“I thought it was a very good football game. Both teams, I thought, did some very good things. In the second half, it was on us. They put points on the board, we didn’t. When they put ten points on the board, in the second half, that was the football game. We got in position a couple times, offensively, but couldn’t put any points on the board. The last drive is what killed us, because we went backwards and they got some points out of that. Defensively, we didn’t get off the filed on third down. They did a good job making third downs on us.“

On his decision to go for it on fourth down
“I just wanted to do what I thought we could do. It was fourth and five. I felt that if we didn’t score, we could have at least pinned them back and then we would have had the chance to stop them, and make them punt. I just thought that we needed to play aggressive, and we did.“

“I thought that it was our best chance [to score]. I just felt that, if we didn’t make it, the worst case scenario was they would take the ball over at the one. Then, once they got the ball, they started running it a little bit. It took some time off the clock. They threw one pass and made a good pass to [WR] Brandon [Marshall] in order to keep the chains moving. We had a second opportunity, and they converted a third down again. You just have to give them credit.“

On the Cheifs pass rush against Denver Broncos QB Jay Cutler
“I think it was just hard, we played against a good quarterback. A couple of times on the boot pass, I thought we had him. At one point when he went on a long drive, and they made the field goal, we had him almost sacked and he got away. He’s an athletic guy. You have to give him credit, they have a good offense. They moved the ball, they blocked us. That’s trouble when you have a good quarterback, and good receivers.“

On Chiefs QB Tyler Thigpen’s decision to run it on fourth down
“It was not his initial plan; he had an option to make a throw. He just felt that he wanted to run for it, and he did. It was a pass play, but he didn’t see anyone open, so he took off running.“

On the Cheifs struggles playing at INVESCO Field at Mile High
“For one, the Broncos are a good football team; I guess that’s the right thing to say. It’s hard to beat good football teams at home.“

KANSAS CITY PLAYERS

CB MAURICE LEGGETT
On His Interception For A Touchdown
“I saw he (Jay Cutler) was looking inside, but I had help inside, so he threw to the outside and I was already there. He tried to look me off for a second, but it was third down and I had to get rid of the ball.“

On Interception Returns For TDs In Back-to-Back Games
“It’s very unique, and I think it comes from me just doing my job. The main thing is when you play defense is to just do your job and good things will happen“

On Being In Games At The End
“It’s very good for us a team; we’re moving in the right direction. It’s really making us closer and making us believe in each other. Now we just have to move on to next week and focus on San Diego.“

LB DERRICK JOHNSON
On Most Important Thing For A Defense
“Stopping the run is first and foremost. But on passing downs, getting to the quarterback is definitely the most important thing. We didn’t do that today.“

On Lack Of Sack Production
“That’s frustrating, we’re trying so hard and sometimes we get to him but he gets the ball out. That quarterback (Cutler) has really good feet and he made some plays today. The Denver Broncos did a really good job of making plays when they needed to.“

On Team Effort
“You can’t confuse good effort with results, but we’ve been playing our butts off. The Denver Broncos really made some great plays and in a game that comes down to two or three plays, that’s really huge. The game today legitimately came down to two or three plays and they were the ones who made them.“

QB TYLER THIGPEN
On The Late Fourth Down Play (4th-and-goal at Denver 5)
“It was a called pass where we were trying to isolate Tony (Gonzalez) one-on-one. The defensive ends got a good rush and they had Tony covered. I saw an opening in the middle and decided to go for it. I came close, I just didn’t get in.“

On Moral Victories
“It’s not really a moral victory. They are a good team and are probably going to win the division. For me, moral victories are when you’re willing to settle for second or third place, but we were trying to win the game. We know that we were two or three plays away from having the game go the way we want, and that goes for the whole season.“

On Denver Running Out The Clock
“Give their offense credit. They got those two first downs they needed. Our defense played good, they were just out their a little too long.“

DE TAMBA HALI
On Lack Of Sack Production
“It’s frustrating when you get close to the quarterback but you don’t get the sack, and that happened a few times today.“

General
“We were just half a step too slow today. We’re playing our tails off. Whatever our coaches call, we play as hard as we can and try to execuite. At the end of the day, you can point your fingers at me because I’m not getting to the quarterback.“

TE TONY GONZALEZ
On If This Was Some Kind Of Moral Victory
“No, not all. Not for me, anyway. I always play to win the game and I thought we could have won today. I’ve played in this league too long to settle for moral victories. For a young team, yeah, that might be great, but my window is closing. So it’s win or nothing.“

On The Loss
“It always hurts more after a loss. Physically, mentally, and the plane ride home always seems longer. I didn’t think that our season would be this way record-wise, but we are getting better, especially on the offensive side..“

On The Twilight Of His Career
“My situation is … (pauses)… I don’t know. I don’t know where I’ll be next year, but I know that this team is moving in the right direction.  We might be like the Miami Dolphins, where our record isn’t where we want it, but next year, we’re in position to make the playoffs.”