Chiefs - 30, Panthers - 27
Q. Patrick, can you take us through that scramble on the last drive?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, we expected man coverage. They got in top of the matched zone. They covered up our routes. I got out to the left, and at that point in the game, yards are more important than getting out of bounds. So with the three timeouts, I try to just cut through.
I think it was Justin Watson in the video, he got a great block. I think it was him. I was able to get down the field and get out of bounds. Kind of, I fumbled out of bounds. But I got out of bounds, so I got us in field goal range.
Q. Is it in your mind to get extra yards there and not go out of bounds, as you're running, can you kind of take us through how aware you are?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I think it's certain time in games. It's not like I preplan that stuff. Whenever it comes down to it, I've got to make the play. That's why I go out there and make the play. That's why I feel like it happens later in games sometimes and in the playoffs.
You don't want to slide. You have to put your body out there knowing you can take hits and stuff like that. We were able to make some big runs in some big moments.
Q. Could you have made that scramble a couple of weeks ago, considering you were dealing with the ankle?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I don't know. I always say adrenaline will get you through it. It is helping a lot when you can kind of get healthier and get your body back into it.
Credit to the training staff, they stayed on top of me as much as possible. I was finally able to get off that list this last week and kind of get back to my normal routine, and we went out there and made something happen.
Q. What was the mindset of the offense at the outset of the drive?
PATRICK MAHOMES: You want to get as close as possible, give your guy a chance to make a field goal. We call it, we go down at the 2 yard line, 1 yard line, whatever it is. We were just trying to get a completion first, which we did, and I think I still could have thrown it out there a little bit further for Xavier. Other than that, we executed at a high level.
We've got to be better in the entire fourth quarter, not just in those big moments at the end of the game.
Q. What kind of confidence did you have in the rookie to make that kick in that situation?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I had a ton of confidence. I've seen him in practice. Since he's been here, he's been going out there working. I had a ton of confidence. We got him into his sweet spot, and he nailed it right through there.
Q. I know the red zone probably isn't what you wanted, but you scored in 6 of the 8 drives today. Are you pretty pleased with the progress you've made with the offense as a whole?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I thought we did a great job moving the football. Like you said, you've got to execute at a higher efficiency in the red zone, but that defense is a good defense. They've played hard the entire year. They have a great defensive coordinator and a lot of great players that I went up against in other places.
I thought we did a great job of executing the offense, moving the ball. In that second half, fourth quarter, we've got to be better, putting the game away and not giving them chances, but we were able to do it there at the end.
Q. Noah mentioned you gave him the answer before the test on his second touchdown. He knew what coverage was going to come. Take us through recognizing that and going down on that play.
PATRICK MAHOMES: We go through it every week. It's not just me -- me, the quarterback coaches, and the players, we go through certain checks you get to versus certain coverages. I was able to see by the way they lined up they were getting into their cover zero look.
Just alerted the guys to make sure they saw what I saw, made the check at the line of scrimmage. You trust your guy to go up there and make a play. Threw a great ball and just let him go up there and make a play.
Q. (Question regarding Bryce Young).
PATRICK MAHOMES: I thought he played his tail off. He throws a really good football. I think Texas Tech was the first one to offer him when he was in eighth grade, and I was at Texas Tech. I remember watching his highlight tapes then. Knew he was going to be a great player, and obviously went to 'Bama and was the first draft pick.
It's been cool to see him bounce back the last few weeks and play some great football. I know he has it. I've seen it for a long time. He gave us a scare today because he played his tail off.
Q. What was eighth grade Bryce like?
PATRICK MAHOMES: I was hoping to be out of there before he got there. He's been a great player for a long time and won a lot of football games.
Q. What is it with these close wins? Is it a good thing or bad thing? Heading forward, would you like to have a few blowouts?
PATRICK MAHOMES: You always want to have some blowouts. You want to be a little calmer in the fourth quarter.
It can be a good thing as you get to the playoffs and later in the season just knowing you've been in those moments before and knowing how to kind of attack it play by play, not making it too big of a moment.
I was saying this morning I would love to win a game not by the very last play.
Q. I asked a couple guys in the locker room, like you guys have talked so much about the grind of the season. When that phrase kind of gets mentioned, does it remind you of days like today?
PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, for sure. It's all about getting better. That's the best thing about playing in the NFL, it's never like the team that's playing at the beginning of the season the best, it's they're playing the best at the end of the season. It's about constantly getting better. You know it's going to be a grind.
I think we've done a great job of that. Coach Reid does a great job of planning it so that we're playing our best football at the end year.
There's a lot to learn from today. There's good, there's bad. We've got to just go back, learn from that, and know we have a short week against a hungry football team in the Raiders that's coming to our house.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports