By Scott Salomon
NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Kansas City Chiefs went through a 90-minute practice session Wednesday afternoon ahead of their much-anticipated matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
It was a light but spirited session for the Chiefs, who had everyone dressed out in their typical Wednesday fashion.
The starting offense and defense each ran 30 plays against the scout team units, with 10-minute special teams segments mixed in.
The quarterbacks, specialists and linebacker Nick Bolton — who wears the “green dot” to communicate play calls to the defense — were the only players wearing helmets Wednesday. The rest of the team were without headgear.
Coach Andy Reid compared the practice to a normal Wednesday during the regular season. That meant no helmets or pads. It was time to pay attention to detail and not so much on trying to hurt one another.
The main focus for Wednesday’s practice was “assignments,” Reid said, with the intention being to ramp up practice as the week progresses. The team will practice again Thursday and go at a higher tempo.
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“It’s just getting one more rep at it, make sure you’ve got all the bases covered,” Reid said. “You kind of start from scratch when you get out here and go back through everything. And if you’ve got little tweaks you’ve got to make here or there, or additions, you get them done.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes was his usually sharp self. Only four of his passes were either dropped or otherwise off target.
Tight end Payton Hendershot made the most impressive catch of the session with a leaping, twisting catch over the middle of the field.
However, the play of the day may have belonged to punter Matt Araiza. Araiza kicked what appeared to be an 80-yard punt with the wind at his back. The kick caught some of his teammates off guard, with quarterbacks and receivers scrambling to get out of the way as they were working drills at the far end of the field.
Reid admired the practice setup on Tulane’s campus in Uptown New Orleans. Yulman Stadium features a natural grass turf, which Reid said had some cushion that he appreciated.
“They did a phenomenal job with this,” Reid said. “We appreciate that. And the people here at Tulane have been great, they rolled out the red carpets for us. It’s a good facility, all good there.”
The Chiefs were visited at practice by members of the Fox broadcasting crew, who also happen to be broadcasting Sunday’s Super Bowl. Among the attendees were Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi, Jimmy Johnson, Curt Menefee, Julian Edelman, Peter Schrager, and Kristina Pink.
