Andy Reid Shares How Much Starters Will Play vs. Cardinals
As of Thursday morning, the Kansas City Chiefs have officially wrapped up their 2023 training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, MO. The team's focus on building for the rest of the preseason and finalizing an initial 53-man roster remains, but those efforts will take place back in Kansas City for the time being.
On Saturday night, the Chiefs will look to get back in the winner's circle for the first time since Super Bowl LVII. After losing to the New Orleans Saints in their first preseason game, Andy Reid and company have an opportunity to steal a victory down in Glendale against the Arizona Cardinals in a meeting of two clubs that opened the 2022 regular season against each other.
Following Thursday's training camp practice, Reid provided an update with his plan for how long starters will play in the second week of the preseason.
"As far as the playing time goes for this coming game, the ones will go for a half and then we'll mix in the twos and threes in the third quarter," Reid said. "Obviously, there are things that happen during the game — don't hold me accountable if we pull people out whenever."
Reid, notorious for over-promising and under-delivering in regards to preseason playing time for his first-stringers, said his aces would get the entire first quarter last week before pulling a lot of the offensive starters after one drive. In last year's second preseason outing, a 24-14 win over the Washington Commanders, quarterback Patrick Mahomes played two possessions. His second series bled into the second quarter, although his day ended less than two minutes into the frame. That's a far cry from what Reid is proposing for this week.
Last week, the Chiefs' starters on both sides of the ball looked sluggish and unprepared. Execution was poor, and the Saints marched the ball up and down the field with ease to start the contest. Things improved once the reserves entered the game, but Reid says he's looking for a better effort from his first-stringers on Saturday night than what was displayed last Sunday.
"You're always looking for execution as you go," Reid said. "Increased execution from the first one. Not that we've spent a lot more time with the guys on the Cardinals, that's not it. It's a pretty simple game plan again. They're kind of going [into] another weekend of those plays, so you expect particularly the young guys to kind of handle that the right way. Old guys, just knock the rust off. Keep chipping away at that."
Reid isn't worried about the Cardinals' field conditions despite the cosmetics not being very good. He said he's heard the playing surface is still gripping well, which is the most important element of the equation. He didn't have much of an injury update on Thursday morning, and he also doesn't appear to be concerned about his players risking injury in preseason game No. 2 this week.
"Listen, it's all part of the game," Reid said. "They've got to get ready for the game and at the same time, I think it's tough going into the first game. It's going to be fast, much faster than what you can present in practice, the regular season game. This, at least, is another step up from that [and] gives you just a little kick up speed-wise of the game."
