Five-Orite Friday: Kansas City Chiefs Kick Off Preseason

The Kansas City Chiefs preseason schedule starts tonight as they host the Arizona Cardinals. NFL games always take the headlines even when they take the form of preseason games. The Chiefs are no exception to that rule and neither is Five-orite Friday. So without further ado I present the Five-orite Friday what to watch for in the Chiefs first preseason game.

1. Charles In Charge:

How will Jamaal Charles play tonight? Will he play at all? I tend to lean towards him playing but it will not be much. The reason is because Jamaal Charles has been waiting for this day since he shredded his ACL in the second game of the season last year. Much of the planned success for the Chiefs upcoming season lies on if Jamaal Charles returns to the form he had in 2010 when he lead the league in rushing. A dominate rushing game is a QB's and defensive's best friend in the NFL. Speaking of playing time...

2. Tackling Dummy:

Earlier this week Romeo Crennel had to field lots of questions about tackling during training camp. Actually the questions were centered more-so on the lack thereof when it comes to hitting and tackling. Thanks to the massive decrease in the number of padded practices and how physical teams can practice this is now an issue. That is why I expect to see a lot of the starters for the Chiefs play longer than they have in previous preseason games.

Romeo Crennel indicated as much when he told the media that his players should not expect to only play a series or two. Do I think RAC is going to play his starters deep into the 2nd quarter? Hell no, I do not. But playing more than the typical one series looks to be scrapped. You can't have your players hit in practice so you might as well take advantage of the preseason games. I have faith that RAC will find the right balance between making sure the players get their work in without being reckless. Speaking of getting reps...

3. One backup QB spot to rule them all:

The battle for the number 2 spot on the QB depth chart this season takes place between veteran Brady Quinn and second year 5th round draft pick Ricky Stanzi. Since there are not many front line/starter position battles with the Chiefs, the backup QB has been the hot item to discuss. This game is the first step in seeing which one of the players gets the early leg up in this competition. I expect Quinn to come out of Friday's game with the advantage.

4. The Amazing Jon Baldwin:

Is Jon Baldwin for real? This game will do a lot to sway me in the direction of amazing. Looking awesome against a bunch of your teammates in training camp is one thing. Doing it against another team in a live game is a totally different beast. Like everything with this game it is only preseason but we were unable to see Baldwin in the preseason last year due to his locker room altercation with Thomas Jones. This is the first chance to see if Baldwin has really matured and is the gym rat that he appears to be up in St. Joe. The stage is yours, Mr. Baldwin. Speaking of the stage...

5. Bowe Show sidelined:

Will Dwayne Bowe get mentioned during the TV broadcast of the Chiefs game tonight? The Chiefs are now in total control of the on-air production of the telecast. Is the broadcast instructed to have no mention of Mr. Bowe or do they use it as a tool to keep the Jon Baldwin hype train moving? I would lean towards the latter.

Dwayne Bowe will be watching, so why not use this as an opportunity to needle Bowe a little? There is a chance it could backfire but the only way that would happen is if Bowe sat out regular season games. The chances of that happening are about as good as me getting cast as Bruce Wayne to keep The Dark Knight franchise going.

I wonder what Dwayne Bowe has been doing with all of his free time since he is not at training camp? Did he get caught up on Breaking Bad over the summer? How many times did he see The Dark Knight? Did he finally get around to reading Kafka's Metamorphosis or Jay-Z's Decoded? Am I the only one that wonders these things? Probably so.

Follow me on twitter @craig_a_brenner and until next week peace out.