Leftover from St. Louis Game
From Arrowhead Stadium
Going into Thursday night’s pre-season finale, the returner job was Dantrell Savage’s to lose.
And then he lost the handle on the opening kickoff, fumbling the ball away and setting up the St. Louis offense at the Chiefs 22-yard line.
Suddenly, there’s doubt. Savage came back and did a great job on his return opportunities, taking back two punts for 26 yards and two kickoffs for 46 yards, including a 40-yarder.
But when you are a rookie returner, you don’t want to put that doubt in the head coach’s mind, especially just hours before the final cutdown date.Â
Complicating matters now is the hamstring injury to B.J. Sams. Until he ripped off a pair of nice returns Thursday night, Sams had shown nothing as a return man. He’s had a history of injuries and the question now is not about his ability, but availability.
Some other comments and thoughts from the Chiefs victory:
- Rookie Mike Cox seems to have established himself as the starting fullback, when the Chiefs use an extra back. He caught two passes and turned them into 31 yards, including a 24-yard play.
-The Chiefs quarterbacks have worked all through the pre-season on their cadence and they caught the Rams defense with an offsides call. Expect to see a lot of that this year. Center Rudy Niswanger has been schooled that if he sees someone jump, he’s to snap the ball and then Croyle immediately takes a knee.
-At one point in the first quarter, with the Chiefs No. 1 defense on the field, Gunther Cunningham brought out the Vulture defense. Tamba Hali lined up
-With Tony Gonzalez not playing Thursday night, Chan Gailey got creative with his schemes, at least for a pre-season game. The Chiefs took a lot of snaps with a two-back, three wide receiver set. Obviously, if Gonzalez is part of the game plan, they won’t use that, but it gives opponents something else to study.
-The nicest run of the night was by Jamaal Charles, who turned a loss into a nine-yard gain. In fact, it turned out to be a 24-yard play because of a personal foul call against St. Louis when the Rams defensive back tackled Charles out of bounds.
-S Bernard Pollard got the piece of a Rams punt, deflecting the ball and the kick went for just 12 yards. He has been close all during the pre-season coming off the edge and that tape is going to be dissected and dissected by opponents. If Mike Priefer can find somebody on the other side to draw attention as a punt blocker, the Chiefs could have a big year against the punt.
Bob,
Love the site and the dialogue.
1) Savage - I’m a huge fan right now. I know he fumbled and that is inexcusable. But let’s not forget that Sams had a huge fumble last week (he got lucky on the penalty). Further, Savage can actually play as part of the offense…Sams offers nothing else.
2) Why does Croyle take a knee when they catch someone offsides? That used to be known as a “free play”, a time to take a shot down the field.
Savage is still the easy choice if we are really in a “youth movement”. Sams is already at his ceiling.
Taking a knee on a free play is so “Hermservative”
Thats STUPID to take a knee on a free play!!
“At one point in the first quarter, with the Chiefs No. 1 defense on the field, Gunther Cunningham brought out the Vulture defense. Tamba Hali lined up”
…And???
Yeah, taking a knee is stupid…unless it turns out the flag was NOT for off sides, and the ‘free play’ (say a pass) ends up being intercepted or the (say) runner fumbles - and in one matter or the other the defense recovers. It might be and very probably is a free play, but don’t make presumptions or assume. Maybe an offensive player’s guilty of something.
Bob,
It seems as though we all have the same thinking…I’ve noticed all preseason that Croyle and Niswanger are quick w/ their move to catch the D offsides. I now know it is b/c it’s what they are instructed to do. The question is, will they eventually try to catch the entire D sleeping with this “free” play? We see Manning and other QB’s do this all the time.
Thanks,
Well so much for the sentiment of that individual who claimed that Barth ‘kicked’ Feely’s behind & would be the KC kicker in 2008 - the Chiefs have waived Barth and will go with Novak…guess Nick ‘kicked’ Barth’s behind, huh?
No matter, another vet (at least 1) will likely be in here anyway before seasons end to ‘boot’ the incumbent nee flavor of the moment.
Bob,
Any idea why we didn’t try for the 50 yd field goal in the 4th quarter last night? Is it an issue of range for Novak or Barth?…field conditions…wind?
I know Herm has been looking for opportunities to kick field goals, so I was a little surprised to see us not take advantage of that opportunity. It sounded like Carl might have been surprised too as he was in the TV booth during that sequence.
Obviously you don’t want to be reckless with the “free play”, unless you actually see the flag and know for sure. And what if it wasn’t a penalty? Would you rather run the play you planned or kneel down to lose 2 yards and the down? If the latter is preferred, shouldn’t Herm be kneeling down all 3 downs?
I agree on Savage, thats two straight games where he opened poorly…
As for the Kicker situation, it was tough when savage dropped that screen pass, and Mcmahon dropped a 3rd down pass as well, both wouldve set up field goal tries.
Returner, Kicker, 5th Corner, Battle or no Battle? All questions Im glad I dont have to answer.
Hey Blake…
about the field goal, I was thinking Herm had his mind 98% made up who he wanted as kicker going into the game and if they had attempted that 50 yarder it could have complicated things all over again, if he was set on novak and barth made it then what…or if he was set on novak and he missed it then theres doubt…..just a thought.
August 29, 2008 - Rin Tin Tin says:
Well so much for the sentiment of that individual who claimed that Barth ‘kicked’ Feely’s behind & would be the KC kicker in 2008 - the Chiefs have waived Barth and will go with Novak…guess Nick ‘kicked’ Barth’s behind, huh?
No matter, another vet (at least 1) will likely be in here anyway before seasons end to ‘boot’ the incumbent nee flavor of the moment.
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At least they didn’t just go with the old vet “name”. I think they should have gone with Barth, he’s younger, has a slightly stronger leg, and doesn’t have the stench of NFL failure that Novak has, but at least they went with one of the 2 guys who booted Feeley’s butt out of town. I think this is the wrong decision, but I can’t argue it as much as I argued, successfully luckily, the Feeley pickup.
I’ve decided not to get caught up in the minor nuances of this team as they have many issues still to sort out before they can be labeled a contender, so, I’m chillin’.
I think what you guys don’t realize about how they draw the offsides call is that Niswanger is snapping the ball when the defensive player is in the neutral zone and not on the designated snap count. So even though he snaps it and Brodie takes it. The rest of the offense is still set. You can call it stupid, but if I was Brodie I wouldn’t want to drop back while my o lineman are still squatting and my receivers are still standing. Would you? Thats just an invite for a Defensive free play… Or free shot anyways.
I agree Adam. This is strictly a call between Niswanger and Croyle. If Brody actually took the snap and went back to pass, he’d get killed because no one else would be ready to protect him, and no WR will go downfield.
Hey Nick…
That makes a lot of sense to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. There would be a lot more confusion if he was more or less “set” on Nick. Hey, your last name isn’t Novak, is it?
Throw it away if the offensive line doesn’t respond fast enough. If they hit you late, that’s 15 free yards. I still see no reason why kneeling ALL the time is better.
If we play scared, we won’t win anything. That’s why Herm is a bad head coach, he plays scared.
Wow Jay A. Are you a critic or a fan? Playing smart isn’t playing scared and you can get an extra 15 yards if your lucky. Or you can just get your QB killed and possible an Intentional Grounding because he doesn’t have the time to escape the box. Take your five… Why get get greedy.