Chiefs-Vikings Practice 7/31

From River Falls, Wisconsin

What a disappointment! It wasn’t so much that Jared Allen didn’t show up Thursday night for the Chiefs-Vikings practice.  That would have caused a world of problems and headaches,  which is probably why the Vikes left him at home.

The sad part was Branden Albert did not get the chance to get some practice time against an All-Pro defensive end.  That would have been a great indicator of his development and progress after a week of camp.  Likely it would have been only 10 snaps or less, but everyone around the Chiefs was looking forward to the battle.  Instead, Albert got Brian Robinson and then he picked up a sprained ankle.  Albert ended up missing about half the practice with the injury.  The Chiefs have to hope this ankle thing is not something chronic; remember he sprained an ankle during the off-season practices and ended up missing the last two weeks of work.

This session was not a scrimmage; it was just two teams practicing against each other.  Minnesota left most of its older and better players at home with Allen.  Almost all the defensive starters were not there and several key offensive line players.  RB Adrian Peterson made the trip, but he did only the individual drills.  QB Tarvaris Jackson was there and showed why there’s continued talk of the Vikings getting Brett Favre.

The Chiefs used some of their veteran guys sparingly and they were still without DEs Tamba Hali (forehead), Brian Johnston (shoulder) and Trevor Johnson (head trauma).  Guys like TE Tony Gonzalez, CB Pat Surtain and RT Damion McIntosh did not take all the snaps available to them.

We spent our time Thursday night watching the Chiefs offense against the Vikings defense.  Based on what we saw Thursday night on Ramer Field at UW-River Falls, they’ve got a lot of work to do.  Their performance was not much different than it’s been against the Chiefs defense.  All the pieces are not clicking.  When they do, there are some big plays in that offense.  Right now, they are few and far between.

Here’s just a free flow of observations:

-The kickers each had three kicks and Nick Novak was 3-for-3, while Connor Barth was 2-for-3.

-RB Kolby Smith pulled a groin in warmups and LB Donnie Edwards tweaked his hamstring.

-The Chiefs quarterbacks are working hard on using their snap counts as a weapon, and they got the Vikings defensive line to jump several times.  C Rudy Niswanger does a good job of snapping the ball so the defensive player can’t get back into his stance and gets caught offsides.

-RB Larry Johnson ran hard and tough.  He still gets asked about his foot injury from last year, but that has to stop.  He’s running with the same power and speed he displayed before the injury.

-RB Jamaal Charles keeps falling down.  Herm Edwards says he’s too anxious and trying to hard to make his cuts, but he does it during practices and then he did it again against the Vikings.  QB Tyler Thigpen had the same problem, falling down twice after taking the snap.

-Thigpen did have the best pass of the day, late in the practice when he connected with WR Devard Darling on what would have been a 20-yard or more gain.

-Tempers were under control all night, with only one little pushing match late in the work.  Considering recent Chiefs-Vikings practices, this was a church social.

-Former Chiefs CB Benny Sapp got an interception of Damon Huard on what was a short throw.

-None of the Chiefs quarterbacks threw the ball well.  Overall, the pass protection was OK.  It’s always hard to tell in these sessions because pass rushers are instructed to keep their hands off the passer, so determining whether they would have gotten a sack is hard to do.  Brodie Croyle did look good throwing in the scoring zone, hitting Johnson on a screenleft and WR Will Franklin.  Thigpen threw an interception on a first-and-10 play at the Minnesota 11-yard line.  It may have been a faulty pass route by TE Brad Cottam.

-DT Glenn Dorsey shut down one running play about four yards behind the center.