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Things were reeled back a bit this morning as the Chiefs entertained a nice-sized crowd for the final public practice before Friday’s exhibition opener. Most camp practices have run in the two to two-and-a-half hour range, but Wednesday’s first session concluded after about an hour-and-a-half.

Afternoon practice will be held indoors.

Practice Inactives

S Reshard Langford

TE Tony Moeaki

G Darryl Harris

S Jarrad Page

CB Travis Daniels returned to practice Wednesday morning after working out on the bikes over the past few days. Moeaki remained without pads in the bike area for the third-straight day. His last chance to practice prior to Friday’s opener will be this afternoon at the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.

Neither Langford nor Harris was outside for the morning practice. Harris hasn’t participated since leaving team drills with a leg injury last week, but Langford is a new member to join the inactive list. Page, again, has yet to report to camp.

DE Development

Mitch Holthus had an interesting take in today’s Finding the 53 segment on kcchiefs.com. He notes that the development of Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey can be tied in with their reserves giving them an ample breather, so they don’t have to play an unusual number of snaps. The thought is that this would make them more effective for the snaps that they are on the field for.

A year ago, Dorsey rarely left the field when healthy and Jackson logged plenty of snaps for a rookie. If they are to receive a small decrease in overall reps, part of that aid may come in the form of Shaun Smith, who began training camp as a nose tackle but who has also been getting reps at defensive end of late.

Playing both defensive tackle and defensive end was something that Smith previously did under Romeo Crennel in Cleveland. Because of that, Smith says that the transition hasn’t been difficult.

“Coach talks about people having a role on this team and right now my role is whatever they want me to play,” Smith said. “It’s the same scheme that I played in Cleveland. I had career years in this defense, so I’m just going to help out how I can. I like it, and I’m enjoying it.”

With Smith shifting along the defensive line, what does that say about the progress of Derek Lokey (a guy who many fans are excited about)? Lokey has been running with the second-team throughout most of camp.

We’ll see how the rotation plays out on Friday.

Cards Come Out

Teams typically don’t scheme for a specific opponent until later in the preseason. Game Three usually marks the most in-depth game-planning of exhibition play. Though it would be a stretch to say that the Chiefs have schemed for Atlanta, a show-team did run carded offensive and defensive plays today during 9 on 7 (inside run) work.

Other Notables

• RB Tim Castille  made a nice diving catch near the right pylon in Red Zone 7 on 7
• Castille was later the beneficiary of an excellent play-fake boot, catching a wide-open TD
• G Jon Asamoah is once again receiving reps on the left side of the line (left guard)
• DE Glenn Dorsey and LB Derrick Johnson weren’t fooled on a goal line shovel-pass, with a nice hit/fill inside the three-yard line
• TE Cody Slate found the end zone on two occasions; he actually could have had more, but couldn’t hang on for the hat trick as S Donald Washington defended
• CB Brandon Flowers showed nice closing speed to break up a pass intended for TE Leonard Pope in the back of the end zone; it appeared that Pope had the football, but Flowers’ late burst was just enough to draw the incompletion
• LBs Jovan Belcher and Derrick Johnson worked with the first-team defense in the daily mix/match of the inside linebacker rotation
• NT Derek Lokey had a pair of nice run-stopping plays during 9 on 7

Play of the Day

RB Thomas Jones showed off his throwing skills in 11 vs. 11 work on the goal line. In a play that Chiefs fans are accustomed to seeing out of longtime AFC West foe LaDainian Tomlinson, Jones took a direct snap and a few steps towards the line of scrimmage before stopping to float a TD pass to Dwayne Bowe. The play caught the defense off guard and Jones sold the fake draw perfectly.

PM PRACTICE UPDATE

The Chiefs fined-tuned a few things on special teams and went through more carded plays on both sides of the football Thursday afternoon. The practice was scaled back; with more of a mental focus than the outdoor sessions.

One of the more unique aspects of the workout was that the Chiefs simulated a halftime experience for the first time under Todd Haley. The idea originated with Assistant Head Coach Maurice Carthon to try and combat the Chiefs third-quarter woes from 2009.

To simulate halftime, the coaches sent the players into the locker room and had them sit for a few minutes. Upon return, the players ditched their shoulder pads and practiced for the remained of the day in spiders (small pads worn in place of shoulder pads) and helmets.

“We’re trying to simulate that aspect of the game – an area that we really struggled last year, a place you don’t always know exactly why, but we need to be better,” Haley explained. “While we’re here, we’ve got this nice indoor setup and I think this will be a good little practice drill for us.”

As for the practice attendance, the same personnel from this morning participated in the afternoon session.

Other notables from the indoor workout included a big emphasis on late-game situations using the entire roster. It’s obvious that the coaching staff wants all 80 men to be ready for Sunday, regardless of role. Clock management was also a focal point.

“The game is going to be determined by a lot of different people that may or may not end up being guys that are starting or playing heavy roles,” Haley said this afternoon.

Highlights of the offense/defense periods included a pair of picks from CBs Travis Daniels and Mike Richardson; both off Tyler Palko.

Haley said this afternoon that he would conduct a staff meeting on Wednesday night to determine individual play-time for Friday night’s game.

The Chiefs next practice in St. Joseph will be on Sunday at 1:50 PM