Kansas City Chiefs NT Tank Tyler: 'We can't allow them to score'

Tank Tyler talked to Nick Wright yesterday morning on 610 Sports (9-11AM). Tyler was on his way to the facility to break down the film on what exactly went wrong in Sunday morning's 38-24 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

The Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle talked about a "mentality" that the defense has to have.  If the Chiefs offense puts up points, the defense has to step up on the next drive to preserve the momentum.

On Sunday, the Chiefs had a breakdown in that area multiple times.

Tank goes on to talk about missing Brandon Flowers, the Raiders and getting that first victory.  You can listen to the interview at Nick Wright's website.  I've taken a few quotes out and posted them below.

On the defense as a whole:

"One thing that got me upset and pointing a finger at myself first...we played fairly well throughout the first half and we continued to come out and fight drive after drive. 

"The thing that gets to me is when the offense got things going scoring a touchdown and pushes us ahead in the game, our defensive mentality, I feel that it has out of this world for the other team not to score because now the game is dependent on us.  The offense put us in the position to be leading the game and we can't allow them to score.

"We let them do that repeatedly yesterday on a few drives.  That kind of disturbed me."

What went wrong?

"That's why we got Mondays and we're ready to watch the film.  Wer'e going to see what the breakdowns were on defense. 

"Our overall defensive mentality, we have to work on that.  When the oponent gets the ball after our offense scores it's our job not to let them get in the end zone.  And we didn't do that so I kinda got upset at myself and the rest of the defense for not doing that."

How badly did you guys miss Brandon Flowers out there?

"Honestly, Brandon Flowers is one of my favorite players that I like to play with.  He shows a lot of enthusiasm and emotion on the field. 

"I'm playing my own game so I don't really pay attention to what's going on back there but Brandon Flowers is a good player and he'll be a great player the way he works and continues to get better on and off the field.  I'm going to be excited when he comes back."

More on Brandon Flowers wanting to play:

"I talked to ever since he got hurt and he said, 'You know I can play but it's just hurting a little bit.  But I can get out there and play it doesn't even matter to me."  It shows what kind of character he has and what type of player he is. We'll be excited when he can return.

"Until then, the guys we have they show up and it's just hard."

How did Tyson Jackson do?

"It's kinda hard to say because until we look at the film....I very seldom can look to my right and to my left unless someone is making a play I can't really see what's really going on until we look at the film.

"But Tyson's continued to get better.  As a rookie, the preseason is over with.  It's the regular season...full throttle right now. 

"It's tough as a rookie.  There's a different speed and different rmomentum.  It's a little bit to get adjusted to.  We need Tyson to play at his highest level right now because the season is here."

On the Raiders:

"We've got a conference game with the Oakland Raiders this week and we need a W.  We need every starting guy and every backup guy doing his job this week."

On the Ravens game:

"As a team, we knew that we could beat those guys because they were very beatable.  It was a disappointment htat we came off the field a losing team. 

"Coming out of preseason, losing those games, we deeply wanted a win yesterday.  That didn't happen and it was kind of disappointing.  But coach Haley, he motivates us, and gets us to stick together. 

"That's what it's going to take to get through this season and win games.  As a team, we have to stick together.  I think we're going to have a good season pulling together as a team and getting every player and mentality on the same page for the rest of this year."

How important is it to get that first victory?

"It's very important to get that first victory early, especailly with a  lot of these young guys we have.  We need that win, that winning feel to continue to win.  We need that early.  We don't need an 0-2, we have a 0-1 but we can't do anything about it (now)."

"We need that now, especially for the young players and the team as a whole."