Thursday, October 11, 2001

Q- What do you have to do to beat the Rams?

KC- I think it is fair to say that we are going to have to play better than we have in the past couple of weeks. I think we all know that, so we are working hard and doing all we can to get better and play our best game on Sunday.

 
Q- Re: being the offense going up against the Ram’s offense, which is constantly talked about-

KC- Well you certainly do hear a lot about their offense…we are not too bad either. That is how we feel, and we will go out there and play a good game. I think our defense is certainly up to the task and they are going to do their job. It should be a good game; it’s going to be fun.

 
Q- Are you going to have any 15-play drives this week?

KC- Well I would like to see 15-play drives with touchdowns at the end of them. I think the big thing is taking advantage of opportunities when we get them. We have to put seven points on the board, because they score a lot of points, they score touchdowns. We are going in with the mindset of seven instead of three.

 
Q- Re: The Rams defense-

KC- They are the kind of defense that bends but won’t break. They will play some zone but once you get in the red zone they will start coming after you a little bit. They go after people and have created turnovers by putting pressure on the quarterback, so we plan to see a lot of that.

 
Q- Your offense is comfortable thinking down the field. You have put together many 10, 12-play drives. That should work in your favor because you are not going to be asked to do something different, right?

KC- Yeah, it has been something we have done this year; we have been able to keep drives going at times. I think that we need to do that every week, but maybe a little more this week, just because of the explosiveness of their offense.

 
Q- This is sort of a marquis match-up. Your team is the defending NFC champions and their team is widely considered to be the best team in the NFC. On paper, what do you think?

KC- It should be a good game. We are going to go out there ready to play, it is going to be tough. It is a tough place to play, but we are up for the challenge and are going to go out there and give it our best shot.

 
Q- Re: the Giant’s running back situation-

KC- Tiki, obviously, has been a big part of our offense. Do we have the same speed without him in there? Probably not, but we certainly have guys that are capable. They are going to have to step up and play a good game on Sunday. Damon Washington played a good game last week, so we expect more out of him this weekend. We have to go out there ready to go because we know it is going to be a big test for us.

 
Q- They take advantage of good field position more than any other team. If you give them a short field position, it becomes somewhat of an impossible task.

KC- If I had to pick one offense that you don’t want to give a short field to, I think it is this one. We aren’t going to lose our aggressiveness though; we have to continue to be aggressive. We can’t be conservative, we still have to have that stinger that you like to have at the end of the game. We have to play smart and play hard and we’ll see how we play and see what happens.

 
Q- Do you remember the last time that you threw seventeen times in a row like they did last week?

KC- Did we throw seventeen passes in the game last week, I don’t know. Two weeks ago we threw about eighteen. That pretty much says it all about their offense, what they do, and the way they like to play.

 
Q- What are you impressions on how they have been able to restructure their entire defense?

KC- They have a different coordinator now, and it seems like they are allowing their guys to play-they are letting their guys play with speed and play fast and play hard. They have good players, I think they have upgraded at some positions, especially at cornerback with Aeneas Williams who is a very good player. They seem to take their task to put heat on the offense. They bring pressure in the red zone and in the past couple of weeks they have really hurt offenses who have gone down there. You have to be ready for both-they kind of lull you to sleep with their coverages and all of a sudden comes a big blitz. Their defense has been impressive in the past few weeks so we have to be ready to go.

 
Q- Do you see this game as a barometer for the rest of the season?

KC- Well I know this: if we win the game then the season is not over and if we lose the game the season is not over.

 
Q- When you are on the other sideline against a guy like Kurt Warner, do you feel a competitiveness that makes you think, “I’m going to pass for more yards that this guy today?”

KC- No, I just want to beat him. I’m probably not going to throw for more yards than he throws for, but I would just like to beat him and win the game. That is really the bottom line when it comes down to it. It does not matter how you get it done, whether you throw for four hundred yards or one hundred yards, as long as you get it done.

 
Q- Considering your path to the NFL was so conventional: big-time college football, high draft pick, does it still amaze you when a guy like Kurt Warner, virtually comes out of nowhere?

KC- Obviously he has the ability, and there is something to be said for having time to hone your skills a little bit and get some years under your belt to mature and learn what the game is about. If you watch the way he plays, you see that he learned a lot by playing arena ball. It is a quick game, you can see how he gets the ball off quickly, and those are things that you have to learn in this league. However he had to learn them, he learned them, and you have to give him credit for that. You don’t have any talent and all of a sudden step onto the field and have talent. He always had the potential to be successful; he just took a different course.

 
Q- Coach Fassel said before that he is still a bit nervous because of the situation with the running backs, do you feel a little nervous yourself?

KC- Obviously we would like to be a full strength and at running back we are a little dinged up, but I have confidence in the guys who we will have out there on Sunday. Would you like to be at full strength for every game? Absolutely, but it is not the way it is in this league and you have to adjust accordingly.