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HALEY DEFINES THE TOUGH CATCH

August 18th - 7:40 PM

We’ve heard Chiefs head coach Todd Haley talk about wanting his receivers to be able to make the tough catch across the middle . Today the head coach specifically defined what he believes constitutes a tough football catch.

“To me a tough catch is a slant with a linebacker flying out who’s going to hit you in the mouth,” Haley explained. ”(It’s also) an end cut with a safety looking you up and between the hashes.”

BACK-TO-BACK DAYS FOR RICHARDSON

August 18th - 6:34 PM

Second-year T Barry Richardson has spent the first two days of this week working with the first-team offense at right tackle. Richardson opened camp as a reserve left tackle and shifted to right tackle shortly after camp began. He now finds himself in the middle of a camp battle for a starting spot at that position.

“I think that Barry has a chance,” Haley said today. ”He’s a guy that used the offseason program to his benefit. He lost more weight than anybody else in the offseason program. He got himself in condition, he got himself much stronger, which we’re continuing to work on. He should get much stronger here as we go forward.”

Richardson’s progression has been on the upward swing, but it hasn’t come without a few dips. Overall, however, Richardson has earned the chance to compete for a starting spot in Haley’s eyes.

“He’s made progress daily,” Haley went on to say. ”It’s not without some ups-and-downs and its not picture perfect by any means. It’s a work in progres, but i think that he has created some competition there at the right tackle.”

CLOSE WON’T CUT IT FOR VRABEL

August 18th - 5:43 PM

It’s easy to see that veteran LB Mike Vrabel is becoming a leader on the Chiefs defense. He’s respected, he’s a pro and he plays the same way all day, every day. Vrabel shows the championship mark of consistency in his game and he expects those around him to play with that consistency as well.

After a few nice practices and some impressive series put forth by the defense last Saturday, Vrabel was asked if he was happy where the Chiefs defense was at following today’s practice.

“I think that we need to continue to get better,” Vrabel said. “I think we had a good practice (today) and then you see down there coming out on goal line (the offense) bust a long run. You can’t play well for 58 minutes and kind of suck it off for two minutes. It won’t work.”

Vrabel was referring to two nice runs from the offense during competitive team work today. One was the first play of the period on an explosive run up the middle by RB Larry Johnson and the other was a 40-yard run that saw RB Jamaal Charles turn the corner on the perimeter. 

HALEY/FLOWERS HAVE DIFFERING FAVRE MEMORIES

August 18th - 5:26 PM

With the Chiefs/Vikings matchup looming on Friday night, you knew the QB Brett Favre questions would be flowing after practice. Chiefs head coach Todd Haley and CB Brandon Flowers have two very different memories of Favre. Favre gave Flowers a football memory he will never forget, while Haley wishes his Favre memory never occurred.

“He’s one of the great players of all time,” Haley said. “We went up there to the Meadowlands last year and he probably had one of his better games in a long time against us. So I don’t have fond memories of Brett Favre. He’s one of the great quarterbacks of all time.”

For Flowers, Favre was part of a professional highlight.

“Favre was the first pick that I ever got in the league,” It was a play that they beat me on earlier in the game. They tried to throw a little crossing route by the end zone and since I had just seen the play earlier in the game I just jumped the route.”

They’ll both meet Favre again on Friday in Minneapolis.

“I’m looking forward to playing against Favre because going up against a great quarterback lets you know where you’re at,” Flowers finished.

PRACTICE OBSERVATIONS

August 18th - 2:18 PM

Session #20 has begun here in River Falls…only three more practices to complete until we break camp.

2:30 PM - Same four players out of action today - QB Tyler Thigpen, G Tavares Washington, RB Kolby Smith and LB Zach Thomas. 

2:58 PM - Lots of work in the play-action passing game during today’s first team period. The biggest head turner came when QB Matt Cassel sold a naked boot and got loose for a huge chunk of yardage. Cassel has shown the ability to run this camp and, as people may forget due to New England’s passing attack, rushed for 270 yards last season. He’s definitely athletic with his feet. LBs Tamba Hali and Mike Vrabel also logged sacks in the period.

3:09 PM - Do we have a hint for our next set of candidates in the kickoff return battle? Speaking of battle, RB Jackie Battle repped returns today along with RBs Jamaal Charles and Javarris Williams. Each took equal reps with Battle leading things off.

3:16 PM - WR Dwayne Bowe didn’t start with the first-team today, but he’s not getting some reps with the first offense during 11-v-11. Bowe was the most noteworthy name, but a few other receivers got their chance with the first unit as well. Cassel immediately made use of Bowe, hitting him on a nice post.

3:21 PM - Moving on to 7-on-7 work now as team period comes to a hold for the time being. CB Brandon Flowers made a nice INT (probably one of the the only balls Cassel missed on…he was sharp today) and RB Dantrell Savage did some nice work with his feet and drawing cheers on a cutback run.

3:32 PM - Bowe continued to rep first-team during 7-on-7 and made another nice grab, this time getting an “atta boy” from Haley after adjusting his body to shield the defender on a quick slant for a goal line TD.

3:37 PM - LB Monty Beisel has played nearly every backer position this camp. He made a huge hit inside the five-yard line into WR Rodney Wright’s shallow crossing route. Legal hit since it was inside the chuck-zone.

3:47 PM - Situational work had quite the finish when K Ryan Succop knocked through a 52-yard hurry-up FG into the wind. The rookie kicker even got a “low-five” from the head coach.

4:02 PM - A big day from the running backs during the competitive team portion of practice. With the offense backed up against it’s own goal line, Larry Johnson had an explosive run over the middle for 15+ yards and Jamaal Charles busted one around end for 40+ yards.

FAVRE SIGNING CHANGES EVERYTHING ON FRIDAY

August 18th - 1:04 PM

It’s hardly breaking news when five million media outlets have reported the news, but in case you have yet to hear, QB Brett Favre is signing with the Vikings this afternoon.

Let’s cut right to the chase relevant to our football team. Do I expect Favre to play against the Chiefs on Friday? No. Not a chance. And if I am wrong, expect three straight handoffs, a standing ovation and a Vikes cap for the remainder of the evening out of Favre. (I mean come on, the Vikings next game is a Monday Night Football contest vs. the Texans…can you say rare preseason ratings!?!)

But even if Favre doesn’t play, his signing changes everything for the Chiefs on Friday. Out is a half-filled Metrodome and in is an electric, noisy, rowdy, excited sold-out Metrodome. Simply trotting Favre out for warm-ups in a Vikings uniform will change the atmosphere. The Chiefs will be in the midst of a beehive on Friday.

When you think about it though, Favre’s signing is a true blessing for the Chiefs. Kansas City may be the only NFL team that will have prepared for a hostile regular-season road crowd during the preseason. The first-team offense will get a real-time simulation of deafening crowd noise against an adrenaline-fuled defense amped for the 2009 home debut. Oh, and that defense happens to be one of the best in football.

Seriously, though, you can’t simulate these things. Friday night’s opening may be the best regular season prep the Chiefs see this preseason.

AN OVERLOOKED STATISTIC

August 18th - 9:03 AM

Rookie K Ryan Succop has wowed fans in River Falls with some long-range field goal success, most notably a 58-yard monster during the Family Fun Day scrimmage 10 days ago. He also brought his leg to Kansas City for the preseason opener vs. Houston, banging home a 47-yarder through a driving rain storm to put the Arrowhead crowd on its feet.

One can assume his head coach was happy with both of the aforementioned kicks, but what had Coach Haley talking yesterday was a different part of Succop’s game.

“I thought both kickers did well,” Haley said referring to Succop and P Dustin Colquitt. “Ryan to start the game, (it) was a pretty good kick, whether it was three yards or four yards deep (in the end zone).”

Succop’s opening kick reached the end zone, a feat that the Chiefs have struggled with over the past two seasons. Kansas City has been a revolving door for kickers since the start of 2007 and consistency on kickoffs has been a problem.

Kansas City saw only 15 kickoffs reach the end zone over 16 games a year ago (23% end zone percentage). That total ranked 30th in the league a year ago while Caroline paced the NFL with 52 kickoffs reaching the end zone (58.4% end zone percentage). A year prior to that Kansas City didn’t fare much better with only 21 kickoffs reaching the end zone.

Often overlooked, games can be won or lost on kickoffs. Carolina, Arizona and Tennessee finished in the top three in end zone kickoffs and combined for 34 wins last year. Those three teams represented the top win-loss records in each conference and a Super Bowl participant.

The battle for field position is vital in the NFL and it all starts with the kick. Throughout the rest of the preseason (and regular season) don’t just focus on Succop’s scoring opportunities, also watch what he does after he puts points on the board.

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE: RUNNING BACKS

August 18th - 8:13 AM

*Number on the Opening Day 53-man roster in 2008: KC - 6; NE - 5; ARZ - 5

What we’ve learned: RB Larry Johnson appears to have a firm grib on the team’s starting running back position. He received very little action in both the intrasquad scrimmage and preseason opener, leading one to believe that the coaches want to keep him healthy and value extra evaluation time of the Chiefs other seven RBs. Johnson has put forth excellent energy over the first two-plus weeks of camp, being the first in line for most every drill and repping game speed in team drills (most visibly during goal line work).

Questions Remaining: There are a lot. Both Todd Haley and Scott Pioli come from teams that have seen multiple RBs carry the load. The Patriots had four runners log 275 or more yards on the ground last year, while Arizona saw two backs finish the year with 143 and 133 attempts respectively. History would tell us that the Chiefs will see multiple ball carriers take extensive reps this season, but how will the reserve spots shake?

To be a reserve running back (or starting fullback) on this team you’ll need to be able to play special teams in some capacity. RBs Jamaal Charles and Dantrell Savage are both candidates in the return game, while Jackie Battle, Javarris Williams, Jed Collins and Mike Cox have all seen time on either coverage or blocking units. RB Kolby Smith is still undergoing injury rehab on his knee, but has proved to be a viable rusher and teams player over his first two NFL seasons. When will his injury allow him to factor into the equation?

The Chiefs have a multitude of talented backs that each bring something a little different to the table. But how many do you keep?

*Fullbacks are included in total

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