KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Here’s how the final preseason game usually plays out: the starters hang around the sideline yukking it up in baseball caps while players most people have never heard of battle for the final roster spots.
Coaches and the most die-hard of fans love it. Might as well be a sandlot game for most everyone else.
It’ll be a little different for the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night in St. Louis against the Rams.
The Chiefs need to figure out who’ll open the season at quarterback. Starter Matt Cassel is out with an injury they won’t talk about and neither Brodie Croyle nor Tyler Thigpen has distinguished himself as a clear-cut favorite to take his place.
There’s the issue of play-calling. Coach Todd Haley fired offensive coordinator Chan Gailey on Monday, 13 days before the season opener, and will take over an offense that’s scored two touchdowns all preseason. That leaves one dress rehearsal before the juggling act becomes real.
ry. They haven’t won a game of any kind in nine months and have just six the past two years.
A final tuneup? More like making sure the car can just get out of the garage.
“All of the pieces are pretty big right now as we get down to the wire,” Haley said. “Every day is an evaluation. We’ve got to lean on everything we know and in the next couple of days we’ll learn some more.”
The biggest piece is quarterback.
Cassel injured his left knee against Seattle on Saturday and won’t play against the Rams. Beyond that? No one’s saying. He could be back for the season opener against Baltimore, could be out two more weeks, maybe more.
That leaves Croyle and Thigpen, who are a combined 1-18 as starting quarterbacks.
Croyle opened last season as the starter, anointed by former coach Herm Edwards as the homegrown quarterback the Chiefs had been missing for years. He injured his shoulder in the season opener against New England, then suffered a season-ending knee injury his first game back in October.
An afterthought headed into the season, Croyle has been the Chiefs’ most consistent quarterback through training camp and the preseason. His biggest problem? Kansas City still hasn’t scored a touchdown with him under center.
rop-back-style passer. Thigpen had an uneven preseason, making a few careless mistakes but also leading the Chiefs on a late scoring drive against Houston in the second preseason game.
Croyle has a slight edge and gets the start against St. Louis, though Haley is going to play it by ear how long he plays. In other words, this final preseason game has a lot hanging on it.
“Every time you go out there, you go out there to prove something,” Croyle said. “This is no different.”
Haley will certainly experience something new.
Frustrated with the play calling and maybe a little antsy to be more involved with the offense – he was the offensive coordinator at Arizona – Haley fired Gailey and took over his duties. He’s still trying to learn all the nuances of being a head coach and now has another ball in the air.
Haley has three assistants who have been offensive coordinators – Maurice Carthon, Bill Muir and Bill Bicknell – so no doubt he’ll be leaning on them as he get his feet set.
“I think for us to be successful I have to be the head coach of the team: offense, defense, special teams, staff. I have to be able to manage the game. That’s my No. 1 job,” Haley said. “But, as I said, the offense needs help right now and that’s what I’m doing. I have to be efficient and need to rely on guys I can count on and trust and be prepared to do it.”
t a preseason game.
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