HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES

(On not making any additions to the team before the trade deadline)

"It's a combination [of] the confidence we have in our young guys as well as short-term success for giving up long-term goals as far as giving up something for the future, making it worth our while to bring a guy in for a couple games that won't be here after the year as well."

(On what he meant by the 'wet conditions' when speaking about not going for a two-point conversion in Monday's game)

"Well, it started raining more – it seemed like it picked up a little bit at the end. Even though we did a good job in it, I thought we could get a stop if we were on defense and the momentum we had on offense, I thought that would carry us into overtime and get us some points."

(On who he had conversations with when making decisions during the final drive of Monday's game)

"We have people up in the box that look at that stuff – [Vice President of Football Research] Jackie Davidson as well as [Offensive Quality Control] Coach [Jeff] Kastl – as well as the whole offensive staff over there. We know the percentages of the league and how it goes and how we're playing and what we want to do right there going forward and we decided that we'd go into overtime that game. We felt like we had momentum, we felt like we had a chance to win it in overtime and it just didn't work out."

(On if WR Jalen McMillan or DL Greg Gaines are in play to return this week)

"They're questionable, yes. I have to see what they do this week, but they are feeling a little better."

(On if OLB Markees Watts might start his practice window soon)

"I don't know if I'll expect that yet. I haven't been told to expect that, so I don't think that'll be this week."

(On the status of WR Cody Thompson's injury)

"He has a long-term injury right now. He won't be back any time soon."

(On if he felt like the defense was getting tired at the end of the game)

"No, I thought we were making some good plays on defense. We missed two tackles on the overtime drive that kind of set them up that way. The defense was, for the most part, tackling the yards per catch pretty [well]. Even though they had the ball, it's not like they were getting big plays going down the field. We thought we could hold up and get them to third down. We've got to tackle better obviously and play situational football in that way better."

(On why the Chiefs were able to convert so many third downs)

"Too many third-and-shorts. They had nine of them that were third-and-5 or less, there were five of them on third-and-1, two of them on third-and-2, they had another one on third-and-3 – if not two of them on third-and-3 and one of them on third-and-5, so when you get that short of [distance], with a scrambling quarterback and a talented team like that – we had one stop on third-and-1. We need to do better [in] short yardage but that's too tough of a clip to be stopping guys on third down. Early on, we had them in third-and-longs, we had some success. They were getting a lot of third-and-shorts that made it tough for us to finish converting them from stopping them from getting [first] downs."

(On what needs to happen for the defense to solidify the middle of the field coverage)

"I thought this game was one of our better games in the middle of the field. As he starts to scramble, the ball went to the middle of the field. I thought, initially set up – I know [Travis] Kelce caught one maybe the second play of the game and he might've caught another one somewhere else, but I thought initially we covered the middle of the field pretty well. When he starts to scramble and then gets open, we have to do a better job plastering but for the most part I thought they did a better job from a zone [coverage] standpoint where they were supposed to be."

(On S Christian Izien getting fewer snaps in Monday's game)

"Our nickel is Tykee [Smith] and our safeties are Jordan [Whitehead] and [Antoine] Winfield Jr. He's behind those three guys, so barring anybody getting hurt, if we don't go to dime package, he's probably not getting that much time. Even though he's a good player, we feel like those three are good players as well."

(On if the regular season overtime rule will be a conversation for the competition committee)

"It's something that's been lightly talked about that we'll talk about more as the season goes on and we'll have meetings about that and see where it goes after the season as far as putting it on the competition committee but it's definitely being talked about."

(On LB J.J. Russell's performance on Monday Night)

"I thought he did a good job. I thought he kept K.J. [Britt] fresh, I thought he focused and played downhill a lot better in this game and I thought J.J. – he's a very good zone dropper for us in pass coverage and has some good awareness – I thought he did some good things in the pass game as far as dropping."

(On CB Josh Hayes' performance and if there would be consideration for S Christian Izien to fill in as a cornerback)

"I mean, Josh fought. He battled. He missed some tackles at the end that we have to make and understandably so, we have to make those, but 'Izzy' (Christian Izien) is not a full time corner. We subbed him in because we had to out of emergency and he's gritty enough and tough enough as a football player but that's not his natural position."

(On TE Cade Otton's and WR Sterling Shepard's performance on Monday night)
"Cade has really stepped up and kind of taken over as the lead receiver over there since Mike [Evans] and Chris [Godwin] went down. He really expanded his game which is great to see. He's grown as a player and the more he can do, the more we give him and he's doing an awful lot so we're giving him an awful lot. Sterling is an energizer bunny out there, he's a really tough competitor when he's on the field, he plays with his hair on fire, he plays with a lot of energy, he plays with a lot of confidence and he brings everybody up."

(On the dominant performances of NT Vita Vea and DL Calijah Kancey on Monday night)

"This was probably the best game I've seen Vita play since I've been here. [He] dominated inside, not just in the pass game but in the run game as well from tackle to tackle. Calijah got off the ball as well, tackling [Patrick] Mahomes and getting him out in space was unbelievable. We tried to push the pocket and not let him up too many times so the ends – their job was kind of to get to the depth of the quarterback and kind of stop so we could push the pocket, and they did a good job at that and Vita and Calijah kind of cashed in. I think those two guys being healthy have started to come into their own."

(On what this team needs to do in order to stop the losing streak)
"Just stay together – for the most part, stay together. We had [fewer] mistakes in this game. This one – they beat us, we didn't really beat ourselves, they beat us at the end, and it came down to the end, but we're not going to lose too many of those if we keep playing like this. As long as we're playing this hard and committing [fewer] mistakes, we feel good about our chances week-in and week-out regardless of who we play."

(On the thought process behind calling a timeout on the one yard-line with 33 seconds left in regulation)

"We wanted to bleed the clock and bring it down but we had lost our composure a little bit on that play so we needed to call a timeout so we can get composure, and we didn't go down and get a penalty and get backed up and try to make it tough on ourselves. We definitely didn't want to leave [Patrick] Mahomes with time on the clock, we knew he had three timeouts, but we felt it was necessary that we had to call it to take care of ourselves so we could score, so we could have a chance to defend it."

(On why he didn't have CB Zyon McCollum shadowing Kansas City WR DeAndre Hopkins)

"Well, they had two good receivers, they had [Xavier] Worthy on the other side so if we send Zyon there, they throw it there, if you send Zyon there, they throw it there, so that was the conflict of last night's game. As we go forward, if we can get something like that, we'll make amends to it but we definitely couldn't do it last night."

(On what's working for the defense on the inside giving them the ability to get pressures and sacks)

"I think they're really working together up there and really working on pushing the pocket and understanding each other's strengths when they're in there. We still need the pressure from the outside [line]backers, we have to get much better there, we know that, but inside, right now they're kind of carrying us in the pass rush. Whether it's a pressure or it's a four- or three-man rush, they're getting back there, and they're not getting as wide in their rushes and they're pushing the pocket as opposed to running around getting two yards by the quarterback and we can't retrace so they're doing a good job at that."

(On what the defense can do to double cover when CB Josh Hayes was getting targeted)

"I mean, sometimes you have to play. You can't protect him for – out of 83 plays, you can't protect him every play. Sometimes you're going to just have to play. I mean, they have [Travis] Kelce to deal with, they have running backs to deal with, they have [Patrick] Mahomes scrambling to deal with. Sometimes in tight situations you just have to show up. He played a decent ballgame for the most part but he gave up two plays to [DeAndre] Hopkins where he didn't have help at the time and he has to play [with] technique and he has to play once or twice, he can't just look for help for 80 something plays, we have to step up and play as well."

(On if he expects to have CB Jamel Dean available after the Bye Weel)

"I'm hoping so. I'm hoping so, he's getting better. We'll see how he's running next week and I'll have a better determination on it."

-BUCCANEERS-