Dwayne Bowe has caught the eye of coach Todd Haley and gotten out of his dog house.
Haley has been strong in his praise of Bowe throughout training camp, saying repeatedly that Bowe has done the hard work in the offseason and strived to develop the little things that are critical to improving his overall game, from blocking to better situational awareness on the field.
"He's doing all the things that are asked of him, he's working very hard, he's focused and I think that it's showing up and I think that the sky is the limit," Haley said this week, according to a transcript posted on the Chiefs' Website. "He's just got to continue to stay focused and do those things that will make him a good player in the league and he understands it and I think there are good signs coming from Dwayne Bowe."
Friday's preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles was a case in point, where he threw some key blocks to help advance the Chiefs running game while making four catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.
"He's got a big body, strong, should be a real good blocker that can help us in the run game," Haley said. "Those guys earn the right to make plays because when they're doing the dirty work to allow us to move the football and have success that way, they earn the right to catch touchdowns, make plays and make the ESPN highlight reel."
But the true test for Bowe, and the rest of the Chiefs, won't really come until the regular season when they can bring to bear their development and offseason work into games that matter.
"That's what the offseason, that's what training camp and preseason are for, to get ready to play the real games," Haley said. "I feel like to this point, we are showing continued progress that I expect to keep going."
Bowe will be looking to bounce back from a subpar 2009 season when he had 47 receptions for 589 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games. Over his first two seasons in the league, Bowe had a combined 156 catches for 2,017 yards and 12 touchdowns.
