I'm jobless, waiting for school to start, and we only have antenna. All of that said to explain that nothing was on tv tonight, so I found myself watching the 1st half of the Patriots & Falcons game.

I didn't break down the game, but I did decide I would pay attention to some things since the Falcons were our first preseason opponent, last weekend. I wanted to pay particular attention to how well Atlanta's run offense fared against New England's defense, and use that somewhat as a gauge of our defense. Maybe I'm bored, or maybe I'm just really ready for Chiefs football. Anyway, some observations:

While Atlanta seemed to have little success running it behind the tackles and outside the tackles, they seemed to pretty much have their way running it up the middle. This makes me feel better about our defensive performance last week.

Also, I was prepared to say that we really need the presence of someone with hands, like Gonzalez, and then he dropped a pass he should have caught. Still, I couldn't help but notice the confidence and Swagger?? that both offenses displayed on the field; something that hasn't developed in KC yet.

New England's offensive line seemed to have their hands full with Atlanta's defensive line, especially in pass situations. The kickers for both teams were missing field goals...shorter ones than Ryan's. Is there something about Atlanta's dome?

If our offense is anything like New England's, it will be exciting, but somewhat boring (scheme-wise). But most importantly, it will be effective.

In the first couple quarters, the Patriots were running a three-rb rotation. They take advantage of role-players. Will Thomas Jones become our Faulk?

The broadcasters (Joe Buck and Troy Aikman) mentioned that with the rules changes and the move of the official from the defensive position, there would probably be more defensive holding; coaches would probably be all over that and coaching it up. If so, will this help our defense more than it could hurt our offense??

Oh, for what it is worth, missed field goal and all, the Falcons scored 3 points against New England in the first half. New England's offense fared considerably better than ours.

I feel somewhat better about our run defense seeing Atlanta basically duplicate their early success running up the middle against new england. Hopefully the team will continue to improve all the way around. All in all, the biggest difference between the two games would have to be the confidence....or the Old Spice Swagger.

We will continue to get a better idea of this team, what guys can do and can't do, against the Bucs. But for now, here is at least a comparison of how a playoff team compared facing a common preseason foe.