Indianapolis Colts Media Conference

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Patrick Mahomes

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Colts 20, Chiefs 17

Q. Patrick, a simple case of a lot of self-inflicted wounds in this case, if you will, and that just led to the loss. How frustrating was it to just keep shooting yourself in the foot as Justin Reid was just saying?

PATRICK MAHOMES: We didn't play good enough on the offensive side of the ball, starting with me. Obviously, we missed some kicks and stuff like that, but at the end of the day we had multiple opportunities to score.

We have to find ways to get the ball in the end zone, and that starts with me. You can't just get yards. We have to be able to get in the end zone when we're down there.

Q. The offensive line, I know there was a little struggle there. How did you assess what was going on between the offensive line? I know they have a good defensive front, but how do you assess that matchup that was going on?

PATRICK MAHOMES: They have a lot of money in that defensive front. They have a lot of great players. Obviously, I have to go back and watch the film battle by battle, and it's my job to get the ball out of my hand, and I felt like I was holding it a little too long in certain situations.

I've got to be better in that instance, and I think I got better as the game went on, but two slow starts in a row, we have to get better in the first half.

Q. Before halftime there was a little discussion between you and Bieniemy. What took place there?

PATRICK MAHOMES: I mean, at the end of the day I wanted to go try to score. I mean, that's just who I am.

We were in a tough situation. I believe it was second or third and 20, something like that. Probably the smart decision was to just take -- we got the ball at the half and just go to halftime, but I'm always going to be wanting to score.

I pretty much just said, let me have a chance at it, and then he was just, like, let's get back in the locker room and we'll get something going for the next half. I guess, I don't know if that's an altercation, but that was the end of the conversation.

Q. Was that specifically just the run call, or did you want to try a Hail Mary at the end there?

PATRICK MAHOMES: It was the run because I tried to go deep the first two times, and obviously, they were in a deep coverage, and I was just -- all I said was I'm not going to turn it over. I'll get it out and try to get it to the sideline and get us a chance to kick a field goal, but it's a tough situation.

Me, on I'm on the field, I'm playing. I want to always try to go score. That's who I am. That's their job is to make sure they manage the game the right way, and we had multiple chances to win after that. We just have to be better the first half.

Q. You talked about a lot of times just need to be better. What needs to be better offensively?

PATRICK MAHOMES: We have to gel altogether. It starts with me. There were certain throws that I was putting on guy's back hips instead of in front of them. There were certain situations where we were just barely off. If it was a D-lineman that got around my feet, and I missed Justin Watson or if it was a throw at the end of the game where I could have put it in front of JuJu and it gets tipped up for a pick, it's little things like that.

Whenever you are playing a tough game like that, you have to execute at a higher level, and we have to learn from it. Our schedule gets no easier.

We have a hard game Sunday Night Football in Tampa next week against a great defense. We have to get better quickly. If we don't, well, we don't want these Ls to start piling up. We want to make sure we get back on the winning train.

Q. It seemed like the deep ball hasn't been there as much as it was in your past. What are you seeing from defenses? Are they playing you any differently?

PATRICK MAHOMES: They're playing deep. Their goal is to make us drive the field and make us execute. I had one in the first drive. I missed Marquez. I've got to hit that, especially in games like that. If I hit that throw, it's probably a whole different ball game.

Other than that, they played back the entire game. They let us drive the field and stopped us in the Red Zone. I'm sure that was their game plan going in, and they executed it well.

Q. Are these expected growing pains with the new group, or does it stretch beyond that?

PATRICK MAHOMES: I don't expect any growing pains. You obviously have new players, and you don't know how everybody is going to respond in tough situations. You know we can learn from it, but for me I'm always going out there with the expectation that we're going to win.

Q. Patrick, special teams earlier had a few mistakes. You being on the offensive side of the ball, how much does that carry over to the rest of you guys?

PATRICK MAHOMES: You can't let it carry over. You have to kind of respond. Even though we had the early mistakes and stuff like that, I mean, we trust those guys in those positions. That's why we keep going back to them.

For us as an offense, we have to make it where those little mistakes don't cause a loss. We had multiple chances to get in the end zone. If we get in the end zone one time and don't stall out in the red zone that second half, the game is over.

When a defense plays like this, the defense plays like they did today and they've played this whole season, we have to win these football games.

Q. Sky is young. Were you able to talk to him after the game?

PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I talked to him. He is talented. He made one mistake. At the end of the day, he made one mistake that ended up causing a touchdown, but I think he'll make a lot of plays in that Chiefs uniform that will be positive for us. So, we'll keep going back to him and keep giving him chances to make plays.

Q. In the second half when you guys kicked the field goal on fourth and goal from the 2, was there a conversation there? Were you trying to go for that?

PATRICK MAHOMES: I try most times. They did a good job of stopping us a couple of times there at the goal line. I had the one where it slipped out of my hand trying to get it to Kelce real fast. In certain situations, you have to take the points when a game is going like this, and I think you see that sometimes.

The defense plays like they're playing right now, I have full trust the offense is going to figure it out. That's the positive I see in this game is defense is playing really good football; and the offense, we have to learn to get better as the season goes on so we can win a lot of football games.

Q. Did you feel the momentum shifting from the time you look at the fake field goal that you all tried earlier and then coming out at half? The first on the fourth down before going fourth on the goal line. Do you all feel the sense of the game shifting at any time during that point?

PATRICK MAHOMES: I didn't. The way our defense was playing, you are just relying on them and trying to find ways to put points on the board.

They've done a great job the first few weeks, and they did a great job today. They have fine players too, and we gave them too many chances and we didn't put it in the end zone, and they made more plays at the end of the day.

I didn't feel momentum swing until after they scored the last touchdown. I mean, we have to be better. That's all I can say. As an offense, we have to be better.

Q. How do you assess what this team is? Week 1 come out dominant or the team that's still struggling to figure out who you are?

PATRICK MAHOMES: I don't know if you can assess how the team is yet. I just want to find ways to win, at the end of the day.

We, obviously, aren't playing the way we wanted to the last two weeks o

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
125154-1-1878 2022-09-25 22:13:00 GMT

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