Chiefs injury notes from assistant coaches ahead of Thursday practice
The Kansas City Chiefs are set for their second day of practice ahead of their Week 6 game against the Washington Football Team.
Both Anthony Hitchens (knee) and Jarran Reed (personal day) are due to practice for Kansas City on Thursday after missing the first practice of the week. Tyreek Hill (quad contusion), Charvarius Ward (quad strain), Blake Bell (back), Joe Thuney (hand) and Chris Jones (wrist) will continue to be absent on Thursday per team public relations.
Chiefs coordinators and position coaches spoke with media members on Thursday and provided some insight into the recent injuries that the team has dealt with. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo got things started by speaking on how defensive line injuries have played a part in the Chiefs’ struggles.
“The one thing I would say about that — and this happens to everyone in this league — when you can’t get a number of games back-to-back-to-back where you’ve got units intact, the continuity is hard,” Spagnuolo said. “There is a lot of that. Units function, in this game that we’re in, units have to function as a unit. There are all kinds of feels and natural feels. When you play with somebody for a period of snaps, that happens. It has been a little tough on that side.”
Chiefs DL coach Brendan Daly backed up Spags’ comments, emphasizing that he’s proud of the way his guys have stepped up in the face of injury adversity.
“We’ve had some fluctuations in terms of who has been available,” Daly told reporters. “But, I have been proud of the guys who have been out there that have adjusted to different roles. Guys have stepped up. That’s kind of part of the NFL season. Unfortunately, that’s something that you’ve got to navigate every year and probably won’t be the last time that we’ve got to deal with some element of that. It’s just part of life, 17 weeks and the postseason of the NFL.”
As for Chiefs CB coach Sam Madison, he has been pleased with the repetitions that some of his younger guys have been getting in the absence of Charvarius Ward. He explained that always wasn’t the case due to the timing of Ward’s injury.
“A couple of weeks ago, (Charvarius Ward) gets hurt on a Friday and then you’ve got to put a guy in there that doesn’t really have those reps that somebody else had. Then you’ve just got to go out there and play. It’s the National Football League, whenever it’s time for you to go, you just have to go out there and play and make it happen.”
Finally, Chiefs OL coach Andy Heck explained the timing of Joe Thuney’s fractured hand and how they managed that injury during the Week 5 game.
“There wasn’t a lot of conversation about it,” Heck told reporters. “I was made aware about it and that he’d be getting X-rays at halftime and we’d see if he could go. I’d ask him, ‘How are you doing?’ and he said, ‘I’ll be good, I’ll give it a go.’ and I said, ‘Great we’ll keep an eye on you.’ and that was that. He did a nice job pushing through that, I’m sure it was very painful, and he played well.”
As for whether Thuney would have a chance to play on Sunday in Week 6, Heck wasn’t yet privy to that information.
“Right, and I haven’t talked with Rick (Burkholder) today,” Heck said. “But it’s something that will need to be managed.”
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First injury report for Chiefs vs. Washington, Week 6
