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MCGRAW EARNS A CHANCE
October 21st – 6:04 PM

Chiefs S Jarrad Page made 37 consecutive starts for Kansas City before missing last weekend’s game in Washington with a shoulder injury. In his absence, Jon McGraw filled the role at free safety for the Chiefs.

After earning very high marks and recording his first career sack, McGraw earned reps with the first team at practice today.

”He was in there today and we’ll see again,” Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said. “We’re going to stay with the philosophy of staying with the guys that give us the best chance to win.  We’ll see how practice looked today and talk a little bit tonight and evaluate.”

GOFF’S ABSENCE NOT INJURY RELATED
October 21st – 5:56 PM

Chiefs G Mike Goff missed practice on Wednesday, leading some to question if his team-leading 112-game active starting streak was in jeopardy of coming to an end. Officially, Goff’s injury was not injury related. That’s good news for an offensive line already dealing with key injuries.

The Chiefs official injury report lists G Brian Waters (ankle) and T Branden Albert (ankle) as limited and S Jarrad Page (shoulder) as a full participant.

To the west, San Diego had three players not participate in practice: LB Kevin Burnett (ankle), DE Travis Johnson (groin) and LB Jyles Tucker (ill). G Louis Vasquez (knee) was limited.

Overall, the Chargers have dealt with a handful of injuries on each side of the football this season. Chargers head coach Norv Turner pointed to those injuries as a partial reason for San Diego’s 2-3 start to the season

”We came out in the Oakland game and we had five starters get injured in the Oakland game – two for the season, our All-Pro nose man and our All-Pro center – so I knew that we had some work to do to get where we wanted to be,” Turner said. “We lost close games against Baltimore and against Denver and that’s what this league is about, those close games. Our issue is taking care of ourselves. Obviously we’re playing more young guys because of the injury thing, so getting our guys playing at a high level, and I thought a lot of guys had their best game of the year so far. You want to make progress and along the way you want to win some games.”

WILL ALBERT PLAY ON SUNDAY?
October 21st – 5:45 PM

Another day of practice went by today without left tackle Branden Albert as a full participant. Albert played a limited role today and has been out since suffering an ankle injury vs. Dallas on October 11th. Utility offensive lineman Wade Smith continued to work at left tackle, while Ikechuku Ndukwe and Barry Richardson provided depth behind.

”He’s night and day from what he was,” Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said today. “We’ll have to evaluate today to see how he made it through. But again, I’m hopeful the progress he’s made from when the injury happened until now.“

Wednesday was certainly a step in the right direction for Albert considering he didn’t participate in any of the Chiefs three practices a week ago. As Haley has stated, Albert continues to progress, but he also didn’t even make the trip to Washington last week. Albert’s potential to play this weekend is certainly cloudy and his practice status tomorrow could tell us a lot about the potential of seeing him back in action on Sunday vs. San Diego.

TAMBA KEEPS STREAK ALIVE; SPROLES COMES HOME
October 21st – 5:18 PM

Every opponent we’ve talked to this season has pointed out LB Tamba Hali as a key player to stop when going up against the Chiefs defense. I’m not exaggerating. Literally, every single Chiefs opponent has spoken of Hali unprompted. Today, Hali advanced his hit streak to seven via RB Darren Sproles.

“Yeah, number 91,” Sproles said when asked who stood out for the Chiefs defensively. “and the nose tackle (Ron Edwards).“

Sproles is a man of few words, but a player of very big plays. His 77-yard punt return on Monday Night Football vs. Denver is just one example of Sproles’ big-play ability. The local product has been that way since playing pee-wee football out at Heritage Park in Olathe, Kansas, through his record-breaking high school career at Olathe North and as a collegiate star at Kansas State. He’ll bring his explosive show back home to Arrowhead this weekend for the fourth time of his professional career.

Sproles expects to have 15-20 friends and/or family in attendance at Arrowhead on Sunday and he also expects to take a trip to feed his craving for Gates BBQ. The plan is to knock out a full slab of ribs on Friday upon arrival in Kansas City. It’s a tradition for Sproles on each return visit to KC.

”I come in on Friday,” Sproles said. “Usually I have a lot of time. That’s the time that I go back home and see my dad and stuff like that. It’s always fun. You get to play in front of your friends and family. If we get a win out of it it’ll be even better.“

Overall, Sproles has never logged a rushing attempt inside Arrowhead as a profession. That statistic will likely change as Sproles is a much bigger part of the Chargers offensive plans ever since his breakout postseason performances that brought a franchise tag a year ago. Kansas City has always had to worry about Sproles as a return man, but they’ll need to count for him offensively on this trip as well.

“He’s unbelievable,” Chargers head coach Norv Turner said of Sproles. “He obviously handled everything for the second and third game of the season and he did a good job running out of the backfield and catching out of the backfield. He had a 80-yard or 79-yard catch against Baltimore and that was obviously a big play. He’s such a hard worker and he’s such a good person, and he is one of our strongest players on our team. People think of him in terms of being small, it’s really just that he’s not the tallest guy. He’s obviously very compact, and is a very physical player.”

JOIN US ON THE RED ZONE TODAY
October 21st – 2:25 PM

Be sure to join us on the Red Zone at 3:00 PM CST right here on kcchiefs.com. RB Larry Johnson will join us in studio and Chairman Clark Hunt is due to stop by during the hour as well.

Can’t catch it live? Don’t worry. A podcast will be available later on kcchiefs.com as well.

KOLBY SMITH RETURNS TO PRACTICE
October 21st – 12:40 PM

There were two new faces at practice today in DTs Kenny Smith (#90) and Marlon Favorite (#93), but the biggest arrival at practice is a Chief entering his third NFL season. RB Kolby Smith practiced today for the first time since injuring his knee nearly a year ago vs. Tampa Bay.

Smith had previously been on the reserve PUP list and the team now has three weeks, starting today, to monitor Smith’s progress in practice. Kansas City can activate Smith at any time over the next three weeks, but three weeks from today is the deadline to make a decision to either activate Smith or place him on injured reserve and effectively end his season.

Once again, T Branden Albert missed practice with his ankle injury, while S Jarrad Page (shoulder) returned to work. G Mike Goff was also missed practice today, although he was not in the rehab area where most injured players reside.

Other notes from practice include the return of the gray face masks as the Chiefs prepare to transform into the 1962 Dallas Texans once again for an AFL Legacy Game at Arrowhead on Sunday.
 

FORMER LSU TIGER JOINS PRACTICE SQUAD
October 21st – 9:43 AM

Both the Chiefs active roster and practice squad have become complete for the time being. DL Marlon Favorite, a former teammate of fellow Chiefs defensive linemen Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson has joined the practice squad. Favorite entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Carolina in 2009. He was released by the Panthers following training camp.

Favorite is expected to join the club for practice this morning.

CHIEFS ROUND OUT ACTIVE ROSTER
October 21st – 9:20 AM

The Chiefs entered Wednesday morning with an open roster slot on the 53-man roster and an open practice squad position as well. The vacancy on the active roster was created when DT Tank Tyler was traded to Carolina for a 2010 draft pick on Monday night, while the practice squad space became open when T Barry Richardson was promoted to the active roster last Saturday afternoon.

This morning, the Chiefs signed DT Kenny Smith to the club’s active roster. Smith was most recently in training camp with the New England Patriots and has also spent time on rosters in both Oakland (2005) and New Orleans (2001-04). He has appeared in 30 NFL contests (10 starts), all with New Orleans. He originally entered the NFL as a third-round pick of the Saints in 2001 out of Alabama.

Smith fills an immediate need for the Chiefs as Ron Edwards was the only player on the roster listed as a nose tackle after Tyler was dealt. Smith is expected to join the team on the practice field later this morning.

PHASE II
October 21st – 5:57 AM

It’s time for Scott Pioli and Todd Haley to activate “Phase II” of their blueprint for organizational turnaround. “Phase I” is to change the culture inside an organization beaten down by inconsistent and undisciplined play that had resulted in just six wins over two seasons up until last Sunday’s 14-6 win at Washington.

The long-term goal to build a smart, disciplined and physical football team is one that still remains, and will continue to remain with Kansas City’s front office throughout the tenure of this franchise’s new leadership. Even when the tables are reversed and the Chiefs are sitting at 5-1 instead of 1-5, don’t expect many changes to the basic strategies involved with constructing and improving the Chiefs roster.

“When a player becomes available that we think can upgrade our roster, we are going to try to take advantage of that,” Pioli said during the Ask The GM segment last week on kcchiefs.com. “It’s not so much a total statement of where we are as a team right now, as much as it is just a process that has to continue.

“Even going back to our time in New England, when we were having 14-2 seasons, that process was still going on,” Pioli continued. “Anytime that you think you are set, and you can’t improve your football team in your mind in some aspect, I think that you are setting yourself up for failure.”

So it’s safe to say that “Phase I” is an on-going process regardless of the state of the franchise, and it will continue to be implemented for many years to come. But what about “Phase II” of the developmental process? How this team handles coming off a win is just as much a major part of the turnaround process. In order to win consistently, a team needs to learn how to prepare leading up to, and following a victory.

“I think it’s a big test for us, the next step in the development of this team,” Haley said. “Some teams, I think, that’s a problem and not for others. I think it’s very important that we focus on the task at hand and having another good week of practice and building on this performance.”

Last week the Chiefs passed a test. They were playing in what we were dubbing a “2 for 1” game. Essentially, coming off of a heartbreaking loss against a nationally-hyped Cowboys team, the Chiefs couldn’t let one loss become two. It was time to move on to the next week. Now, after securing the franchise’s first victory in nearly a year, it’s also time to simply move on to the next week.

“This is my first time to see them respond to victory,” Haley said. “I told them after the game to enjoy it on the way home. Normally, the last couple of road trips coming home its quiet and kind of like a morgue on that plane which I think it should be after a loss. There shouldn’t be a lot of happy faces. But I said everybody on the plane could sense a different atmosphere which is good. It’s hard to win and everybody needs to enjoy it when you do win at least for a period of time.”

Haley meant what he said…literally. The team did enjoy the plane ride back from Washington, but it was back to work again on Monday morning. There was no “Victory Monday” as seen during past seasons (an extra off-day following a victory); instead it was weights, wind sprints and game film.

“We came in (on Monday) and you love that as a coach because you can really coach hard,” Haley explained. “Guys are a little less sensitive to the video tape and when there are things that you can correct it’s a little easier for them to stomach or swallow. We pushed them pretty hard in the meeting rooms going over the tape to try to get better.”

Granted, it took much longer than anyone involved with the Chiefs would have liked, but the team officially enters “Phase II” on the practice field later this morning.

“I think it’s another step in our development,” Haley said. “It’s our first time after a victory. I wish we had tested this out four weeks ago, but it is what it is and we’ve got to get ready for San Diego. At least we’re doing so with a little positive reinforcement.”

We’ll keep an eye on how they respond over the course of the week, but the true test lies on Sunday at Arrowhead.