The Kansas City Chiefs lost 20-10 to the Atlanta Falcons in the first preseason game. Things didn't go quite as planned but not all was lost. There were a few bright spots with the team.
Here are five Chiefs who helped themselves on Friday night against the Falcons.
Tamba Hali
In Hali-style, his name won't show up on the stat sheet but he pressured the quarterback on a number of occasions.
Hali has had a quiet camp and, like I've said, he won't necessarily be the guy racking up sack after sack but he's making a difference on the field with quarterback pressures.
He's a high energy guy and hopefully his teammates can feed off of that.
Jamaal Charles
This game won't make the group of you screaming for Charles to be on the first team any quieter. Thomas Jones played just one series before Charles came in and ripped off three runs over 10 yards.
He ended with 37 yards on four carries including one that nearly got him into some very open field.
Basically, Charles picked up where he left off last season. If he's going to pass Jones on the first team, it will be with more performances like this. The offense, as a whole, was more alive when Charles was in the game.
Dexter McCluster
OK, so we hyped him up in training camp to a level where he was almost destined for failure. He didn't show off those open field moves we've been seeing in camp but he was, overall, productive.
At one point, he carried the ball on five of six plays for 25 yards. He was fast, hit the hole quickly and even showed off his hands catching three balls for 23 yards. He also had one drop on the Falcons side of the field that might have proved costly.
One thing I wanted to see from him was getting hit hard and getting back up. He's a smaller back so you wonder if he can handle the punishment. In the second quarter, he took a hard hit near the sidelines that sent him flying to the turf but he popped right back up and even had something to say to the defender.
Kestahn Moore
Way back at the beginning of camp, I said to keep an eye on him. He didn't light the world on fire Friday night but he did have a solid performance with few mistakes (a drop) which is what you need to see out of bottom-of-the-roster guys like Moore.
He had two carries for six yards and a pair of receptions for 21 yards. His 19-yard reception was the longest of the game that included a broken tackle to put the Chiefs inside the five yard-line with seconds remaining in the half.
Javier Arenas
This isn't so much about his play as a nickelback and cornerback. It's about special teams.
He averaged 28 yards on kick returns including one he took back to the 42-yard line.
The biggest play of the night, though, came on a play that never was. Arenas took a kick return at the goal line and got through the initial pile, hit the open field, stiff-armed the kicker to the ground and went 100 yards for the score.
Except it was called back for holding. The hold was far away from the ball and wouldn't have made a difference on the play so that's partly frustrating but also promising as far as Arenas' return ability goes.