Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 8/21

8/20 Practice Report from The Mothership

Your calendar may read Wednesday, but in the world of the Kansas City Chiefs, today is Thursday. And as the rest of the week moves forward, Thursday will be Friday, Friday will be Saturday and Sunday night football against the Minnesota Vikings will take place on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

"The way we set it up, we've treated this week as a game week [in] the way we're working through it," quarterback Alex Smith said after practice. "We had our hands on the game plan a little longer than normally for these preseason games."

By The Numbers: Chiefs Using Personnel Matchups To Their Advantage from The Mothership

Over the first two preseason games, Travis Kelce has put up big numbers in limited action. He has played just 47 snaps against Cincinnati and Carolina combined, but has six receptions for 136 yards (22.7 avg) with two touchdowns.

Kelce knows having multiple players with varying skillsets is an advantage for everyone out there.

"They like to use everybody," Kelce said. "And that's the luxury of this offense is you have to cover everybody out there on the field. You can't leave one mismatch because Andy Reid's offense is going to take it."

Fasano also believes that multiple tight ends in this offense will help them all succeed.

Fresh Takes: 8/20 Practice from The Mothership

Andy Reid

On practice today: "Good work today. We changed up practice a bit so we beat some of the heat and did it in the morning and the guys worked hard. So [this was] basically our normal Thursday practice. [We] covered all the situations we do on Thursday (in the regular season)."

On the offensive line: "We're rotating people around and we'll keep doing that until we're satisfied with who the five best [players] are and we'll roll from there. I don't really care about positions right now. I just care about getting the five best out there."

Looking Ahead: Initial Look At Vikings vs. Chiefs from The Mothership

The Vikings come to Arrowhead Stadium for their first road game of the preseason after first defeating the Oakland Raiders by a score of 10-6 and the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 30-28 last Saturday.

Much like the Chiefs have found success with their tight ends, Kyle Rudolph has been making big plays for the Vikings offense.

In two games and in just 50 total snaps, Rudolph has five receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown.

Eddie Kennison's Ride Against Lupus from The Mothership

In 2003, former Kansas City Chiefs player Eddie Kennison and his wife, Shimika, established 'Quick Start: The Eddie Kennison Foundation.' The foundation was created after Shimika was diagnosed with lupus.

Since then, the Kennisons have made it a priority to raise awareness and funds to find a cure.

"Our mission is to make people aware of what lupus is and like the other 1.5 million Americans affected by lupus, we want a cure to be found," Eddie said. "We've been on the quest since 2003, when Shimika was diagnosed, to help find a cure for lupus and help raise funds towards research."

Chiefs Focus On Solar Energy Solutions from The Mothership

On Tuesday, the Chiefs announced a sustainability partnership with Kansas City Power & Light, which falls in line with the Chiefs efforts to be more efficient and continuing their goal of going green.

Over the past month, there have been 308 solar panels installed at The University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex and Arrowhead Stadium. Those solar panels are enough to power eight houses for a year and it can help offset 66 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air every year.

The Present Always Has A Past from The Mothership

The Kansas City Chiefs victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV was more than simply a win by an underdog team from an upstart league. It signaled, to some close followers of the game, that the idea that quarterbacks would move to become scramblers and not pocket passers was little more than a passing fad...

...Stram was impressed, admitting before the game that Kapp was the prototype for the pro quarterback of the 1970s.

To combat his style, the Chiefs, concentrating on their defensive ends, focused on keeping him in the pocket. But when he did escape, Kapp was pummeled and hit hard. By the conclusion of the game he was off to the hospital to have his shoulder examined after end Aaron Brown planted him for a loss on a scramble. Images of a bruised, battered and grimacing Kapp were everywhere in the next day's newspapers.

KCChiefs.com Video: Practice Report: 8/20

KCChiefs.com Video: Rookie Watch: De'Anthony Thomas

KCChiefs.com Video: One-On-One With Bob Sutton

KCChiefs.com Video: Training Camp 8/20: Alex Smith

KCChiefs.com Video: Training Camp 8/20: Andy Reid

KCChiefs.com Video: Clark Hunt Takes The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

KCChiefs.com Photo Gallery: 8/20 Training Camp

ESPN Video: Chiefs' Tight Ends On Upswing

Grantland NFL Podcast: 2014 AFC West Preview

Chiefs Starters Expected To Play Into Third Quarter Saturday from Chiefs Spin

The Chiefs starters on both sides of the ball played the first quarter in the first game against the Cincinnati Bengals, with the remaining quarters split among the backups.

The first-team offense and defense saw more playing time into the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers.

How deep into the second half the starters actually play Saturday remains to be seen.

But quarterback Alex Smith appears ready for whatever is asked of him considering the third preseason game is often treated as a dress rehearsal for the regular season opener.

Wednesday's Chiefs Practice Report from ESPN

The Chiefs may not have a lot of starters to play into the third quarter. The list of players not practicing included running backs Jamaal Charles (foot) and De'Anthony Thomas (hamstring), wide receivers Dwayne Bowe (quad) and Junior Hemingway (hip), linebacker Joe Mays (wrist) and safety Eric Berry (heel). Nickel back Chris Owens left practice with a knee injury.

Chiefs' Fisher Still Trying To Get Up To Speed from The Associated Press via FS Kansas City

Eric Fisher refuses to use offseason shoulder surgery as an excuse.

When the left tackle was beaten by a defensive end in a preseason game in Carolina on Sunday, the former No. 1 overall draft pick punched the ground in frustration. When Fisher was beaten again later in the game in pass protection, he could be seen seething through his facemask.

Afterward, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the surgery -- along with another procedure for a sports hernia -- has made Fisher to be tired later in games, and that has led to his rather uneven performance.

Painful Playoff Moment Fuels Chiefs RB Cyrus Gray from Chiefs Spin

There was nothing but 15 empty yards between Gray and the end zone when Smith's pass descended. All that remained was Gray getting under the ball and making the play, but with each step it became clear the pass wouldn't be caught.

A desperate diving attempt by Gray at the 11-yard line fell short, as the ball bounced harmlessly off the turf and with it the chance to fight off a furious Colts comeback win.

The third-year pro isn't ready to forget that painful incident.

"I was thinking about it today," Gray said Tuesday. "We were in a two-minute situation in practice and I thought about it. That was a big play for me. It would've helped us. It would've been big for my career if I made that play, but unfortunately I didn't. That's one of those plays that if I would've made it, I would've been a hero and hopefully we would've won the game off of that play."

Boos At Matt Cassel Would Be Misdirected from ESPN

Matt Cassel returns to Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night, this time as the quarterback of the opponent, the Minnesota Vikings. No doubt that Kansas City Chiefs fans will welcome him back the way they sent him out, with a loud chorus of boos.

Cassel deserves better than that. He wasn't the solution for the Chiefs at quarterback and didn't deserve the contract Scott Pioli gave him, but there are much bigger villains for that dreadful time when the Chiefs had Pioli as their general manager and Todd Haley and then Romeo Crennel as coach.

Chiefs Worth 1.1 Billion, Forbes Says from ESPN

Hunt was bullish on the future of pro football when he founded the Chiefs as the AFL's Dallas Texans in 1960. But he had no way of knowing that his initial $25,000 investment into a pro football team could pay dividends quite like it has.

Kansas City Chiefs Not A Local Fan Favorite, According To Blog's Facebook Data from KSHB

Kansas City is a football crazy town. We all know this. But according to the Estately blog , the KC Chiefs, are not our favorite team!

They put out a list of each state's favorite football team, pro or college, and not surprising, the Chiefs are number one in the state of Kansas. But in Missouri, the Arizona Cardinals are apparently the favorite.

Broncos Again Class Of AFC West from The Associated Press via The Bellingham Herald

MARKET CORRECTION? After a fruitful rebuilding project under new GM John Dorsey and coach Andy Reid last year, the salary cap-tapped Chiefs endured the price of that success. They watched three starting offensive linemen leave on the same day in free agency: Pro Bowl left tackle Branden Albert and guards Geoff Schwartz and Jon Asamoah. Also, Pro Bowl punt returner Dexter McCluster signed with Tennessee, and Pro Bowl cornerback Brandon Flowers was released in a cost-saving move.

So, they're counting on their rookie class to make immediate contributions to help them build off an 11-5 season that ended with a playoff collapse at Indianapolis. Still in search of their first playoff victory since 1993, the Chiefs also have to address the futures of quarterback Alex Smith and linebacker Justin Houston, two Pro Bowlers entering the final year of their contracts.

De'Antohy Thomas Has Role With Kansas City Discussed In The Grantland NFL Podcast from OregonLive

RM: Dave Toub is the best special teams coordinator of all-time.

BB: Yeah, I mean, that's fair to say. Do you think they are going to skip a beat having De'Anthony Thomas back there as opposed to Dexter McCluster.

RM: What do you mean? I think they're better.

BB: I don't know.

RM: I think they're better, I absolutely do. I think that De'Anthony Thomas has a chance to be everything Dexter McCluster never ended up being.

Bold NFL Predictions For 2014: Chargers Will Win The AFC West from CBS Sports

2. Titans will win 10 games. It's not easy to win in Kansas City, but we don't expect the 2014 Chiefs to look anything like the 2013 version that won 11 games, which is why we think the Titans can go into Arrowhead Stadium in Week 1 and do it. That has less to do with how we feel about Tennessee than it does with Kansas City, a team that will be lucky to go 8-8 this season.

Stadiumwide Wi-Fi Is A Win-Win Proposition from BizTech

For example: To meet the need of their bandwidth-craving fans, the Georgia Dome deployed a wireless network capable of 1.5 megabit-per-second transfer rates for up to 28,000 of its guests. And the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium now has more than 600 wireless access points, accommodating wireless connections throughout the massive venue.

Tony Gonzalez: Broncos Will Go Undefeated from Newsday

There hasn't been an unbeaten NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins, but if Tony Gonzalez's prediction comes true, Don Shula's team will have some company: the 2014 Broncos.

"Right now, Denver has a team built just like the New England Patriots back when they went undefeated [in the 2007 regular season],'' said Gonzalez, the former All-Pro tight end who retired after last season and is an NFL analyst for CBS.