Afternoon Practice Update 7/29

From River Falls Wisconsin

It was a glorious summer afternoon here in the northwoods as the Chiefs went through practice No. 9.  They were in shells (that’s shoulder pads and no football pants for those who haven’t been following along.)

And score one for the offense!  Chan Gailey’s unit had their best practice of the training camp to date.  One can almost see the light bulbs going off over the heads of some of the offensive players as they go from day-to-day.  The basic Gailey offense is not very extensive and that’s all the team is working with right now.  So they should get better at execution each practice because they’ve run these plays before.

That was visible on Tuesday afternoon. There were 44 plays of teamwork, not counting the two-minute drill, and the Chiefs offense had a positive result 20 times.  That’s a significantly better percentage than what they’ve had in previous practices. Larry Johnson and Jackie Battle had a couple of nice, tough, grind them out runs, the kind that will  be staple of this offense.  Jamaal Charles also had a big-play run at left tackle.

Brodie Croyle and Tyler Thigpen took all the snaps at quarterback and both did a good job throwing the ball.  Thigpen really believes in his arm and he tends to throw balls to spots that may not be what the coaches want.  When he hits, it’s a big, big play.  When he misses, it has the potential to go for six the other way. Croyle hit Devard Darling with a TD pass as both units worked on their scoring zone (inside the 20) schemes.

It was interesting watching the defense.  First, the team was short on defensive ends as Tamba Hali, Trevor Johnson and Brian Johnston were all out of practice.  None of the injuries is serious.  Hali suffered a cut on his forehead from his helmet on the first day of practice and despite the stiches, it has been reopened every practice.  So he’s being held out to allow that to heal.  Johnson took a blow to the head yesterday and was a bit out of it today and Johnston had a sore shoulder.  Turk McBride was back after missing yesterday’s work with a tummy ache.

Also, Pat Thomas was running with the first team at middle linebacker.  Napoleon Harris ran with the second team.  In the action, Demorrio Williams kept showing up and making plays.  Jarrad Page was back in action after dinging his knee yesterday, but he dropped an interception.

Chiefs finished the practice with another two-minute drill session.  The situation: offense had the ball at the defense’s 48-yard line, down by four, with one timeout left and 48 seconds on the clock.  Handling the first team, Croyle was able to get two first downs, but was sacked on the last play.  With the No. 2 offense against the No. 2 defense, Thigpen took it in for a TD, set up by his 23-yard scramble up the middle of the field.  He eventually threw a TD pass to TE Brad Cottam.  WR Bobby Sippio almost blew that chance when he caught a pass at the 7-yard line, and instead of running out of bounds to stop the clock, he turned into the field, costing his team at least 10 seconds on the clock.  Not a smart move by Sippio.

Two more practices coming on Wednesday in the Falls.