. We had the one lineup for the field goal and the snap was off a little, didn't handle it and didn't get it down. There was also the punt return to Tyreek Hill, who is a dynamic punt returner. There was a questionable ruling on the guy going out of bounds on his own. I disagreed with the view I had. But it was called so we had to re-kick to a really dangerous guy. We didn't want to kick it to the middle of the field. We were trying to get it to the sideline or out of bounds and we just missed that one. He's too dangerous to give him that many opportunities."
On the deep ball to Amari Cooper, did he lose it in the lights?"I can't speak to that. I don't know. It's a play we typically make, but we didn't make it tonight. We'll bounce back and be ready for the next one." * *
Did the field conditions deteriorate in the second half?"Field conditions? I thought the field was in was in pretty playable shape. I thought it was pretty good. I thought both defenses played pretty well in the second half. You have to give them credit there for holding up there with the onslaught. We get a couple of turnovers right there in their territory and weren't able to do enough with it. We end up with three points out of those two turnovers right there knocking on the door. That was obviously an opportunity for us to get all the way back in the ball game, potentially tie it. So anyway we were knocking on the door the whole second half. I think we ended up three points in the second half. We didn't score enough."
Defense obviously played better the second half and you had the chance to get back in?"Yeah I thought we played well throughout the night. We gave up a couple passes that we expected to defend better. Other than that I thought we settled down, we got the turnover, two in a row, settle down, force them to punt, they try to run it on us, I thought our run defense held up pretty well and kept us in it."
On the young players:"We have a good team, we battle hard, we'll get ready for the next one. Certainly I think throughout the year we've gained experience with some of our young players. People can point and say this is the only big game we've had, no they're all big, tell me when it's not big. We've had a lot of big games and they keep getting bigger the more you win. Our ability to stay in the fight is something I'm proud of. Our execution has to be cleaned up."
Because of the weather did you change your game plan at all offensively?"I don't think the weather was a big factor, a little bit cool out there, but honestly the wind wasn't up, it wasn't wet. I really feel like all in all other than it being a little cool, I don't think the weather was a huge factor in the ball game."
How's Kelechi Osemele doing?"Good, he woke up this morning, he was sick enough to – we actually took him to the hospital and he was treated there. I saw him prior to the game and there was no way I could ask him to try and go. I think we got a good handle on it. I think he'll be fine after a couple days rest, but he wasn't able to go today."
Was it a flu type deal?"I'd rather not get into particulars. It was significant enough that we wanted to make sure we got him to the proper care in the hospital."
He'll travel home with you guys?"Yeah."
On seeing Kansas City in the postseason and playing them"Well, we'll see how it goes. I just feel pretty confident that both of our teams will end up in the playoffs. There's still three games to be played. How it ends up, we'll see. Certainly they have a leg up right now. They did enough to win the two games we had with them this year and for now that's all there is to the story. They've earned that, and we'll just look to get back on the right track next week."
Quarterback Derek Carr
How's your finger? Was that a factor at all today? "No it's good. It definitely wasn't the finger's fault."
What happened?"It was definitely a bad night, no way of getting around that. I hate to have the bad night come on this one out of all the games we've had. Obviously we didn't do enough. We all took turns. I feel very responsible for that because of being the leader of the offense and the team. I feel sick to my stomach when we put something like that out there on film. It hurts, I can promise you that. I put too much time into this to go and do something like that."
Did you see anything that you weren't expecting?"No and that's what's frustrating. I knew what they were going to play, I knew what they were playing every snap. I saw their guys. There was even one where [Eric] Berry would have knocked [Michael] Crab[tree] out so I had to throw it away. So I saw what they were doing. That's why it's frustrating for me."
The deep ball to Amari Cooper, did he lose it in the lights or in the wind?"I haven't talked to him yet, but I want to ask the same thing. I don't know. I threw it up to give him a chance to track it and for whatever reason it did not go our way obviously."
How much was the weather a complicating factor for you?"Obviously it was cold, but it wasn't something I was thinking about. I felt ward the whole time, and I thought we had a good plan on the sideline and those kind of things. To be honest, I didn't feel the weather was the reason it was really just because of us not playing well."
Was the ball tougher to grip or anything like that?"The ball felt the same. Maybe if anything it was harder, I don't know, to try and give you something. To me it felt the same."
The Chiefs seem to have your number, how do you try to combat that, maybe moving forward and potentially having to play each other?"There's obviously the potential to play again which is awesome. They've beaten us twice, they've had us, it's frustrating, it's really frustrating for me because you know what to expect and you go out there and you see it and we just, we don't get it done and that's the frustrating part. We know what we're going to get and we didn't get it done so we have to give their player's a lot of credit because they played very well."
Especially frustrating given what you guys have done in the fourth quarter all season?"Yes, that's why it's frustrating."
Did you expect something to kick in?"I always do, I promise. I promise you I'm going to act the same after the win and I'm going to act the same right now. Nothing about me is going to change. I always believe. I always believe we're going to win, I always believe we have a chance. It sucks, it's a tough feeling but it's the NFL, also. Days like that are going to happen. I've seen it happen to the best of players and teams every year. It's like –How did that happen? Kind of one of those things. The great thing about it is that everyone in that locker room was like, 'Hey we got punched in the mouth, now we have to respond.' Everyone locked arms, everyone said, 'Hey, I've got your back,' everyone was telling them I got their back, you could hear it going on. I'm sure you guys heard some of it but there's no doubt that we're going to be alright."
Did they give you any different looks from the first time?"They actually took some of their looks that they did more the first time and probably did it a little more today, I'm not sure on the numbers on that, I can't calculate it all in my head right now. I knew what they were doing. I was telling the receivers pre-snap what they were going to do and things like that. That's every game though, we try to do those things. It's just frustrating. It has nothing to do with the first game we didn't play well enough."
Do you ever feel like you guys are starting to click in the fourth quarter?"Yeah, honestly, I always feel like we're going to be alright. There's never a moment in me where I'm completely devastated or completely down. I always feel like as soon as we get a run or as soon as we get a pass it's like, 'Okay here we go,' and then it would just stop. That was frustrating but I think the best drive we had all game was the first half, at the end of the first half. We marched down there and ran it in at the end. That felt good but not much else after that."
On getting three turnovers and not being able to capitalize on that:"Exactly, everything about tonight was unusual, to be honest. To have our defense step up for us and make plays like that and for us to go out there and not execute, do things that we don't do. That's why it's frustrating and that's why I promise you I'm not worried. We played awful, it was good enough, but I'm not worried because I know the guys in that locker room. I've been with them since training camp, since OTAs and that kind of thing. I'm not worried one bit, it just sucks. We have to take it, we have to take the punch but I'm not worried. I think we're going to bounce back."
Running Back Latavius Murray
You had a lot of success running the ball, but not much on passing the ball. Do you know the reason you didn't have much balance tonight:"I just think we weren't able to make enough plays."
You couldn't spring the big run to get things going? "That too. I just think we're a lot better than we played tonight and it showed. The outcome was the result of that."
You guys have had that tendency to be able to rally back, even if you've fallen down. Did you guys think you were going to rally back? "Most definitely. We were down eight and a score away. We had no doubt in our mind we were going to get back in the game. But again, we didn't make enough plays to go down and do that."
Obviously this game had huge AFC implications. How do you digest this now that you are back tied with them and they [the Chiefs] have the tie breaker? "We just continue working. Like coach said, 'What we want in our goals and what we're after, they're still there for us.' We won't let this determine who we are and what we want to accomplish."
It was a blow before the game losing Kelechi Osemele. How do you think Jon Feliciano and Vadal Alexander stepped up? "I think they did good. The O line has been doing well all season as far as guys filling in and stepping up. I have all the faith in the world in whoever is up front blocking for us."
How tough was the cold and the wind to deal with?"For the most part, I stayed warm on the sideline when I could. I just went in there and played. I don't think it played a factor or was reason we couldn't get anything done."
Cornerback TJ Carrie
You guys hung in there and you were always one score down. Did you have confidence that you guys would come back and win this one. And, is it disappointing to leave here with a loss when you had opportunities to win it? "We definitely had the confidence. We've been in this position before. We know what it takes to get ourselves out of that position. We didn't make enough plays at the end of the game. The chips fell where they fell. We didn't execute to the best of our abilities. We didn't get the win."
Defensive End Jihad Ward
On how the defense played. "We never gave up. We fought hard, but we didn't finish like we should have. We've just got to watch film, learn from our mistakes and get better."
The game had playoff implications. How tough is it to take a loss like this with the Chiefs now having the tie breaker. "I don't think it's over. We've just got to bounce back. I don't have my head down. They can talk bad about us all they want. We're going to keep fighting because that's what we do. All of the stuff outside of football, we're not worried about all of the negativity going on. A loss is a loss. We're going to get back. I know that for a fact. I'm not giving up on my guys. They can talk bad about us all they want. We're going to keep fighting."
Tackle Donald Penn
Did the weather conditions impact your play tonight?"Weather didn't have anything to do with it. That's football weather. Weather didn't have anything to do with it. I've played in the cold. Everybody's played in the cold once. Weather had nothing to do with it."
What do you think bogged down the offense? "I don't know. I really don't. I'm being honest with you. Aren't you surpised? I'm surpised. We've been flowin' all year. I don't know. I'm going to go watch this film on the plane and try to figure it out."
Did you feel the offense would click in the second half? "Definitely. I had no doubt. I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to go down there and score and then go for two and hit it again. I had no doubt in my mind."
On the mindset and the possibility of winning the AFC West: "My mindset is that I'm pissed right now. I'm pissed. We had control and we gave it to somebody else."
Wide Receiver Amari Cooper
What went wrong with the passing game tonight?"I'm not really sure. We just didn't execute how we normally could. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what the other team does defensively. We just have to find a way to execute and move the ball. That's what an offense does. We attack."
What happened on the one play where the ball went deep and it looked like you may have stumbled? "I didn't stumble. The ball as it was coming down moved at the last minute. That's why it looked like I might have stumbled. I was running in the right direction and it kind of moved inside at the last minute and I didn't have time to get it."
Did the cold and wind both play a factor in the passing attack? "I don't think that played a factor at all. At the end of the day, it's football, man. It's not basketball, we can't play in a gym. You have to be able to play in any type of weather."
Did it seem like Derek Carr was a little bit off tonight? "I don't think so. He's pretty accurate to me, we just couldn't execute."
When the defense created two early turnovers, did you think things were going to go your way tonight? "It doesn't matter what I thought then, we lost the game. We're living in the present. It doesn't matter what I thought, we lost."
Where do you think things went wrong after the defense created those turnovers for the offense? "We didn't score, that's it. We didn't score. If we would have scored, the game would have been different."
As explosive as the offense has been playing was it surprising to see a night like this? "Nothing is surprising in this league. Crazier things have happened. We just have to go out there and play good football if we want to win. All teams are good in this league. That's the NFL, it's the highest level."
