The Kansas City Chiefs usually take a traditional approach in the preseason, allowing the starters to play roughly one-quarter of the first game, two quarters in the second, and two to three in the third.
It’s a tried-and-true method that has worked well for the team, but not all teams adopt the same strategy as Kansas City’s. Some teams, like the Baltimore Ravens who actively hold the record for most preseason games won in a row with 23, take the preseason a bit more seriously in terms of winning the actual game.
For the Chiefs, preseason games are less about game planning, and more about getting players much-needed reps and finding out where they fit in their respective schemes.
“We don’t really care about that,” said Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy when asked whether he wants to know if they’ll be playing against their opponents’ starters in the preseason. “You can go back and see with the history of some of these defensive coordinators, head coaches, etc., you can see usually what they do in previous years.
“Regardless, for us, there are a lot of spots out there. We’re looking at the inside linebacker, the DB [defensive back], the corner, the safety – it’s not so much numbers, we’re not necessarily game planning – I don’t think many teams game plan so much anymore.”
Of course, the Chiefs still want to win these games regardless of whether they actually matter, but the preseason is ultimately an opportunity to get the veterans loose and the rookies some time on an NFL gridiron. And if that strategy works for a team that has won the Super Bowl in two of the last four years, who are we to question it?
