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Facing Philip Rivers not a good time for Kansas City Chiefs secondary injuries

The Chiefs have a couple of members of the secondary on the injury report.

By Joel Thorman
John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

There is one noticeable difference with the Kansas City Chiefs Thursday injury report: S Eric Berry did not practice. That's not the news anyone wanted to hear as the Chiefs get set to face Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates and the San Diego Chargers. Berry has not played since injuring his ankle over a month ago but optimism crept back up this week as he practiced on both Monday and Wednesday. Missing Thursday's practice has erased some of that optimism.

CB Chris Owens, who is the nickel back, did not practice on Thursday either. It looks like he's unlikely to play, which leaves the Chiefs the possibility of two members of the secondary out of action. What would the Chiefs do in that scenario? They already have Ron Parker replacing Berry at safety if he doesn't play. If Owens is out, would Parker move to the nickel with another safety (Kurt Coleman) coming in? Husain Abdullah has a lot of versatility. Where could he fill in? Chiefs coach Andy Reid mentioned rookie Phillip Gaines and Jamell Fleming as nickel options, too.

I'm not really sure how the Chiefs would handle it if both players were out, and Chiefs DC Bob Sutton wouldn't answer when asked about it on Thursday. "Well, that's one of those deals I wouldn't tell you who it's going to be, but as much as I'd like you to know," Sutton said, via quotes from the Chiefs. "No, but we are working a couple of different guys in there and see. That's going to have to wait to see it, see where it is after Friday's practice."

Their final injury report will be out on Friday, at which point we will (hopefully) have a better idea of the situation.

The good news is that Sean Smith was upgraded from a limited practice on Wednesday to a full practice on Thursday.

Here is a link to the Wednesday practice report. Thursday's is below.

Out

WR Donnie Avery (groin)

Did not practice

S Eric Berry (ankle)

CB Chris Owens (knee)

RB Cyrus Gray (hand)

Full practice

Phillip Gaines (concussion)

CB Sean Smith (groin)

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