[BigRedChief]

Monday, July 28, 2008: Morning Practice
Editor's Note: Chiefs fans who may be trying to access the training camp photo gallery may have difficulty doing so due to the power outage caused by the storm yesterday. We are working to fix any inconveniences. We appreciate your patience as we try to solve this problem.

Clear blue skies and a temperature of 79 degrees made for a terrific morning practice. The humidity was at 62 percent. Chief players, coaches and the team’s 267 fans in attendance were cooled by a seven mile per hour wind coming from the southeast. This morning was a great start to what is suppose to be a week of beautiful weather in River Falls.

Offense
Morning practice started with a couple of familiar faces without pads on. Tight end Tony Gonzalez and left guard Brian Waters both looked on as the team conducted a full pads practice.

Rookie left tackle Branden Albert worked on the side by himself until Assistant Offensive Line Coach Joe D’Alessandris came over and worked with him on his footwork.

2008 first-round pick defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey joked with 2007 first-round pick Dwayne Bowe while defensive and offensive non-special teams players stretched on the second field.

After special teams concluded its drills quarterbacks and wide receivers worked on quick screen passes. “Give him a good step downfield, make him think you’re going downfield,” Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey instructed.

Wide receivers and quarterbacks worked on many different routes. After a sliding catch by rookie wide receiver Will Franklin on a 20-yard corner route Head Coach Herm Edwards yelled: “Good hustle Will, that’s a way to work Will.” Just a few minutes later wide receiver Bobby Sippio made a leaping grab on the sidelines to which the numerous kids in the stands, in attendance for Kids’ Day, cheered with their approval.

Left guard Tre Stallings stepped in for starting left guard Brian Waters during the 11-on-11 drill. Quarterback Brodie Croyle was 7-11, finding wide receiver Dwayne Bowe four times. Croyle and Bowe got in a groove halfway through the drill when Croyle found Bowe in two out of three plays for a pair of completions for 20 yards a piece.

Quarterback Damon Huard and quarterback Tyler Thigpen continued to trade off reps with the second-string offense. The backup quarterback spot is an open competition. Huard completed 1 of 2 passes, including throwing an interception by defensive back DaJuan Morgan. Thigpen finished 3-5 in the drill, including a dropped pass and a near interception.

Defense
While his fellow defensive backs worked on taking tackles on the single sled, safety Bernard Pollard spent time on the side with a trainer. They worked on stretching both his legs. After the solo tackle sled, the backs ran a drill they hadn’t yet run at camp. A member of the coaching staff set up a dummy over a large, blue mat. Each back would take a turn running full speed at the dummy, and then flopped onto a mat.
While the backs worked near the south end of the practice field, Linebackers Coach Gunther Cunningham and his men did some work on the sleds. After biffing on two hits, Cunningham instructed rookie linebacker LeRue Rumph to go again. With encouragement from his teammates, Rumph completed the drill correctly, and Cunningham said, “I knew you could do it!” After the stationary sleds, the linebackers moved to the hanging dummy. Cunningham told his men to “keep your eye on the quarterback. I want you to kill the overpaid son of a (gun) with the ball in his hand.”

For the first time since camp began Defensive Line Coach Tim Krumrie had his linemen work on a drill that simulated forcing and recovering a fumble. The players would run by two dummies and tackle the last one, symbolizing the quarterback. Krumrie threw the ball on the ground near the tackled dummy, and the men would jump on the ball. After the fumble drill, Krumrie put some arm pads on and worked with each lineman on hand and footwork. While rookie defensive tackle Derek Lokey was up, his veteran teammates yelled things like, “There ya go, rookie. Make him tired,” and “Break his hands, baby!”

When the defense began running through their nickel plays, rookie Glenn Dorsey continued to hold down his spot as tackle with the first string. Also seeing first-string time were rookie cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Brandon Flowers. Flowers and Carr would also stay put when the second-string took some snaps. Defensive end Brian Johnston and cornerback Maurice Leggett also saw some time with the second-string. As the first-string rotated out and the second-string rotated in, linebacker Donnie Edwards hollered to the sidelines for one of the coach’s sons. He needed the boy to run into the locker room, reach into his second helmet, and bring him out his other mouth guard.

As the offense and defense came together to run some 9-on-9 and 11-on-11 drills, Head Coach Herm Edwards made a comment about the lack of enthusiasm on the field. “Get a pot of coffee out here for these guys,” he joked. During the 9-on-9 drills, rookie linebacker LeRue Rumph took a few second-string snaps in veteran Demorrio Williams’s spot.
It was during the 11-on-11 scrimmage that defense really shined. Quarterback Brodie Croyle threw a pass that was nicely broken up by rookie cornerback Brandon Flowers. On the next play, Head Coach Herm Edwards complimented both the back and receiver saying, “Nice cover 24. Way to catch the ball 82.” Much to the delight of the defensive coaching staff, several players made chargers to the quarterbacks that, in real-game situations, would have been sacks. Safety Jon McGraw blew by the offensive line once, and defensive tackle Alfonso Boone and linebackers Pat Thomas and Demorrio Williams all made attacks at Croyle. Safety Jarrad Page later blew by all offensive players and made his way to Croyle virtually untouched. Other highlights from the drill include: rookie safety DaJuan Morgan’s interception off a Damon Huard pass and rookie linebacker Weston Dacus’s near interception of Tyler Thigpen’s throw. Keeping the defense in line, though, Herm Edwards hollered, “Get your hands off their facemasks. Play some foozeball!”

Special teams
Practice got started at 8:52 with the special teams unit working on the kickoff return game. Kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth took turns kicking from the 45-yard line to returners waiting in the end zone. Defenders with blocking pads took off from the 45-yard line to meet offensive blockers without blocking pads around the 28. The returners ran routes aiming for the sideline for 15 to 20 yards. Kick returner B.J. Sams received the first kick of the drill from Novak. Sams would carry the ball four times in total. Wide receiver Jeff Webb bobbled and dropped the first kick he attempted to receive after the football bounced off his chest. “The sun was in his eyes,” commented Head Coach Herm Edwards dryly. Wide receiver Will Franklin and running back Jamaal Charles also had carries.

A kickoff cover drill sparked much energy from players on the field. Players worked on both the left and right sides of the field breaking through the wedge and picking up returners trying to make their ways up the field. Each wedge consisted of three players with blocking pads on the 15-yard line. Two additional blockers on the 45-yard line hassled the wedge busters on their way to the blockers with the pads. Kick returner B.J. Sams and running back Dantrell Savage took turns being the returner. “Accelerate our legs. Dip and rip; get by them,” shouted Special Teams Coach Mike Priefer as he coached during the drill. Tight end Brad Cottam played well throughout the drill and coaches noticed telling him, “Good job Brad.”

Kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth worked on kicking field goals most of the practice. They warmed up from the 28, 30, 33, 36 and 37-yard lines from both the right and left hash marks. Novak took 15 kicks to Barth’s 6 kicks. Novak missed one kick from the 33-yard line on the left hash. The kick was wide left. After the warm up, the defense and offense took to the field for a simulated field goal drill. Novak kicked first and made all three of his kicks from the 29, 31 and 33-yard lines. Long snapper Jean-Philippe Darche made a high snap on Novak’s second kick, but punter Dustin Colquitt pulled the ball down and completed a nice hold. He received compliments from his teammates and coaches. Barth also made all of his kicks from the same yard lines; the first two kicks were from the left hash and the last kick from the right hash.

Extra Extra...
Cornerback Patrick Surtain spoke with media after practice about working with rookie cornerback—and roommate—Brandon Flowers. “I’m a professional,” Surtain said, “I want my teammates to be the best they can be.” Surtain said even though Flowers is a rookie, he carries himself like a veteran. “He’s constantly taking tremendous notes. He’s hungry. He wants this.”

During the 11-on-11 drill tight end Tony Gonzalez gave passes to wide receiver Maurice Price on the half of the field not being unused. This occurred a couple different times during the drill when Price was not in it. The passes were short from 5 to 10 yards. Price received the ball as he practiced “running” different routes.

Cornerback Brandon Flowers answered a couple questions after practice. He discussed the competition at his position and said, “We’re running a lot of man. There are a lot of good young corners competing out here.”

Tony Gonzalez Press Conference
At 11:55 a.m. tight end Tony Gonzalez kicked off his first press conference of training camp at the University Center. While talking about his love for the game, Gonzalez said, “This is it. This is my passion. This is what I love to do.” Media then asked him about retirement, Gonzalez said he was 95 percent sure he was coming back next year. Although, he said if they win the Super Bowl that might be different. The media asked Gonzalez if he was going to be 100 percent sure on his decision when he retires to avoid a situation like quarterback Brett Favre is in right now. Gonzalez said, “Everybody’s talked about the whole Favre thing. I’m sure he was 100 percent when he made that decision. Things change. People change. That’s one thing that people get upset about. What I believe and what I think might change, so maybe that’s what’s going on. He loves this game and realizes that he can’t live without it at this point in his life. “

Herm Edwards Press Conference
“I thought early in today’s practice the offense got off the ball early, but then it became really competitive,” said Head Coach Herm Edwards in a post-practice press conference. “I think they are starting to realize how to play better in pads, stay lower and strike people. It was a long practice and it was intended that way. We are going to give them practices off, with one-a-days and that will start for us tomorrow. We are going to have special teams in the morning and we’ll practice again in the afternoon. That’s how it’s scheduled with an 80-man situation. I’ve talked to a lot of coaches around the league and that’s how they are running their camp to survive camp and the pre-season.”

When asked by a KMBZ reporter why defensive end Turk McBride didn’t work today, Edwards explained by saying, “he had a stomach deal, but he’s alright and will be out here this afternoon.” Edwards mentioned that cornerback Patrick Surtain didn’t take many reps and tight end Tony Gonzalez didn’t work at all.

Edwards was asked about running back Larry Johnson’s high effort in camp so far. “He has a lot to prove because there is a lot of pressure on him when you’re in that star status of a football player. Last year we started the season off slow offensively, we didn’t run the ball very well, then we finally got going, and he got hurt. He’s in the mind set of coming back and having a good season for us.”

There is a tight kicker competition between Nick Novak and Connor Barth. When Edwards was asked about it he said, “it’s an everyday deal, when we get into pre-season we will be able to evaluate it there and see how they do. Hopefully we can get close enough to kick some field goals. That was an Achilles' heel last year since we weren’t in good field position.”

Kids' Day
Kids’ Day at the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp pulled in big numbers once again this morning. Over 130 kids were in attendance for the first of two Kids’ Days.

Upon arrival they were greeted by staff members with a blow-pop, a raffle ticket, and a coupon for a $1.99 kids meal at Bo’s ‘N Mine. Balloons were also distributed. The raffle was held at 9:50 a.m., and the prizes included Burger King coupons, Subway coupons, and Kansas City Chiefs merchandise.

It was a very fun day for the kids, volunteers and workers. There were several activities for the little ones to participate in including: bean bag toss, football toss, face painting, temporary tattoos, word searches, coloring, and a wading pool with ducks. If played correctly, many of the activities were worth additional raffle tickets.

In addition to the raffle, balloons and games, K.C. Wolf made an appearance. He posed for pictures and played with the kids. River Falls Kids Club brought 78 kids to the event. Jordan Howard, a worker with the Kids Club said they try to make it to Kids Day ever year. “It’s really fun to be able to bring all these kids to watch a NFL team practice. This is an opportunity most kids will never get,” he said.

After practice, over 100 of the kids lined the fences of the practice fields getting autographs from five different Chief players.
The next Kids Day is Aug. 7 at the morning practice (9-10:15 a.m.) Call 715-425-3771 to register.