Alex Smith has said that the Kansas City Chiefs have "momentum" heading into the off-season.

The AFC West side, who finished the 2012 campaign with a 2-14 record, clinched a wildcard place in this season's playoffs with 11 victories.

The quarterback, who joined the team from the San Francisco 49ers in an off-season trade last year, told the Kansas City Star: "I'm very excited, if you look at our last eight or nine games offensively, we really did some good things and took off a little bit there, and we got some momentum heading into the off-season.

"Obviously the playoff game was tough to take, but there are some positive things, too. It was our first year in the offense. We didn't turn the ball over, we were opportunistic in the red zone, but yes we didn't really have the entire playbook at hand, and that's to be expected in the first year with a lot of new faces.

"So as the year went on and we got more comfortable and coach Reid got more comfortable with us and his staff, he started to trust us with more and we showed that we could handle it. By the end, I was feeling really good about things."

The Chiefs scored 35 points or more in five of their final seven games, including their playoff defeat to the Indianapolis Colts.