Commentary: Caution – Fans Backing Up
From the Georgia Dome
Beep, beep, beep.
That’s not the sound of Charlie Weis’ scooter backing up on the practice field.
Beep, beep, beep.
No, that’s the warning from the Chiefs bandwagon backing up to pick up all the folks who fell off after Friday night’s pre-season opener against the Atlanta Falcons.
Over the off-season and through two weeks in the sauna that has been training camp, enthusiasm for the Chiefs had been chugging along at a rather remarkable pace. For a team that finished the season 4-12, for an organization whose biggest free agent signings were a couple of coordinators and for business that was having trouble selling tickets, sponsorships, suites … the feeling about the team had grown surprisingly upbeat.
Welcome back to Mother Earth those that jumped on the red and gold bus. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
Do not make more of this evening and its outcome than what it is – the first pre-season game. It was played on August 13th, one month before the Chiefs play a game that counts on Monday night at Arrowhead Stadium against San Diego. There’s a lot of work to be done, and the Chiefs knew that before they took the field Friday evening.
But let what happened in the stuffy air of the Georgia Dome be a reminder that the Chiefs still have big problems. The biggest is the same troubling factor they had last year and the year before, and the year before that. They do not have enough talented players. We saw that in the first quarter when the first team groups of the Falcons and Chiefs went head-to-head.
No, the Birds didn’t blow out the Chiefs. It was their first game too. But the Atlanta defense didn’t let the Kansas City offense breathe and the Falcons offensive line pushed the Chiefs defensive front around like it was a varsity-JV scrimmage. NT Ron Edwards was invisible against the No. 1 center Todd McClure and the rest of the first team blockers.
DE Glenn Dorsey was making tackle after tackle, but unfortunately the plays were ending up behind him, not in front. Tyson Jackson, paging Tyson Jackson … please pick up the white paging telephone and let coordinator Romeo Crennel know where you were in those first 13 minutes before the Falcons sent their starters to the bench.
This was not good. Neither was the overall offensive performance by the Chiefs. For the most part, Todd Haley and Weis kept things very vanilla, like most coaches do in the pre-season. So that made the taste of this offensive performance very familiar and certainly unsatisfying for anyone expecting a little more twist and shake to the affair. They were able to run the ball with just about everybody on their roster save Thomas Jones – who only got two carries – so count that as a good sign.
Cassel was six of eight for 25 yards and he was sacked twice. That’s a nice completion percentage (75%), but that’s only 3.1 yards per attempt. He also fumbled the ball away on a sack, one of three Chiefs turnovers on the night.
Brodie Croyle was less that scintillating, hitting eight of 15 for 65 yards, but also throwing an interception that set up the game’s first touchdown. The Chiefs came out of the half-time locker room knowing they would have the ball to start the third quarter.
It was a perfect chance to put into play the half-time they had practiced Wednesday back in St. Joseph. Weis called a bomb on the first play, as rookie WR Jeremy Horne ran deep down the left side and got a step on his defender. Croyle threw the ball that far, but it sailed way out of bounds. He never gave Horne a chance to get his hands on the ball, let alone catch the thing and make a play. It was a quarterback mistake that rookies make and shouldn’t have come from a fifth-year quarterback.
On his next pass, Croyle threw well over the head of his receiver, who had no chance to catch the pass. But the Falcons safety was right there for the interception that set up Atlanta’s first touchdown.
In the breakdown of the game tape there will be pieces of the Chiefs performance that will be laudable and worth building on. They played tough, they never gave up, they kept working the plays that were sent their way.
They did all the things they did last year, including one thing they wanted to do different.
They lost.
Not very impressive, but it’s early yet. *sigh*
If I was going to try to motivate a player by putting him on the second team, it would be T. Jackson.
I hope there is a shuffling of players in the front seven, but even with that, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pioli picked up one or two players cut from other teams that could start for us. I’d keep an eye on the Ravens.
J. Charles and D. McCluster are stars and if given space can’t be stopped. I think our offense will be fine and it appears Arenas will give them better field position than what they had last year. Cassel doesn’t have to be that good to get this team up and down the field.
I’ll look at the tape again today, but it appeared that DJ and Belcher are the better ILB duo. Lokey looked pretty good, too.
We need another draft, a few free agents and some luck. But, it will be interesting to see if there’s improvement next week. That being said, I wouldn’t over-work Charles and McCluster in the pre-season. We’re going to need them.
Charles, McCluster and Arenas looked all the world like ascending players who deserved to be on the field. The rest of the Chiefs? Butt ugly. QB needed. Start there.
Sometimes I think some people let their emotions run wild right after a game, and overreact to a win or a loss by the Chiefs. When they lose, all is hopeless, lost. When they win, all is rosy, no doubts.
I wasn’t on any bandwagon floating on kool-aid before the game, nor was I among the doom and gloom crowd. I’m still right where I was, optimistic but realistic. This team is still taking shape, still “in process” as Haley has said a million times.
Admittedly, watching that first drive by the Falcons shot me back to last year, and I was getting sicker and sicker watching it. It looked the same, the run defense taking gash after gash. It was a horrible first series.
After that, though, the D seemed to calm down, and looked much better. Similarly, the offense, too, started slow but got better. Cassel didn’t play long enough to get anything going, neither did T. Jones. Croyle was too yo-yo, which I know Haley cannot stand. I was not impressed by Weigmann’s play at center. Is he too old, are they not putting him in the right position to succeed? I couldn’t tell. Ron Edwards gets absolutely pushed around at NT. It’s amazing how a guy that big can get moved out of a play that easily. Sorry big Ron, but everyone, anyone, looked better on the nose-Lokey, Brown, whoever. Mays and Williams are good backups and special teamers who occasionally play over their heads, but that trianlge there of Edwards, Mays and Williams is a disaster and busts the entire defense.
To be sure, many problems are apparent, but so are many positives the team can build on. T. Jackson was bad on the first series, but improved much as the game went on. I don’t know why, but many people seem to love to hate on the guy. He is getting better.
Was their some good stuff, some players who look like they have a future helping the Chiefs get back to respectable? Heck yes, more than I will mention because my post is too long already. But, here’s some that make me optimistic:
McCluster, what a weapon he may be
Charles, star is still rising
Offensive Line: shaky to start, better later. I think they’ll be fine. Like Lija, Asamough, impressed by improved Richardson (hope he’s ok)
Dorsey, continues to improve
Lokey, best nose on the team right now. Why is S. Smith not playing nose?
Linebackers, led by Hali and DJ. Studebaker, Walters, Sheffield and Belcher may be saviors of defense.
Entire defensive backfield. This group may be really, really good.
Speical Teams. Succop had an off night, but special teams might be a team strength heading into season.
I’m glad it was just the first preseason game. There’s no doubt there’s a ton of work to do, but I still like where this thing is going.