Highlights

TODD HALEY: “Afternoon everyone. Got back to work today. As I said on Thursday, I thought the guys deserved a little break and a chance to recharge. I feel we’ve worked as hard as anybody and in pads as much as anybody. So, I think it was much needed time. They appeared fresh today. I felt we had a very good practice.” c Q: Is Kolby Smith going to play Sunday?

HALEY: “I think we have until Friday. You can’t do it Saturday. He made it through the first two weeks pretty well and looked like he was moving around pretty good today so I’m optimistic about having an opportunity to see him play.”

Q: What do you imagine your running game is going to look like now?

HALEY: “Our running game is something we know we have to have to have a chance to win. I don’t think we’re going to beat people just throwing it 50 or 60 times a game right now. So, our running game is one of those areas that has to improve specifically eliminating minus yardage runs. That’s what our focus has been and what it will continue to be. Jacksonville has a very good front seven – very good – and they’re very good against the run. Some big guys inside that can really play and disrupt and I think they’re linebacker group is a solid group across the board. This is a pretty good defense and we’ll have our work cut out for us running the football.”

Q: Do you have to change anything running game-wise?

HALEY: “We’re always going to play to our players’ strengths. But yet we still have a system and a base group of runs – bread and butter, so to speak. We just got to do a better job across the board at blocking and running the football.”

Q: What about your offensive line injury-wise?

HALEY: “It seems to me we’re getting back to full strength. From now on in here I’m not going to talk a lot about injuries, if at all. I think the rest was good for everybody.”

Q: How much of a gauge can you get on Kolby without seeing him in a game?

HALEY: “So far, not a great look but we’ll go into pads here once we get back. All last week we were in shells. But we’ll make sure it’ll be up-tempo for him and if, indeed, we are going to activate him we would want him to be ready.”

Q: Is not talking about injuries a Coach Haley decision or a Chiefs decision?

HALEY: “It’s a Coach Haley decision 100% and it was a rookie head coach not knowing all the rules. I was under the assumption that in-season I had to talk about some of those things but once I found out that I didn’t I was excited. I can just put out my [injury report throughout the week.] I don’t want the players talking about it and I want to give them back in return.”

Q: You talked early in the season about wanting to temper your temper on the sideline. Seems like you’ve accomplished that to some degree.

HALEY: “I’ve had a lot of people tell me – my sister-in-law was at our house this weekend – you’ve kept your cool. I don’t know but they must not be showing me at the right time because that’s something I’ve gone into the bye week when I look at myself as something I want to be better at. I’m the leader of this team and I’ve got to keep my head and be smart and make good decisions.

“I’ve had a lot of people say you’ve done a good job keeping your head but I haven’t felt that way. I have to improve.”

Q: Your special teams have been one of the more positive things with this team. Talk about the job Steve Hoffman has done and evaluate him?

HALEY: “It’s definitely a positive for us, but we need to be better in the return game which we’re working hard at. But I think Coach Hoffman has really done a tremendous job. He does what coaches are supposed to do: he has the guys prepared, they know what to do and they’re doing it the way he’s coaching it and the guy for whatever reason wasn’t given a reason to run the whole show. I was the first one to do that and I’m proud of where he’s at. He works his butt off and probably sleeps here too much. He’s got the guys ready to play day-in-and-day-out.”

Q: Does the special teams coach have a large part in drafting a kicker?

HALEY: “The thing I do know about Steve is that was his area of expertise. There are a lot of special teams’ coaches that are great coaches but that’s a tough skill to coach. There are very minute details much like a golf swing when you’re teaching that. He’s got an eye for that type of thing, punters and kickers, and through the course of his career he’s done a great job of discovering kickers. I knew that going in and we sent him out on the road and he looked at a lot of guys and he felt very strongly about the guy we drafted. That’s the benefit of having him on our staff and he can actually coach those guys, those little details that a lot of guys can’t.”

Q: He said he was afraid that if you hadn’t drafted Ryan (Succop) that you probably wouldn’t have gotten him in free agency. Was that an argument that was made?

HALEY: “If you try to take your chances there are a lot of factors that can come into play that can keep you from getting somebody: money could be one, geography, coaches that they might have played for. It’s something that when you’re in the draft and you get down to the wire and you want to make sure you get a guy you’d better draft him. That’s how we felt with Ryan.”

Q: Why have you not used Jamaal Charles more?

HALEY: “You’ve got to remember Jamaal was not active in an early game. This has been a process for him developing and I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m happy with the progress that he’s making. I don’t know if I can point or say one thing that can answer that question. I’ll answer it that Jamaal has worked hard. He’s overcome some adversity and he’s showing signs of trying to take that next step. Obviously, there is going to be some more play-time involved here and I think he’s got a great opportunity.”

Q: Is he capable of carrying the ball a lot of times?

HALEY: “I don’t know. We’ll have to see how that goes. But I think he’s doing everything on his end to be ready to go. He’s probably our best pass protector as a back as far as understanding who’s he supposed to block. He’s really improved at that and he’s listened to Coach Mo [Carthon] who’s stayed on him pretty hard from the start. I think he’s getting better. We’ll see how it goes but it’s an opportunity for Jamaal.”

Q: Would it be fair to say that of all areas of the team the running game has been one that has struggled more than any other area?

HALEY: “I think our offense in general needs to be better and that has to start with the elimination of negative plays. We just can’t have the amount of hidden yardage in negative plays that we have. Figuring 100 yards equals seven points and you start adding those up you’re getting into significant points that we’ve left out there. I think it’s all areas.

“We did a lot of self-scout on ourselves. But offensively because of the circumstances and the change that I’ve made in coordinator late in the pre-season we needed that time. I feel good about how the bye week went. The guys came out energized today and it looked like they got a little recharged and now we’ll see.”