Head Coach Joe Judge

Opening Statement: "First off, I give credit to that team. It is a good team. It is coached very well. They obviously played well in situations down the stretch. In terms of our own team, I am proud of a lot of things we put on the field today. There are a lot of ways we want to play the game that showed up on the field today. The ways we practiced carried over. Ultimately it was not enough. We have to eliminate the mistakes we make down the stretch. We can't allow a team like this to have extra opportunities. We can't rob opportunities from ourselves with break downs in focus. We have to make sure we do a better job than that. In terms of players themselves, we will get them in. We will clean up mistakes. We will see what we did well. We will move on to the Raiders as soon as we get that done."

Q: What does the Oshane Ximines penalty do for moral that late in the game?

A: "You just can't have penalties like that. Point blank. Or any penalties we had. That comes down to how we execute on the field and make sure we coach it better so that doesn't happen again. We have to do a better job all the way around. There were some situations that came up throughout the game that we make sure to eliminate to give ourselves a better chance of success."

Q: Was Kadarius Toney limited or on a pitch count this game before his injury?

A: "I would not call it a pitch count, but we were structuring it based on how he did in practice this week. Things we're doing. We built him up as we were going through the games. He had the hand issue and then he was able to come back."

Q: What happened in the first half with your time outs?

A: "The headsets were going out. We are having headset issues. This has happened in every game so far. We deal with the league and they keep telling us there are different software updates or whatever it is, but we had to call two timeouts today because we were trying to send the deals in personnel wise and you got half of the headsets not getting reception. That is the issue right there. We are trying to make the right call. There were other times it was not the right look. I wanted to make sure we settled down, but the other one with the substitution right there, that is a breakdown. We have to make sure the hardware is working. So whatever the issue with that is, the people involved better get it fixed fast."

Q: Was that in the last few minutes of the first half?

A: "There were a couple of scenarios. That was just how things were playing out based on situations. There were two times today where the headsets were an issue. We will do hand signals or whatever we have to do. If we can't rely on the equipment, we will figure something else out. At one point, we tried to go back to the old equipment, and they told us we were not allowed to do it for whatever reason. We didn't have issues with it last year for the most part. Hopefully we will figure that out."

Q: Is it a home and away issue?

A: "I have had it at every single stadium this year home and away. I have had issues personally."

Q: Is that your staff?

A: "I don't want to make this all about headsets. I would say this. Whoever is in charge of it. I don't know the exact answer. I don't know if it comes from the league or us exactly, but they better fix it fast. That is it. We get the communication back that these things are an issue and then we get told they have adjusted this, they have done this, whatever it is. We have tried to adjust and use different hardware. It has not been allowed. We will keep on moving on. Look, I don't want to make this about stupid headsets. That is not what this is about. That was not the fact. We have to do other things on our own to make sure we have success."

Q: Where do all the mistakes come from in the last half of the last quarter?

A: "I don't have a blanket answer for that right there. I will look at each one individually and make sure that we just go ahead and make sure we have the techniques correct and have guys making the right decisions at that moment in time. We can't have those things come up."

Q: How frustrating was it to not take more advantage of the struggling Chiefs defense?

A: "I think there were a lot of things the offense did positive tonight. We strung some drives together. We knew the kind of game plan we wanted to play on our terms tonight. For a large part, we did. For a large part, we came in and said this is the kind of game we have to play tonight, offensively and defensively and the kicking game. We knew what kind of game it was going to be. They are a very talented team, very well coached. We anticipated a lot of the answers they were going to have and we had our kind of change ups ready for what they were going to. There was a lot of situational ball going back and forth. A lot of good coaching adjusts. A lot of good execution adjustments on the field. In terms of how all three phases played, until I see the tape with specific adjustments and changes, there was a lot positive tonight. Obviously, it was not enough in the long run."

Q: Why not use your last time out around 2:35….

A: "Once you get under 2:46, you really don't want to use your last time out because of the way it plays out. I started calling them earlier. We were not able to stop them once they got into field goal range, so I held the last one for a later situation. In terms of how we managed the time right there, getting the ball back with a little over a minute and no timeouts, that is about what you are looking at right there. You can use them before or after. There are different ways of using it. We calculated what the time was going to be, but there are certain periods within the game when you are in that four-minute mode. They were trying to run the clock down and you are trying to stop and get a two-minute drive right there that you want to be safe about when you do it on all. A lot of it ties into if you use that last timeout, can you force them into snapping it and second time after that before the two-minute warning."

Q: Why do you think your team struggles to finish games late?

A: "We are focused on playing all 60 minutes of football and execute every play throughout it and not worry about this one little label right here. We have to do a lot things along the way to put us in a better situation down that stretch right there. We have to finish games better by playing the first 59 minutes and 59 seconds the right way."

Q: On special teams disappointments…

A: "We have also played our special teams a number of times where it has benefitted the team in terms of football as well. You have to go out there and execute. Each situation is unique. It is different. You have to make sure that you have the right focus, the right technique, the right execution in every single one of them. We are going to play to our defense at times, our special teams at times, and our offense at times. I am not going to hesitate to do that. Everybody here gets paid. Every coach gets paid. Every player gets paid. We are here. Everybody has to do their job. When you are called, you have to answer that call right there. Our special teams played very well this year for the most part. They have done a great job. One of our focuses in this game was limit their return game. They came out with zero yards in the return game. This is an explosive return team. Some of the best offensive plays are their punt returns and kickoff returns. Our goal today was through good situational punts plus 50 or to be honest, ugly punts. There is a large element of you go into the game sometimes and you have to tell a guy like Riley (Dixon) that we want ugly punts tonight. Get them off of their mark. Get them off their rhythm and timing. Punt returners and kick returners love getting that ball when their feet are set in the ground. When they time it and hit that thing. They practice it with the blocks and certain spacing and the right timing. It all feels very natural. The way you can affect that is by moving the ball in kickoffs, moving the ball in punts and getting those specialists off their rhythms. Sometimes you go out there and we tell Riley that we are going to win ugly tonight. We understand that sometimes it may not look good on a stat sheet or in a situation it may not look that great, but we are going to have him hit balls that are unconventional and get the other team out of rhythm and put the pressure on them to execute."

Q: Were the two punts that looked ugly from Riley (Dixon) part of the plan?

A: "I can only think of one that was off schedule."

Q: The last punt looked like you guys were trying to set it up to pin them deep, but he knuckled it out of bounds. Was that the plan?

A: "That was more of a situation where we were looking to flip the field position and pin them back there. We've got to execute that better. We've got to coach that better and we've got to execute and play that better."

Q: How bad is Shep (Sterling Shepard)'s injury?

A: "I don't have a final diagnosis on it right now. It looked like he got twisted around by the defender on that penalty. I only saw a brief replay of it out of the corner of my eye so I'm running on second-hand information. I don't have a final diagnosis on where he's at. Obviously, he wasn't able to come back into the game so we'll see where he's at. Hopefully it's not too bad."

Q: Why not go for it there on 4th and 2? Why did you guys decide to kick?

A: "In terms of the 4th and 2, the one we hit the field goal on there, I thought points were at a premium. I thought the defense was playing good right there. If you think about most of the game, it was a short field we gave them that they scored on. They had the one drive they strung together. I was going to play to our defense a lot tonight. I had a lot of confidence in how they were playing as a unit. They were running the ball and part of our thing was if you can make this team run the ball, take away the explosive plays and the shots over your head, that's really how you've got to play this team. You've got to be patient with it. You've got to be committed to the game plan. You've got to tackle them. We've got to do a better job on some of those runs to make sure we don't let them have more leaky runs right there. Overall, I was going to play to our defense tonight. That was the situation right there. You've got to keep accumulating points on a team like this. It's obviously a very well coached team, a very explosive team. You can come in sometimes, shoot yourself in the foot by saying that you've got to score every point, every time it's available. You can fall back on those analytic sheets we've talked about in the past where this is a situation because Vegas says it's the point spread, you've got to go for it. Ultimately, I would say that wasn't really what the factor in the game was. I would say the factor is more situational execution, some things we've got to clean up as a team. In terms of how we played to the kicking game, to the defense, then the offense manufacturing some drives down there, for a large part was how we wanted to play this game. In terms of getting to that point where it was 4th and 2, I've talked through every situation at the beginning of the drive. Where am I thinking of going for it right here? Every time we get a new set of sticks and a first down, I'm always thinking, what does it have to be for me to want to go for it right here? I factor in everything right there. How's our defense playing? How's our offense playing? How are the top players executing right there? How can I go ahead and put the ball more in their court where they've got to go ahead and beat us as opposed to us giving them a short field? It's great when you go for it, right. Obviously, we didn't get the short yardage right there and at another point in the game. When you get to that point, you say we're going to play with our defense. Let's make them go on a longer field. I've got a lot of confidence with the way our defense is playing right now. These guys are doing a really good job. Pat (Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) is calling a really good game right now. We've got to make sure we give our team the option to have success. Some people say it's aggressive to go for it, but I've said this before, sometimes it's aggressive to punt and play aggressive with our defense. We're going to stop you and get the ball back and go finish on a better field position with the offense."

Q: Does this loss change anything before tomorrow's trade deadline?

A: "No."

Q: Do you expect to be active at the deadline?

A: "I'm so focused on the game right now. We'll see if any phone calls came in or anything like that. Right now, I'm just focused on getting these guys back tonight and get them going against the Raiders."

Quarterback Daniel Jones

Q: On that first drive, what happened with that interception?

A: "Yeah, it was just a bad decision there. I should've kicked the ball out to swing there. It was just a bad decision."

Q: What happened at the end of the first half on that drive? Did you think you could throw a Hail Mary there?

A: "Yeah, we were trying to set that up. We've got to be better pre-snap communicating some of those things and making sure we're in a good situation, executing consistently. Yeah, I've got to do better there."

Q: Why do you think you guys lost tonight?

A: "I think it was the mistakes we made, decisions, the turnover was a big deal. I think third down execution and keeping drives going and just being more consistent with that execution. I think we did some good things here and there but ultimately, not enough and not consistent enough."

Q: Why do you think you guys weren't able to get anything going on that final drive?

A: "I think we've just got to keep the ball moving forward. I think the first play, we got something moving forward and got the ball out of bounds and we kind of stalled after that. We've got to get the ball out, get guys running and keep it moving."

Q: What was the swing of emotions there with the pass to Eli (Penny) and then the penalty?

A: "Tough deal there. I didn't really have a great view of it. I think Eli was celebrating and I don't think he meant that at someone in particular. We'll look at it. We've got to be smart."

Q: Does this loss feel like a missed opportunity?

A: "Yeah. I think we did a lot of good things and I thought we had an opportunity to win there at the end and we didn't finish. It certainly feels like a missed opportunity."

Q: Do you feel like you're in this spot a lot? Does it feel like a couple of missed plays here and there to where you're finishing one or two plays away a lot?

A: "Yeah, I think when you're in tight games and you don't win, it's going to come down to one or two plays. That's the way this league works, playing tight games and winning it comes down to one or two plays also. We've got to do that. We've got to execute at critical points in the game."

Q: You got Sterling (Shepard) back and then he was out. You got Kadarius (Toney) back and then he was out. Is this constant juggling of players starting to wear on you in the game?

A: "It's tough to see guys go down. I know how hard Shep (Sterling Shepard) worked to get back. It was tough to see him go down. We've had guys step up and we've got to keep doing that. We've got good guys who can adapt, play different spots, smart football players. We've got to keep doing that. It's part of this game, part of how we have to be going forward."

Q: How crazy is it that everybody keeps going down with injuries? It seems like a lot of these players have missed at least two or three games.

A: "Yeah, it's frustrating, but those guys don't want to miss time. They're working as hard as they possibly can to get back. We've got to trust it and stay at it. It's our job to prepare and prepare well to play with the guys who are up."

Wide Receiver Kadarius Toney

Q: On the play where you threw a pass, how did that develop?

A: "We worked on it all week. He [Daniel Jones] pitched me the ball, and I just made a decision."

Q: What happened to your thumb?

A: "I got stepped on. I came back out there to fight with my teammates."

Q: Is this a frustrating loss?

A: "Yeah, we didn't execute how we were supposed to. It is what it is. That means we got to come back out next weekend and not do what we did this weekend. We just need to follow the game plan."

Q: How tough is it to see your fellow players go down to injury?

A: "It's tough because you want to go to war with your brothers. At the end of the day, if they aren't able to go, you still have to step up."

Q: How tough are these games when you get close, but aren't able to finish?

A: "It's tough whenever you lose. We don't go to practice all week just to lose. It's tough to deal with a loss, but at the end of the day we got to go back and correct our mistakes."

Defensive Back Logan Ryan

Q: What did you see when the flag was out for the offsides prior to the interception?

A: "I didn't realize the play was negated. I was really excited for (CB) Darnay (Holmes), Darnay has been working really hard. We really played that game how we wanted to play for the most part. I think we had some costly penalties at the end that kind of hurt us. But not one play decided that. We still stood up in the red area at the end there, forced them into three (points) and gave our offense an opportunity at the end. Last week against Carolina, they were in that last garbage time in the fourth quarter and Darnay missed a couple of those and we've been telling him, 'Push wider, push wider, 'Nay,' you're going to get one.' And for him to do it the next week and potentially help us win the game, it shows the growth there. Guys took stuff from practice and really applied it and – it wasn't perfect at all, defensively – improvement in the red area, improvement on third down. We held a really explosive offense in check for the most part. We kind of beat ourselves with some of those penalties – if they were penalties. Some of those penalties at the end there were unfortunate."

Q: How can the team show growth with those penalties?

A: "Learn from them. The taunting – we've talked about that. I've talked about that all year, guys have to control their emotions and not do much, I guess. I don't know about 'Tay's' penalty, I didn't see it. I heard it was ticky-tacky – the facemask, I didn't see it, I think he was going for the ball. I don't know how you tell somebody to do it any different . You just have to take it for what it is. Obviously, they're going to give the offense more chances in this day and age and you just have to respond with a stop. We did at the end. We held them to three – obviously you want to hold them to zero, but we held them to three. We didn't win the game."

Q: You probably would have won if LB Oshane Ximines didn't jump offsides at the end. Is that a case of a young guy being too eager?

A: "I don't know. Our offense would have had the ball and potentially would have scored. We would have had to go back out there two minutes later and get a stop again with those guys. Mahomes is good at it, so who knows. He's got a good hard count and he got us. We talked about it and I'm sure Oshane is going to talk about it. It's just unfortunate, we wish he didn't do it, but it's something that you have to learn from. Hopefully he'll learn from it, so it doesn't happen in a game. But that wasn't the end-all, be-all. Like I said, we had a facemask after that and we had some other things that got them down in scoring position, but we got a stop. (DB) Keion (Crossen) coming in, we had a package for Keion Crossen, he comes in and executes and gets a sack. There's a lot of good things that we did, it just wasn't clean enough to have a winning performance."

Cornerback James Bradberry

Q: After similar endings to games recently, does tonight hurt even more when you look back and see if you had done things differently, you would have had a different outcome?

A: "We try not to look into the past too much. But this game definitely hurt. This is the next game we played, and it was a Monday Night Football game, and we really needed this game. It was a good team we played against. It definitely would have boosted our morale going into next week. We're just disappointed that we lost this one. Of course, we made some mistakes, we just have to come in tomorrow, watch the film and correct the mistakes."

Q: What is the morale right now?

A: "We just have to keep fighting; we have to stick together. We know we're kind of in a hole right now, but we just have to keep fighting and stick together and fight out of it."

Q: What did you guys do well to limit their explosive plays?

A: "We just made sure we played with a lot of depth because we knew they get their explosive plays over the top of the defense. That was our main focus, try to limit Tyreek Hill and (Mecole) Hardman on the outside."

Linebacker Oshane Ximines

Q: Will you take us through the play where you jumped offsides?

A: "Looking back that's never a play you want to give up. I've been playing ball for a long time and jumping offsides is never acceptable. I'm just looking to move on from it and taking the next step."

Q: What was going through your head when you saw the flag on the field?

A: "The same thing that goes through my head every time I see a yellow flag on the field. It's not something you want to do or be responsible for. You just got to keep going."

Q: Did the hard count get you in that situation?

A: "I'm not making no excuses or anything, but I thought they had some movement on the offensive side of the ball, but my opinion doesn't matter. It's what the ref sees. I was offsides, I'm accountable for that. It's never acceptable to do that. And it goes against everything we're building as a team. We're a team that doesn't like to make mistakes. That's something we really harp on. I'm looking to make up for that."

Q: Did you apologize to Darnay Holmes? Did you have a conversation with him after the game?

A: "Yeah, of course. I definitely did. I talked to him. It could have been his first pick on the season. That's honestly what pisses me off the most. That's my dog right there. It could have been a good play for him. We got to move on from it."

Q: What was Coach Judge's message to you after this loss?

A: "We just got to keep rolling. We got another game in less than seven days. Another team will be rolling into Met-Life [Stadium]. So we got to get ready for them."