Tyrann Mathieu: Monday night was step in right direction

Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu joined 610 Sports Radio’s Fescoe in the Morning on Wednesday morning to discuss his latest charitable efforts in Kansas City and the team’s in-division win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night.

Prior to the game — last Saturday — Mathieu hosted a celebrity waiter night to jumpstart his foundation efforts in Kansas City. And on Thursday, Mathieu will be at True Faith Church helping to make Kansas Citians’ holidays a little better.

“We’re going to be partnering with Harvesters and our community food network,” said Mathieu. “We’ll provide 320 turkeys, Thanksgiving meals, bread, potatoes, whatever they need. I always look forward to events like this because the holidays are always a good time. Right? You think of family, you think of celebrating your family, good times, the year, so I’m grateful that I’m in a position to help these families not worry about what they’re going to eat for the holidays, so very grateful for this opportunity.”

When it came to the game from Monday night, Mathieu described how pleased he was with its results.

“We’ve kind of been up and down defensively,” said Mathieu. “We’ve been doing some things really well and other things not so well, so I thought Monday night, for us, was a step in the right direction given it’s the last stretch of the season. We only have six [weeks] left, and it’s important for to put our best work out there, to really go out there and try to win every snap, every rep, and I was really proud of the guys that did make the play — like Dan Sorensen and Rashad Fenton.”

Both Fenton and Sorensen registered fourth-quarter interceptions, with Sorensen’s end-zone catch clinching the game.

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“Those guys stepping up and really making big-time interceptions,” added Mathieu. “I think Frank Clark probably played his best game, in my opinion. He was so active and disruptive. We kind of fed off of each other Monday night. We were in a different atmosphere, different environment, and I think the people in Mexico, they really treated us well. They were so hospitable and they really showed out and really made it a great environment for us to really show up and try to play our best ball.”

Both Clark and Mathieu joined the Chiefs as free agents this offseason, so for them to play so well in the same game (Mathieu had one pick and almost another) must have felt like quite a breakthrough.

“I think we view ourselves really as the leaders of the defense, so it’s our job to set the tempo, set the pace,” Mathieu said. “We’ve been doing some good things this year, so we’re really trying to go into this last stretch and really put our best work on tape and really try to make our defense shine bright going into the postseason.”

Given the Chiefs’ switched systems this year to the 4-3, Mathieu said he and his teammates knew it would be a challenge. But that was something defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo prepared them for back in training camp.

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“He told us this,” said Mathieu. “He said it’s going to be a challenge this season, and he wants to see who will embrace this challenge. I think, collectively, we’ve been embracing the challenge. It’s new to everyone, so there’s going to be different things that come up here and there that really test us. You really have to fall back on fundamentals and attitude and really how we approach every day, so we’re looking forward to the next stretch of the season, but I think as of right now, I think we’re getting the good grips of what we do well and what we don’t do too well.”

Mathieu could not escape the call without a question about quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and the show wanted to know the “coolest” thing he has seen him do.

“He really just does everything cool, and I’m really not just saying that,” said Mathieu. “The guy really has tremendous swag each and every day, each and every play. Everything matters to him, especially in practice. If he throws a deep ball, he wants to connect on it, so he works on all his no-looks, his across-the-field passes in practice, so it’s always a good thing to see, to sit down and really watch him work because he truly is a hard worker.”

To date, Mathieu has 49 tackles (38 solo), two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, 1.0 sack, two interceptions and seven passes defensed on the season.

Editor’s note: If you are looking to help Mathieu in his charitable efforts, he invited folks to head down to True Faith on Thursday with donations or they can visit TyrannMathieu.org.