Training Camp Practice #17 Report

From St. Joseph, Missouri

Outside the sun was beating down on the grass practice fields at Missouri Western State University. The empty grass practice fields on this Wednesday afternoon.

Coach Todd Haley took his team inside to work in the second of the day’s two practices. There were multiple reasons why.

“It gives us a chance to beat the heat, but the No. 1 reason is we are playing in a dome and on (artificial) turf,” Haley said. “We have a chance to practice in the atmosphere we will see Friday night in Atlanta.”

So the two-hour practice went down with a lot of work done preparing both the offense and defense for the Falcons. There’s no game plan in place for this game with the Chiefs, but the coaches wanted them to be familiar with some of the plays like are likely to see.

They also practiced another part of every game: half-time. That’s right, they practiced half-time. About 90 minutes into practice, Haley blew the whistle and the players left the indoor field and went back to their locker room. They spent approximately 10 minutes there, and then came back out for the rest of practice.

And the first thing the Chiefs did when they started the “second half” was work on their kickoff return.

All of this came at the suggestion of assistant head coach Maurice Carthon.

“It’s an area of the game where we really struggled last year,” Haley said. “We’ve got this nice setup here so we’ll see how it goes.”

Here are some afternoon practice observations:

– It’s apparent from watching practices that QB Matt Cassel is becoming more and more comfortable throwing the ball to TE Leonard Pope. He’s a big target at 6-8 and does not have the best of hands, but Cassel is finding him more frequently with passes.

– In both of Wednesday’s practices, the defense continues to use a nickel package that has OLB Mike Vrabel moving to inside linebacker, with his spot on the edge filled by OLB Andy Studebaker. This isn’t new for Vrabel – he played that position at New England in ’08.

– On kick returns, they have three pair of returners they will use against Atlanta on Friday. First up will be the duo of Javier Arenas and Terrance Copper. Next will be Dexter McCluster and Kestahn Moore and the third duo is Jamaal Charles and Javarris Williams.

– The defense was ball-hawking in the practice, as CB Travis Daniels picked off a throw by QB Brodie Croyle and CB Mike Richardson snagged a pass by QB Tyler Palko.

– When CB Travis Daniels intercepted a pass and started running down the field on a return, he ran into a very different kind of tackler. Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis backed his motorized scooter directly into Daniels’ path to slow him down.

– Coaches will meet Wednesday night to make their personnel plans for Atlanta on Friday. Starters are likely to play the first quarter, maybe the first series of the second period. The second team will likely carry the game into the fourth quarter with everybody else in the fourth.