Chiefs: Final Thoughts On Andy Reid’s First Training Camp

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Aside from an injury scare to Jamaal Charles and the usual growing pains that come along with training camp, everything that has come out of St. Joseph, Mo. during coach Andy Reid’s first installment with the organization has been awesome.

We’ve covered it pretty extensively here at Arrowhead Addict, but if I had to sum it all up in one word that word would be this: confidence.

Reid has instilled a new sense of direction into this program, and the players are undoubtedly buying into it.

For a team undergoing a facelift with a new head coach, a new quarterback and a new sense of direction, having a good training camp was arguably the most important step of the process.

Starting strong is going to be integral for the Chiefs in 2013, but so is having a sense of direction and identity. All of that needed to be started in training camp, and for all intents and purposes, it was.

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We caught a glimpse of it in preseason game No. 1, as the first team offense went out and put together an impressive touchdown drive against the New Orleans Saints. The defense then went out and got after Drew Brees, and of course, all of that was highlighted by great special teams play.

Reid Ferrin of KCChiefs.com put together a piece that featured some of the player’s thoughts as they finished up the first training camp of the Andy Reid era. For No. 1 overall pick Eric Fisher, it was his first training camp in the NFL. Here are his thoughts, per Ferrin:

"“I think I’ve made strides; getting that playbook down is the biggest thing. You just have to stay in the playbook every day and going against Justin (Houston) and Tamba (Hali) again, it’s a great matchup that’s making me better every day.”"

Dwayne Bowe talked about how camp prepared the team, according to Ferrin:

"“Defintiely one of the toughest camps I’ve been a part of, but during the game-time experience, it’s going to have us ready. I definitely appreciate and love the grind, knowing what it’s going to bring in the game.”"

Finally, fullback Anthony Sherman talked about the overall feel of camp (Ferrin):

"“It’s old-school football. We have pads on every day, we’re hitting and we’re competing. These are the days that are going to help us in late December, when the adversity needs to kick in and we can pull from what we did in camp and execute what we need to do then.”"

Those are the kind of reports that you like to hear out of camp, and hopefully it will all translate to preseason game No. 2 against the San Francisco 49ers.

More importantly though, it needs to translate to the season.