KC Chiefs players place trust in coach Andy Reid as another physical camp looms

When the Chiefs don full pads for the first time in almost seven months Saturday at Missouri Western, there’s a few things you can bank on.

The first, according to Chiefs coach Andy Reid, is that there will be energy, and the thousands of fans expected to attend will help with that.

“It’s great to have them out here to give you a little juice,” Reid said.

But football is, by nature, a violent game, and defensive end Mike DeVito insists most players naturally get a thrill when they’re finally re-introduced to hitting another player this time of year.

“Everything spikes right up,” DeVito said Friday. “The intensity, your focus … just the feeling … the atmosphere becomes football.”

Gone are the days of old, when two-a-day padded practices were the grueling norm in training camp. Because of the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement, teams are limited to one padded practice per day, and that practice can’t last longer than three hours.

But Reid has long been a proponent of holding physical training camps, and there is no indication that will change this year — all within the rules, of course.

“We go ‘live’ on plays and stuff, and a lot of people don’t do that in this league,” said inside linebacker Derrick Johnson, who is entering his 10th NFL season. “I’m sure 80 percent of the league doesn’t do that (as much as we do), so it’s very different. But at the same time, you’ve gotta get ready to play, and it does get us ready to play.”

Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe agreed, and said there has been no talk among the veterans about asking Reid to pull back a bit. After all, the Chiefs went from 2-14 in 2012 to 11-5 in 2013 in Reid’s first season, so Bowe said they have every reason to trust him to get them ready and keep them fresh.

“We can’t be complacent,” Bowe said. “Learning from him and what he did last year, starting (9-0) … nobody on our team ever had a start like that, so evidently he knows something. If you want to win, you’ve just got to go with whatever he says.”

Reid said he hasn’t thought about dialing back camp hitting either.

“Well, it’s been successful — that’s the reason why I do it,” Reid said. “I still believe a big part of the game is blocking and tackling, so we are going to do those things. And we’re going to have periods that are ‘live.’ There are a lot of new rules and regulations that go into this and it gives the players a chance to go work those full speed.”

Reid reiterated the Chiefs do plan to work smart, however.

“We’re not going to do those things you might do in a game,” Reid said. “We don’t cut the knees. We are still getting our work in but we take care of each other.”

In addition, Chiefs guard Jeff Allen said the offensive linemen will still try to control their blocks and “win” one-on-one matchups during practice, but won’t actively try to drive or “pancake” defenders to the ground.

“There’s rules to it,” Allen said. “You dominate your block, but that complete finish? Nope. That’s your teammate at the end of the day and we need everybody here.”

Johnson added that players are also more willing to buy into Reid’s philosophy because he has a great sense of knowing when to pull back by cutting a practice short on occiasions.

“We know coach will take care of us when we need it,” Johnson said. “He pays attention to detail. He throws us a bone when we need one. But you’ve got to go hard for him. You can’t lollygag and complain.”

Both Johnson and Bowe expressed optimism their hard work will again pay off this season.

“I’m cool with it because it’s definitely going to show up in the games,” Bowe said. “You can tell teams that don’t hit a lot — when they get in the game, they’re thinking and they’re pulling up. He just wants us to play fast and play hard and the only way you can do that is by doing it everyday in practice.”

For the Chiefs, that process is finally set to begin — and many of them can’t wait.

“(Saturday),” DeVito said, “it gets real.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2014 at 3:08 PM with the headline "KC Chiefs players place trust in coach Andy Reid as another physical camp looms."