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How does the No. 1 overall offense in the league attack the Chiefs defense?**It's a good defense. We have to look at a lot more film because they get after the passer (and are) good in the secondary. This is going to be one of our toughest tasks of the year.
Re: Kansas City having the best red zone defense in the league:I can sit here and talk about them doing everything right because they do. They don't allow guys to throw for a lot of yards. They don't allow people to run for a lot of yards. That's what I said, this is a really tough task for us.
Re: The way Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton have stepped up as the season has progressed:I think we've all grown a little bit more every game in this offense. Young guys have stepped up. Older guys have continued to make plays. We evolve every week and keep trying to get better.
How worried do you have to be about a lot of your teammates not having experience down the stretch regarding the playoffs?It's football. It's been a playoff atmosphere here for a while because we've needed it. We've been in crunch situations for the last couple of weeks now and every game is important, every series and every play. Nothing is going to change when it comes to that. We need to play our best every single week.
Why have you not used the no-huddle offense the last couple of games?(We) haven't really needed it. We've used it at the end of halves and games and things like that but when things are going well why mess with them. It's kind of a nice little thing to keep in our back pocket for when we do need it. But I think that we just haven't had to use it.
Re: Using no-huddle earlier in the season when they didn't need to and have you used it less because you have been playing so well:I think so. Like I said, we've dusted off a couple plays here and there as we've gone through games, but it's a nice thing to have when we need. But we haven't needed it yet.
Can you taste the playoffs a little bit at this point?The last couple of games have been playoff games for us. We've had to take that approach and that mindset because of how important every game was where we were record wise, seed-wise whatever you want to call it. We've kind of had that mentality for the last couple of weeks that it's time to get hot and play our best football. So we're just going to continue to try to do that.
Is it the same as playing a playoff game?You have to take that mindset. You have to take the mindset that every game is a must win or you don't make the real playoffs. We're going to just continue to take that approach.
Re: The way the offensive line has played and staying relatively healthy this season:Well that's kind of always been the biggest key every year is staying healthy and those guys especially. I knew what we had up front, how good they could be, how much they would gel together. They play well. They feed off each other and the key was just staying healthy. Knock on wood, they can keep staying healthy.
Why are you so effective using the pump-fake?It's not always intentional. Sometimes it's just being able to hold on to a ball when you're going to throw it, it gets covered up or something happens at the last minute. Sometimes it's intentional. Sometimes it just is a reactionary type thing.
Re: Using the pump-fake twice on a fake-screen against Atlanta:(Laughing) Yeah. Well Kroy Biermann made a great play. He jumped in front. That's the only option is get it out as fast as you can. He jumped in front of it and I held on to it and did it again. Then finally (I) was able to get around him to A.B. (Antonio Brown). Those are plays that you don't intend to do it. It just happens.
What's the advantage of playing at home the next two weeks?It's all about this game obviously first. It's nice to have it at home (and) to play in the front of our fans. The last time that we were here we lost and that's a bad taste in our mouth. So we want to be better at home for our fans and for all of us.
Re: Being productive in the fourth quarter scoring and being aggressive finishing drives and is that something that has been building over three years with Todd Haley and has manifested itself this year:Yeah. We obviously want to start games fast. That's first quarter. That's starting halves fast in the third quarter. But we also want to be known to be finishers. I think that's when we score points in the second quarter and fourth quarter, that's finishing the half (and) finishing the game. We've been able to when we can stay on the field with five or six minutes or seven minutes to go in the game and run the clock out. That's good for all of us.
Are you familiar with the situation with the Penguins and the mumps?A little bit. I hope none of you have been there because if any of these microphones have been there, and they are this close to me, then we're in trouble (smiles).
Is that something that's concerning when sharing a locker room and facilities with teammates?It's never really been an issue that I've ever had to deal with or heard about dealing with. We know that colds get passed around here because of the kids. Kids go on to school and those things kind of happen. But I've never heard of anything like this before. Hopefully everyone heals up quick.
