How did it feel to win at home?
It felt great. That's something we've needed for a long time. This is something we talked about all last week. Best way to celebrate Christmas, get a win and a victory Monday and stuff like that. And so, it's a testament to this team. Just all year, the record obviously hasn't been what we want it to be, but we've been talking about we're going to finish strong, no matter what. We're going to play hard no matter what. Hats off to the guys. No matter what the circumstance, always play hard.
You guys have been preaching all year, about playing complementary football. Did it feel like that today, with the way the offense, defense, all three phases were today?
Yeah, even in special teams, pinning them back in crucial situations. Punt team put them back inside their ten, a couple of times. Offense controlling the clock and controlling the ball. Defense getting off when it was time to get off. It was a full team game.
You mentioned, you said, that during the bye, good things are coming to this team. And now you win two out of your last three.
Yeah. If you look at the team since the bye, yeah, we've had some losses since the bye, but as a team, we've trended upwards, like you said. The offense started to make plays, control the ball more, big conversions on third down. We're headed in the right direction. We've been, since the bye, we've been headed up.
A lot of new faces on both sides, all three phases today. Guys really stepped up today.
Yeah, a lot of guys stepped up. I just think and can speak on the defense. We've had a lot of new guys in the building this week in the backend positions, and everyone's been dialed into the game plan, communicating, so it's been big.
Was it one of those, 'Hey, great play. I don't know your name, but great play?'
No, no. I always make sure when guys come in, they make sure I know their name. So, I don't just call them by number and stuff. It does get a lot when you got new guys back there. But a great opportunity for a lot of guys to get their first NFL snaps or whatever it is. So, I'm just happy for everybody.
How important was it to get a win in this building before the season ended?
Very, very important to get a home win. That's something we've been talking about for a long time. And something we've been talking about as a team is we want to finish out the season strong, and finish out 3-0. It starts with getting the first win. You want to build upon this, and game plan for next week.
The defense got challenged last week. San Francisco had a hot start. I think KC was only one-for-nine on third down today.
Yeah, coming off of last week, we always look at the things we need to improve on. And obviously, coming from last week, there was nothing special to what teams are doing. It's just, if we play disciplined, and do our jobs, and be in the correct leverage, or whatever it is, everyone just does their job, we can be damn good across the board.
