FanPost

What I Saw in Preseason Week 1: Observations

Happy One Year Anniversary for this series. It has been a good year for this series. From the first one to the shutout of the Raiders that got Front Paged.

Any ways back to the job at hand. Instead of a like and dislike, I am going to give observations from the game. I know these will likely change but oh well.

So here we go...

  • Maneri is the Man- Steve Maneri may very well be the diamond in the rough. He was an OT last season but dropped 46 lbs and moved to TE. This paid off, so it appears. My biggest doubt was his hands. Well that went out the window. He caught everything in the area. Three catches for 49 yards for 23 yards a piece. Not bad for a former OT. On one of the catches it resembled his catch against the Steelers last year (I wonder if Troy even remembers that). Three TE's that can catch AND block. I will take it. In that third Tight End spot, Steve looks to be in front.
  • First Team Offense is Sick- Two drives, two TD's. Not only that, none of the big players were among them. Shaun Draughn and Peyton Hillis scored them. While Hillis is a big part of the offense, he is not one of the stars (how long was it that you can say that about the Chiefs). The Chiefs were running the ball at will and Dexter McCluster was catching the ball and no draws from him. Kevin Boss and Tony Moeaki didn't have their name called, and in this case, it was a good thing. They were drilling holes. Matt Cassel looked good except for a Baldwin drop.
  • Break out the Red Carpet- In this case I am referring to the Chiefs Defense. The Defense did not budge in terms of the run. Anthony Toribio had a nice break up and Derrick Johnson was being DJ. Even Belcher got in on it. In terms of the other units, Poe had a sack AND drug someone else down with him. Even the third string guys did well. Siler and Greenwood had a massive stop, Edgar Jones did to and the former military man Caleb Campbell. Really my only doubts on the defensive side is the secondary. Too many big gains given up.
  • Front 7 has depth- Many peoples fear was that the front seven (namely the Linebackers) lacked depth. Well throw that out the window now. If Tamba goes down, I will feel more than comfortable with Houston sliding over or Cameron Sheffield playing in his place. While Cory Greenwood is far from DJ, he did shoot the gap and stopped a runner cold. Brandon Siler is going to give Jovan Belcher a run for his money. Although if Belcher can improve in the pass department, he is not going to get upseated.
  • Offensive Line looks good- The starting OL looked solid. The days of hearing a certain St. Louis Rams RT getting called for holding is gone. The Chiefs can now run to the right and get some yardage. Eric Winston helped Arian Foster win the rushing title and no offense, I will take Jamaal Charles over him ANY day. In terms of the back ups, you can tell Donald Stephenson has work to do. Jeff Allen looked OK, I just wish he was playing G instead of LT during that game. The fact that Donald Stephenson was the only Chiefs OL to get called for a penalty is impressive. I really hope the UDFA Center from Iowa makes the team as a member of the PS. Can't say much about the OL.
  • Pressure is good- The Chiefs were making the Arizona QB's uncomfortable all night. They generated 7 sacks on the day. Not bad considering half of those came from the guys fighting for a roster spot. Justin Houston picked up right where he left off last season, Dontari Poe is going to be a force to be reckoned with (got a sack and dragged a player with him). Keep in mind when Poe got the sack, there were 2 or 3 other Chiefs around the QB.
  • ACL Crew hasn't lost a step- Jamaal Charles ripped off like a man on a mission and got popped good and even landed on the knee. Didn't see much of Tony Moeaki as he was busy busting holes open. Eric Berry was everywhere and you could tell he is glad to be back. In other injuries, Brandon Siler looked as good as he did pre-injury. And the one IR guy that seemed to go unoticed was Matt Cassel. Daboll's system seems to work well for him. 5-6 with a TD. His only incompletion was from Baldwin.
  • We do not have the worst QB situation in the West- This is speaking of both the AFC and NFC West. Arizona's QB situation is downright terrible, Seattle hasn't gotten it figured out, San Diego has a UDFA for a backup, Denver has Caleb Hanie and a raw rookie, Oakland has two Heismann Trophy winners (ironically the two men Cassel sat behind at USC). At least we know Matt Cassel is our starter and I feel comfortable with our backup situation. Fact is that if Rivers, Manning or Palmer go down, they are boned.
  • One down and Three to go- Only three preseason games to go guys and then Atlanta comes to Arrowhead.
Conclusions: I know its only preseason but I can already tell that this team is going to go places. Other than QB, there is not a starting position that doesn't need to be upgraded. Based off this one game, I would say that the Chiefs could go 12-4 and no worse than 9-7 barring a catastrophic meltdown.
Oh and good luck BJ in the rock 50 contest.
I leave you with gifs from one Clay Wendler.
Landshark_medium

via cdn0.sbnation.com

Belcher_medium

via cdn2.sbnation.com


This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.