Highlights

TODD HALEY: “We got started early this week. It’s a little different schedule for us with Thanksgiving. I’ve been involved in doing it a bunch of different ways and seeing that this is an important holiday and important to a lot of families I decided to go with this schedule: we’re going to practice Tuesday and Wednesday and players will be off Thursday [Thanksgiving] and then it’s back to the normal schedule Friday, Saturday and then travel.

“We moved around pretty good today and I felt like we made progress. There is a good energy to the guys and I think we got off to a good start which we’ll need against this team. This is a team that is on a roll and has won five in a row and is playing at a high level in a lot of different areas. I think they have the run game going full bore now, whereas maybe the first time we saw them they weren’t running it quite like they are now. That’ll be something we’ll have to be on our game to stop.

“I think their defense presents multiple issues for us and they have one of the best returners in the league that we’ll have to contain.”

Q: One of the strengths you talk about is the back of the roster. Some of those guys who appear to be working their way up like a Jovan Belcher and an Andy Studebaker. Is that a perfect situation for your team?

HALEY: “I think when they make plays like those two do it’s a very good thing. I think it’s a sign that, number one, we’re doing a good job at getting the right kind of players in here. Andy was already here but Jovan was a bright spot from the start. Some of the guys we’ve picked up along the way have come in and had pretty strong and productive roles.

“We are what we are record-wise but I do think some of those guys have played at a winning level, especially evident on Sunday with Andy Studebaker or a Jovan Belcher, Chris Chambers. Those are good signs.”

Q: What does that do to the guys who appear to be the starters?

HALEY: “I said all the way back in the beginning that competition is what good teams have. The more positions you have good healthy competition at the better. That makes the front line guys better, makes the guys fighting to get in that spot better, and in turn it makes your team better overall. I think that we’ve been able to create some healthy competition in more spots than when we started and that’s good for the Kansas City Chiefs.”

Q: What do you think about Belcher, how’s he come along?

HALEY: “Again, this was a big transition for him, a guy who never played a linebacker position, so to speak. He was up in the line [during college] in more of a hand-to-hand combat position. I think he’s got natural instincts and come in and been a big-time contributor on special teams from the start. He had a pretty significant role for us defensively. For a guy coming from where he was coming from he’s a bright spot for us. He’s a run-and-hit linebacker who can play special teams. That was never more evident than Sunday and specifically that last play defensively in overtime.”

Q: How important is it to get guys you don’t expect to contribute, who surprise you when you have a big rebuilding job ahead?

HALEY: “Regardless of the job, I think that’s important to have. I think that’s a sign that Scott [Pioli] and our personnel department are doing the job of bringing in players that can contribute and from all places and all different ways whether it’s free agents like Jovan or draft picks. I think that’s a sign of an organization operating on an efficient level. Much liked we talked about the Steelers last week we’re at the beginning of this process. That’s how you become a consistently good team all the time: you find players that maybe aren’t so obvious to the general eye. When you come up with a few of those players a year you’re probably getting pretty good.”

Q: You giving guys Thanksgiving off is going to label you soft. What’s going on?

HALEY: “We’re still practicing our regular [schedule]. We’re just shifting the order of the days. There were some aches and pains out there today for sure.”

Q: You came out of that last game beat up, but today’s practice you only had two guys that weren’t part of practice. Is that another message that these guys understand what you need?

HALEY: “I think it’s a good sign, but I think it’s something we’ve stayed consistent with. To play you’ve got to practice and if you’re not practicing you can get lost over there. I think when you have guys step up like we have that only helps the cause more. That gets people feeling better quicker as does winning.

“As I said, that was a big boost for us. We’re 2-0 in the third quarter of the season going to play the leaders of the AFC West and I think that’s another great opportunity for this team to kind of grow and see where we’re at.”

Q: Do you think anybody in your locker room knows who Wally Pipp is?

HALEY: “Wally Pipp comes up every year doesn’t he? We made somebody Google him last year in Arizona. But probably not, maybe one at the most, I ‘m guessing, an educated guess. That’s a name that has been brought up over the years.”

Q: How different are the Chargers from the team you played a few weeks ago?

HALEY: “They definitely are firing on all cylinders, it appears, not that they didn’t look good when we were getting ready to play them the first time. But like I said, what’s really come along is the run game. I think LaDainian is running back into full swing now. They’re doing a good job upfront and I think the quarterback’s been playing very well all year. But having that run game has definitely given them a little boost offensively and defensively they give you a bunch of problems in a bunch of different ways. They can cause havoc and they’re rolling right now.”

Q: No matter how far they get behind they always seem to find a way to win later.

HALEY: “It hasn’t been a team that I’ve had to pay attention to a whole bunch until now. To me, as much as anything, they’ve just been a pretty good team with a lot of talented players that can hurt you in a number of different ways. I’ve always kind of thought of them as a pretty solid team that’s going to get into the playoffs most years.”

Q: What are your thoughts on Rivers and his career?

HALEY: “I think he’s an ultra-competitive player that’s going to fight it out every game. He can throw every ball there is and he threw most of them against us in the last game. I think he’s continued to improve from when he got in the league and that’s evident as you watch the tape. He’s a quarterback that continues to get better and there is probably not much of a ceiling on what he’s capable of.”

Q: Why is it important for you to break this season into these four quarters? What’s the value of that?

HALEY: “Whatever you’re doing it’s always been important in my mind to stay in the present tense. I think as much as you can do that and you don’t worry much about what’s already happened because you can’t control that any longer and you don’t worry about what’s ahead of you, I think it forces you to keep your mind on the task at hand which is hard. It’s a long season and if you’re not careful you can get caught up in thinking the season’s over when it’s not or vice versa, in a positive way or a negative way.”

Q: How much does that help your message of team growth?

HALEY: “I think it’s very important in this job to get better every day. I said that way back, that’s what is going to be important to me. As a coaching staff, we get better every day and as a team in general we get better every day. It may not be leaps and bounds but if we’re making progress on a daily basis and on a weekly basis then we’re heading in the right direction.

“What we don’t want is yo-yo players and a yo-yo team. I just want to get a little better every day and be consistent and I think if that’s a sign of it then that’s a good thing.”

Q: Do you think it helps simplify things for the players?

HALEY: “Again, you’d have to ask them. I can only coach it and talk about it and, to me, the value is just staying in the present tense. I know that if you go 3-1 in every quarter of the season, if you win every quarter of the season, you’re probably going to the playoffs and that’s our number one goal. If you don’t win one of the quarters then you’ve got to make it up in a couple of others.”

Q: Are you taking any time for Thanksgiving yourself?

HALEY: “Like I said and as I’ve talked to the players and coaches, we’ve got the greatest jobs as far as I’m concerned. We have a lot to be thankful and I think it’s important whatever you do with that time, whether it’s helping out people who aren’t quite as fortunate as yourself or with your family, it’s important you take those times to be thankful for all that we have.”