FanPost

View from my corner: Chiefs - Packers

Qualifier: I didn't take notes, I missed details on some plays while working the camera, I'm well up in 306, and I'm no kind of expert scout. That being said, here's my take-away from tonight's game, posted before I combed through our beloved AP for facts and details.



Firstly, since they did some new routing for incoming traffic, instead of going in through Gate 2, I got diverted to Gate 3, and I think that took me longer to get parked. Whatever the truth of it, I missed a bit of the 1st quarter, although not as much as last game. Concessions lines did run more smoothing, this time, though.

Reading jersey numbers has always been a challenge from where I sit, but the announcer helped to ID some guys, as always. Daniel wasn't a disaster, from what I watched, but neither was his performance notable. This time out, I rate him a "Meh", and even if there was any doubt about him making the roster, he did nothing to really downgrade his chances.

Hemmingway really helped his case to make the team, I think, and I thought Gray improved his hand, as well - if nothing else by contrast with Draughn, whose pair of missed blocks (for a sack and the safety) weren't exactly excusable for a non-rookie. Draughn also showed us nothing much on the ground, and if he had receptions of significance, I missed them.

Bray, on the other hand, was something of a bright spot, although he's got a lot of work ahead of him, if he makes this or any other roster. Unless I miss my guess, either through anticipation or other reasons, he appeared to have made an effort to establish some rhythm with Hemmingway, and if that was a deliberate choice on his part, it paid off tonight. It's also a good sign, if true, in that it indicates that he takes game prep seriously.

Beyond that, despite some screw-ups, Bray showed me that the game isn't too big for him. Despite the bumps in the road and the rough edges, he comes off to me as a viable development project. Doesn't mean he'll amount to anything, necessarily, but he doesn't strike me as a waste of time.

The Oline wasn't in tune with each other, which is about what I expected and to a certain extent understandable, if not excusable. Lots of work needs to be done across the Offense in general, to get everyone on the same page, on every play.

The D showed flashes, and had no horrible screw-ups that I noticed, although for some of them tackling needs work. Not really much I can say about that unit, good or bad.

The bright spot, of course, was with the ST units. Toub continues to show that whatever his salary is, he deserves every penny of it, if not more. Yet more impressive returns from various names (albeit some were called back). Succop appears to have upped his game, and Dustin continues to give me the impression that he's on a quest to show the world that he's worth the hefty new contract he got.

I didn't keep track, but I thought that penalties were a concern, especially a few which might degrade the potential of the recipients for finding a roster spot, here or anywhere else. Not deal-breakers, but some pretty dumb ones, if you follow.

Overall, the question is whether our backups are better than we realized, or if Green Bay got exposed as being horribly thin in depth. I think the answer is some of both, but to what extent for each, I can't say.

Finally, I know it's just pre-season, but Arrowhead managed to get excited, and at times was louder than I recall it ever being last season. Might even have caused a penalty or two, from the noise. And, of course, the final score deserves mention - several people I talked to were happily wondering (well, sorta happy about tonight, if not about the implications of it) as to how long it had been since last we saw a score as lopsided in our favor at the end of a game. Consensus was that if it wasn't back in 2010, we'd likely have to go back to the Green-Vermieil days. Not a good history, of course, but a very nice change of pace.

How did your game experience go? Hope it was as good as mine was. Go Chiefs!

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.