1st preseason game observations from a random fan

Is Cassel the Man?

I couldn’t care less about the final score. The preseason is about evaluating players, not winning games. The first preseason game is nothing more than a simulated intrasquad game

If you cant say anything bad about Croyle, you just dont say anything.

And a lot of those questions appear to be answered in the negative.

Disappointed by Ryan’s drops, especially. To go to more of a pro-style offense, they need a good blocker at TE. But if the best blocker can’t catch an easy pass on 3rd down, your offense has problems.

Cassel and Thigpen led a very similar offense last season from the shotgun, and it looks to be like Chiefs have gone further away from that to a more traditional pro-style offense.

What we see on the field definitely looks to be a contradiction to what made SENSE about bringing in Cassel and having Thiggy push him for starting time.

But Cassel looked pretty good, and Croyle threw some darts that were actually completed, out of the new look offense. Thiggy remains the guy who we want in there to punch the ball in from the red zone.

Hali looked very good getting into the backfield to make plays.

Jackson was very strong, and has superior ability for his position.

Run defense overall was very good

Running offense was pretty good… Battle and Savage are fighting hard for roster spots, and will be hard to cut.

There were plays that all 3 QBs made… I thought Cassel was right on the mark, but didn’t get much help from the receivers or the rain. Croyle looked sharp and strong. Thigpen looked scattered, but made plays.

Bowe is still the man, and will be all season.

OL still has some question marks, especially the 2nd string line.

Pollard can and will crush some people

Succop is the real thing at Kicker

Mays is earning a roster spot at ILB

McGraw still makes all the special teams plays, and he’ll be hard to cut

But I’d like to address everything discussed thus far;

I couldn’t care less about the final score. The preseason is about evaluating players, not winning games. The first preseason game is nothing more than a simulated intrasquad game

Agreed, with the one note being that this was a game to let our new guys and system try to gel together. Other than that, I completely agree. It’s like a preseason baseball game, it’s meaningless, and the final score means nothing.

I guess If you cant say anything bad about Croyle, you just dont say anything.

That is as good as it gets. Yep, he looked good going against backups with last season starters. What would you like to say about him? As far as I’m concerned, he’s the same Croyle: Accurate, great passer, smart, and injury-prone as hell. Is that a good option as a #2? Not to me, absolutely not. When he proves me wrong, I’ll be more than happy to acknowledge him as the future (ahem… again)

Need to figure out RT more than anything

Agreed. RT is still a position that is seriously at question. However, I think that Mcsackintosh has improved as last season went along, and is still improving. Don’t rule him out just yet, remember he’s still trying to learn the nuansces of a new position too… just like a lot of people on defense. That’s one thing that people seem to convieniently forget about last year. However, I agree there needs to be stability there, I just think that the RB’s should have that locked up if he fails on passing downs. (Disregard how well the RB’s do at pass blocking, that’s the general rule of thumb)

Maybe they’re hiding their hand? What we see on the field definitely looks to be a contradiction to what made SENSE about bringing in Cassel and having Thiggy push him for starting time.

Maybe, and that’s a HUGE maybe, but I don’t think so. I think this is what Haley wants to be, a run-first, tough football team. That’s where his roots are. However, they MIGHT be trying to be that traditional NFL team for the preseason before allowing Gailey to bring out all the stops in the regular season. As a casual fan, though, I just dont see that being the case. Haley has shown that he’s stubborn, and wants things done his way. I think when it’s proven to not work though, he’ll bend/fold before H.E. did (H.E.= the new Coors coach ;) )

Stagdsp, you made awesome points, I can’t argue against anything you said. I agree on all aspects there.

Liar! :)

Just got home…

Trying to catch up on things…

Overall sounds good, despite a loss…

I’m watching the game again, and noticed a couple of other things…

The kickoff and punt coverage is Much improved over last year…. special teams as a whole will be better… they just HAVE to find a returner

The front 7 are doing a good job applying pressure… even if they don’t get there for the sack, they will create a better defense by collapsing the pocket

The penalties were dumb, and the coaches will fix that… BUT, the team looks smarter overall, they played better “situational football” … and that’ll only get better.

Battle really ran well, and ran hard.

Cassel looks GOOD. Anyone who says otherwise didn’t watch him. Yes, he was 2-5, but at least 2 of those were dropped, and the offense was focused on running. His only real mistake was the fumbled snap… which could have been Rudy’s fault

Most of all, this was JUST the first preseason game, and there’s a LOT we didn’t see out of the Chiefs… I have a feeling we’ll be impressed when the true first units are out there

got a lot of reps at RG…
I thought he looked good in pass protection

I’m trying to watch the OL and TE…

one thing I noticed, there are a LOT of different bodies coming in and out of the game…

the coaching staff should have tape on every OL, every TE, and both fullbacks to evaluate the blockers.

But, Its VERY difficult for fans to get an accurate picture of how each lineman is doing…the cameras arent’ on them all the time, and it’s hard to tell who to blame when a block is misses.

Also, having so many players rotating hurts your OL performance, as they don’t get to play together as a starting unit