Chiefs Player Postgame Comments - Vikings

Sep 23, 2007, 5:01:04 PM

DE JARED ALLEN
On playing for the first time in two weeks: “I felt real good. I felt fresh out there. I was going up against some big guys out there. My strength held up. My conditioning held up. I got tested on a 12-play drive, I was burning. I felt good out there. It’s so awesome to get back out there and play with my teammates and be a part of a victory.”

On consciously trying to force fumbles: “On the first one, (RB Adrian Peterson) went inside and I went inside to make the tackle. He cut back out so I spun out and ending up hitting him. That was not a conscious one. But the second one, when came inside he had the ball out so I was able to rip it out. It was fortunate that it was two plays in a row.”

On the attitude of the defense: “We’re having fun. We just said ‘Hey, we gotta get some scores ourselves.’ We had a sense of urgency. There were a couple of drives where they were running the ball pretty steadily down our throats. Everybody pulled together. We were like, ‘C’mon, we’re killing ourselves again.’ It was a conscious effort to pull together and play as a team and get back off the field.”

On what today’s win means: “It means a lot. We got a win underneath our belts. It’s been a long time since we got a win going back to last year. I think it’s a confidence booster, especially coming from behind. The offense put some good drives together towards the end of the game. They can carry that confidence forward. The defense went on the field two times and held onto a victory. There’s been times when it’s been a little sketchy having the defense to try and seal up the game. We went out there with confidence and got off the field every time.”

DE TAMBA HALI
What changed during the game so that the Chiefs defense dominated the line of scrimmage at the end of the game? “We just had to adjust to their running back (Adrian Peterson). He’s a real good runner and Gunther (Cunningham) was up there calling the plays and we had to fill our gaps real well. We knew what they were going to run, draw screens and go deep sometimes. We adjusted to it.”

On having Jared Allen back: “It meant everything. He plays the run, he plays the pass. He’s all over the field. I love being around him when he’s out on the field. It meant a lot to our defensive line.”

WR DWYANE BOWE
On his touchdown: “Damon made a good throw and the offensive line protected well. They brought me in to catch the ball and that’s what I did. I went up at the highest point and made the touchdown. It’s all technique, we’ve got great coaches that teach us and I just went up and made the catch.”

On playing at Arrowhead: “It was amazing. I love the fans. It’s a feeling that you only get one time and I got it today. I’m ready for it again.”

On the next game versus San Diego: “We’re going to get our corrections and go on the road and we’ve just got to make it happen. We have to go out there and play like we played today, but without the penalties, and come out with a win.”

G BRIAN WATERS
On the Chiefs 10 penalties: “We’ve had two games on the road and you happen to have more offsides and things like that on the road. I think if you look at our penalties overall during the season, you’ll see we’re prone to have more penalties on the road just because of the crowd noise and things like that. Ultimately it comes back to guys having better discipline and doing the things they need to do to prepare for the crowd noise and the other type of penalties. We’ve had some offensive pass interference calls, things that are not normally called. Again, it goes back to the discipline part of really taking care of your business.”

Was today’s game a must win? “No game is easy at this level. Honestly, we needed a win. More than anything having to do with the rest of the season, we just needed a win because we worked really hard. We’ve put in a lot of time and a lot of hours and we like to see this thing come out with a ‘W’ on the other end of it. I think that the longer you stay in this losing mindset, the quicker it is for people to jump ship. We have to understand that our plan is a good plan and we just need to see a ‘W’ come from it. Is it a must win? We needed nine wins to get in last year. We won nine of the last 14 games and we really didn’t do as well down the stretch as we thought we should have. Is it a must win, no. But in the big scheme of things, every game is a must win.”

On the Vikings defensive line: “These guys are a totally different group than we played last week. They’re more physical and they’re definitely there to stop the run. They just happened to be blessed with a defensive tackle like Kevin (Williams) who can pass rush.”

TE TONY GONZALEZ
On his attitude: “Anytime the ball is up in the air, I try to go get it no matter what. I’ll put my body on the line; I’ll get blown up like I did today. That’s fine with me. For us to go out and make plays is important to get this rhythm down. Once we get that good rhythm down and start to develop that chemistry and we can go out there and say ‘This is what works; this combination of running and passing works.’ It makes it easy for the coach to call the plays and it makes it easy to throw the balls down[field] and then it makes it easy for Larry (Johnson) to run the ball.”

On the difference in the second half: “We just weren’t hooking up. It’s my fault, [along with] the quarterback, the offensive line and the receivers. We’re all accountable to each other. Because it didn’t take too much, it wasn’t like a big adjustment going into the second half. They’re the same plays we’ve been practicing all week. We were just able to execute in the second half.”