The injury status of Kansas City Chiefs LB Justin Houston is up in the air as the team heads into Oakland to play the Raiders this weekend. Houston is the Chiefs best pass rusher so it would be a big deal if he can't play. But the Chiefs drafted a player for this situation in Dee Ford, who says he is ready if his name is called this weekend.
"You have to prepare as if you're going to play in that game," Ford said, via quotes from the Chiefs. "This year in particular, I've played a lot more than I played last year. And that's because I've prepared and I practiced like a starter for moments like this."
Ford has played sparingly this year with Houston and Tamba Hali both playing well as the main starters. Ford said it would help him if he were to get more snaps throughout the entire game.
"It helps a lot," Ford said about playing regular snaps. "Especially as a rusher, when you want to set up different moves that you want to do. We talk about this a lot, you want to be able to set up your counter moves and then set up what you do, your signature move. And it's hard to do that when you're in the game sporadically."
For the Chiefs sake, I want Houston to play because he gives them their best shot to win - if he's healthy. However, I'm really anxious to see a full game from Ford in the event that Houston can't go. It might be time to see what the Chiefs have in their 2014 first round pick.