The Kansas City Chiefs will be starting Tyler Palko at quarterback on Monday Night Football against the New England Patriots and part of the starting quarterback duties is meeting with the media during the weekly starting quarterback press conference.
That came on Thursday for Palko as he replaced Matt Cassel and talked with KC media (video at KCChiefs.com) about Monday night's game. Palko seemed pretty relaxed in his press conference, despite saying he didn't like some of the media stuff.
Here's a run down of what he had to say yesterday:
On the starting quarterback duties: "I like the starting quarterback stuff and getting reps during practice. This stuff (media) I'm not too comfortable with. It's different. I'd rather play football but this is the stuff that comes with it. Be easy on me, guys."
On being ready to go: "The big thing is mentally preparing and they say mental reps are important and this is where you are really tested if you're paying attention or not. When Matt was in, asking questions, and being involved with him, and I told you before, that's why Matt's been so helpful to me since I've been here."
On when the "wow" factor will hit him on Monday night: "You guys keep reminding me about all this stuff, I try not to think about it. I hope not long. I hope it happens when I get off the bus and before I take the suit and tie off. It's something that's gonna be there and as a starting quarterback and as a professional those guys in the locker room are looking at me to handle this as a professional....I would hope nothing changes and I would hope it doesn't last very long. If it does, we're going to be in trouble. "
On whether the game plan will be limited: "Not really. It's been status quo around here, which is good. The coaches have worked long hours to put a game plan together. We came in, saw it, met on it and went out and executed on it. Like I said, the wheels didn't fall off in practice today and the world didn't end. We had a good practice today. I'm sure you'd have to ask Todd if he put any less plays in but as far as us players we're ready to go."
On his biggest strength: "You have to execute and if you don't execute on offense at the quarterback position then you're not going to have a chance to win. So I guess my greatest strength would be to execute the offense."
On who has reached out to him this week: "Just a couple of guys that I've had a chance to be around, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner. They sent me a text when they heard the news and just wished me good luck. I've been around a lot of good quarterbacks in my journey and learned a lot from all of them so hopefully that'll show up on Monday night."
On friends and family attending the game: "Mom and dad are going, brother and sister are going and a couple of friends. So I think six tickets so I got off easy. It will be fun to have them there, it will be fun to have mom and dad there, it's fun for them."
On high school and college vs. NFL, and not having to study algebra: "I think I'd rather be studying for algebra than studying about facing Bill Belichick because he's a little bit tougher than algebra."