The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Atlanta Falcons in the preseason opener on Friday night.
There are a couple of big connections: Chiefs GM Scott Pioli previously worked with Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff in New England. And then of course there's that guy Tony Gonzalez. I seem to remember him playing in red....
I've got a whole bunch of Chiefs and Falcons connections courtesy of the Chiefs release on the game.
Chiefs GM Scott Pioli (2000-08) and Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff (2002-07) both worked together with the Patriots.
Chiefs DBs coach Emmitt Thomas served as the secondary coach (2002-03), senior defensive assistant/secondary coach (2004-06), DBs coach (2007) and assistant head coach/secondary coach (2008-09) for Atlanta. He served as the Falcons interim head coach for the final three games of the 2007 season.
Chiefs special teams coach Steve Hoffman was an assistant special teams coach with the Falcons (2006).
Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez played 12 seasons with the Chiefs (97-08), while T Will Svitek spent three seasons with the Chiefs (2005-07).
Atlanta Director of Athletic Performance Jeff Fish served as a strength coach for the Chiefs (98-00) and head strength coach at Missouri (2001-03).
Chiefs DL coach Anthony Pleasant played one season with Atlanta (97).
Chiefs LB Demorrio Williams played with Atlanta (2004-07).
Chiefs director of college scouting Phil Emery (2004-2008) and director of pro personnel Ray Farmer (2002-05) worked with Atlanta.
Chiefs LBs coach Gary Gibbs was the assistant defensive coordinator at Georgia (2000).
Chiefs FB Mike Cox played at Georgia Tech.
Chiefs LB Derrick Johnson is the cousin of WR Bert Emanuel, who played with Atlanta (94-97).
Chiefs TE Leonard Pope is a native of Americus, GA and played collegiately at Georgia.
Chiefs S Eric Berry is a native of Fairburn, GA.
Falcons assistant OL coach Paul Dunn coached at Kansas State (98-02).
Atlanta assistant special teams coach Eric Sutulovic coached at Kansas (2006).
Atlanta S William Moore and LB Sean Weatherspoon played at Missouri.
Falcons WR Kerry Meier played at Kansas.
Chiefs assistant head coach Maurice Carthon's son, Ran Carthon, is a pro scout with Atlanta.