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The third preseason game is usually when NFL teams will keep their starters in for a longer amount of time. Many of them go the entire first half, if not into the third quarter. Last week the KC Chiefs had many of their starters in for the entire first half.
Asked yesterday about his strategy for the third preseason game, Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel offered few hints on what he'll do.
"I tell them the same thing all the time, just to be ready to play and play until I take you out," Crennel said. "I just don't tell them what my thoughts are as for how that goes. I want them to prepare to play.
"If I tell them, ‘I'm going to take you out after the first quarter,' then in their mind they're coming out after the first quarter. If I need them in the second quarter, then they're not mentally ready to go, so, ‘hey guys, we're going to play. You're going to play until I take you out. When I take you out, that's going to be it.'"
He basically said the same thing the last two weeks and has followed a relatively normal preseason schedule by ratcheting up the number of snaps for the starters week-by-week. I would guess that the Chiefs starters play the entire first half, perhaps into the third quarter for a series or two.