KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes spoke from the podium after the Chiefs’ 23-20 overtime win over Indianapolis on Sunday.
To view his full press conference, watch and read below:
On the victory:
“This is exactly what we needed. To win against a really good football team when the game’s not going your way; you could’ve folded in that situation and been kind of for the rest of the season. The guys responded and then found a way to win. Every single unit. Offense, we found a way at the end. Defense stood tall multiple times to give us chances and then Harrison (Butker) and (Matt) Araiza did a great job at flipping the field and making field goals. We needed a win like this and now let’s just try to build off of it.”
On being sluggish to start and how they responded:
“I think guys just – it’s kind of an urgency thing. Obviously, you want to be urgent but it was do-or-die-type thing where you had to make something happen and guys made plays happen throughout the entire team. It wasn’t one person, it was everybody. Everybody made plays in the biggest moments, and we found a way to win.”
patrick mahomes,
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Indianapolis Colts linebacker Germaine Pratt (53) tackles Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) in the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
On what stood out about the last drive:
“The one in overtime, I thought I did a good job of just going through my reads and just being the quarterback that I need to be for that moment, not trying to do too much. And couple of those throws, the one to Xavier (Worthy) was not necessarily my first read but just sitting in the pocket, making the throw. The one to Rashee (Rice), kind of a similar thing where it wasn’t necessarily clean but just gave the guy a chance to make a play happen. And I have to be that guy in order for us to win and I thought I did a better job of that today.”
On Rashee Rice:
“It’s a guy who stepped up and made plays happen. He’s got the mentality of he wants to be great, and he wants to be that guy in that moment and whenever they had a lot of attention on Travis (Kelce), obviously. To have another guy step up and make plays, Rashee in that fourth quarter and in that overtime, and then Xavier as well. You got to have that in order for us to get to where we want to be at.”
rashee ric
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) runs against the Indianapolis Colts in the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
On Worthy battling through injuries:
“He wants to be out there. He’s not in the perfect shape right now as far as the shoulder and then the ankle and the foot and all that different type of stuff, but he’s a competitor. He’s someone that wants to be on the football field and so he’s going to do whatever he can to make plays happen in the biggest moments. And we called his number there at the end and he made the play happen. That just speaks to him, just continuing to battle through his injuries. No one’s the healthiest right now, but at the same time, he’s dealing with a lot and he’s going out there and still playing good football.”
On Kareem Hunt’s performance, including 30 carries:
“Yeah, I didn’t know it was 30, but he’s a warrior, man. He truly is. I’ve known that since the day I met him. I thought it was awesome to see how he just responded over and over again. If a run got stuffed, next run he got 5, 6 yards, battled through tackles, broke tackles and then offensive line took it upon themselves to get that push that we needed. That speaks a ton to the people that we have up front and then him and the way that he’s able to run the football.”
kareem hun
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt (29) runs against the Indianapolis Colts in the first quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
On the commitment to the run opening doors for the pass:
“One-hundred percent. Whenever you’re able to run the football like that, it makes defenses come up and then you can hit some of these deeper throws down the field, like we did at the end there. It’s something that we have to continue to get better at. It’s a short week. We have to learn from this film and move on quickly, but I’m glad that we were able to get a win going into this short week.”
On the fourth-and-3 conversion, the 19-yard pass to Rice in the fourth quarter, the play after Noah Gray’s injury:
“It was a great playcall. I thought it speaks to what I was talking about with Travis; they did whatever they could to take Travis away because he’s that guy in that moment. But it got Rashee open. I actually left the ball a little too high, but he showed his athleticism and went up and got it. Thankfully for us, Noah is doing alright. We were able to keep going and find a way to get the win.”
rashee ric
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) makes a catch against the Indianapolis Colts in overtime at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
On how important Rice is to everything they want to do:
“He’s able to catch the ball and make yards after catch. A lot of these playcalls that he caught weren’t necessarily the first read. We called shots down the field and they wanted to take away shots down the field. And you can hit him at 18-20 yards and all of a sudden that’s 40 yards, that’s 30 yards. And then you can hit him on a shallow cross and he gets a big first down and gets 10-15 yards.
“He does a lot. He can beat you down the field but he can also beat you intermediate and he’s going to continue to get better and better as we continue to get more and more reps this season.”
chris jone
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (95) reacts in the second half against the Indianapolis Colts at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
On the energy following the fumble in the fourth quarter.
“Obviously the energy was not good but I thought it was really cool to not only see our defense stand tall in that moment, that was a huge drive, and for them to stand tall and take it upon themselves to say, ‘We have to get a stop right now.’ And then there was like a feeling that you had at Arrowhead; you can see the fans were behind us. They didn’t hang their heads because it was a fumble. They said that they were going to be with y’all through the end, through this all.
“And I thought that was really cool and you can feel that momentum swing in our favor even after a bad play for us. I’m glad that happened here because I thought that really did change the outcome of the game.”
patrick mahome
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) runs against Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore (95) in the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
On the offense feeding off the defense forcing four three-and-outs to end the game:
“One-hundred percent, and you can feel the energy. I’m telling you, you can feel the energy of the defense, the stadium. And they were not going to lose this game; we’re going to find a way to win. Even though not everything has gone our way to this moment, we’re going to find a way to get a stop here and get y’all the ball, give y’all another chance. And we were able to make it work.
“Even going into the end of the fourth quarter, obviously you want to end with a touchdown. They got a stop, big stop. The defense immediately gets out there and gets a stop for us and gets us another chance to go down the field. It was a true team effort. It was a special moment and I’m glad that we were able to win that game. And now we’re going to have to build on that throughout the rest of the season.”
xavier worth
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) makes a catch against Indianapolis Colts cornerback Charvarius Ward (7) in overtime at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
On knowing they only needed a field goal to win in overtime:
“We were backed up, but I thought we did a great job of getting the ball down the field and guys making big plays. And then just knowing that we have to get into field-goal range and be across midfield and having all the trust in the world in Harrison (Butker) to win the game for us. We got it down there close, and we felt really good. And then obviously send Harrison out there and he did a great job making the field goal.”
On targeting running backs so much in the passing game:
“I thought Coach (Lou) Anarumo did a great job covering some of our deep stuff, especially early in the game. He has a good feel for what we do, and you have to keep pushing; you can’t compound mistakes.
“And the first mistake happened, throwing the ball, I felt like Rashee was open and I got the ball tipped and intercepted and hurt us. But I wasn’t going to let that affect how I was going to play the game, so I was going to take shots when they were there. And if they were going to cover them up, throw it to guys underneath and let them make plays happen. I think throwing it – especially early in the game -- it got their defense to step up, and then we were able to hit some shots down the field later in the game.”
laiatu latu, patrick mahome
Nov 23, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu (97) runs after an interception against Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) in the first quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
On the mindset of the team right now, after a big win:
“We’re still not where we want to be at, but this was big. Getting that win against a really good football team and kind of proving it to ourself that we can play this kind of football game, where it’s not always pretty. I think now we just have to build off that momentum. It’s going to be a short week. We’re playing a good team in the Cowboys, and they can score some points and they have a lot of great players.
“It’s about rebounding fast, trying to be better, even better this next week going into a big environment, big game, and trying to get that win. It’s going to be a lot of fun going to Dallas and getting to play on Thanksgiving.”
kenneth murra
Nov 23, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys linebacker Kenneth Murray, Jr. (59) reacts after retrieving a fumble in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
On why winning a close game was important:
“We’ve been in these games, all five of our losses I feel like. Felt like these games where there was plays here and there that we didn’t make, and we could’ve won all of them and we didn’t. Until you prove it, you can talk about it all day, but until you prove it, it’s not going to happen. We were able to prove that we can win a game like this where it’s not always going great, where multiple guys have to step up.
“And then you can make the big plays in the big moments and I thought our guys did that. Hopefully we can build off that as we go through the rest of the season.”
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