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Rams Chop Chiefs, Take Home Governor's Cup

By Joel Thorman
Presswire
The KC Chiefs were dropped by the St. Louis Rams, 31-17, in the second preseason game of 2012. After a solid showing from KC against the Arizona Cardinals last week, the expectations were high this game but things didn't go quite the way we thought they would.

Some good things; some bad things. We talk about it all after the jump.
Trent Green's three keys to the game: 1.) Road trip 2.) Winning breeds winning 3.) Continue to stay healthy.

The Chiefs ACL crew is playing on turf tonight, which is a little different than the grass up in St. Joe. The Chiefs were cautious with the ACL crew when the team practiced on the artificial surface at Spratt Stadium.

Your Nike Chiefs away uniforms:

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Kicker Matt Szymanski continues to get work in the Chiefs preseason. He's handling the kicking duties to start the game. Doesn't mean Dustin Colquitt or Ryan Succop are in trouble, though. Bringing in another kicker in the preseason is normal.

The Rams start off hot with a 35-yard pass into Chiefs territory on their first play from scrimmage and then a bruising 18-yard run from Steven Jackson to start the game. And then...

Which led to...

Kendrick Lewis had a rough go of it on the Chiefs first defensive series. He was behind Danny Amendola as he caught the 35-yard pass and then he was dragged into the end zone by Lance Kendricks on the touchdown.

Jon Baldwin catches his first pass of the preseason and promptly fumbles the ball away.

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Dontari Poe had some nice pressure, forcing Sam Bradford to throw the ball away. Unfortunately, he threw it right into a Rams receiver's hands and on the following play, fourth down, the Rams scored a touchdown.

That said, I gotta give it up for Danny Amendola on this reception. Now that's impressive.

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The view from the other end on that touchdown:

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So, basically, the Rams are playing the role of the Chiefs last week and the Chiefs are playing the role of the Cardinals last week.

In the first six and a half minutes of the game, the Chiefs used two timeouts -- one on offense and one on defense.

All the love from last week appears to be leaving quickly...

We had our "Oh yeah Jamaal is back" moment midway through the first quarter when Charles caught a pass in the flat, made an immediate cut to make the initial defender miss and zip down the field for a nice gain.

"He just glides, doesn't he?" Paul Burmeister said of Jamaal Charles.

The Chiefs are down 14-0 after the first quarter. Life will go on though.

Dexter McCluster continues to look good. Cassel took the snap, faked the handoff and threw it to McCluster, who was set up for a receiver screen. He had nice blocking and followed his blockers to the first down marker and got the team into the red zone. I'm not sure a receiver who isn't as quick as him can get that first down.

The Chiefs finally get on the board with a Peyton Hillis touchdown run. He's no Marcus Allen diving over the pile but they all count the same. Hillis took three straight carries to punch it in.

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Missed opportunity for Stanford Routt. The Chiefs tipped a Sam Bradford pass and somehow Stanford Routt didn't make the catch. The ball landed right in front of him.

Heck of a play from Jalil Brown. The Rams punted the ball away and Brown was the first Chief to the ball, almost immediately after the return man made the catch. Better yet, Brown actually made the tackle, too. That's the type of play we don't notice a whole lot but if he doesn't make that tackle the returner could've tacked on another 10 yards easily.

Tamba Hali is dominating Barry Richardson seemingly on every play. Go back and re-watch this game and you'll see. Tamba's doing work even without the sacks. An example of Tamba's domination, with an assist from Amon Gordon...

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Kendrick Lewis came off the field in pain and frustration. He appeared to be hurt and threw his helmet down on the sidelines in frustration. The TV broadcast team said it looked like a shoulder. Lewis, by the way, had offseason shoulder surgery. Update: It's the same shoulder.

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Chiefs successfully operate a two-minute drill to pick up a field goal. KC started on their own 20 with 1:10 remaining in the first half. 12 yards to Shaun Draughn, 8 yards to Kevin Boss, incomplete to Boss, Draughn 9 yard rush, offsides penalty, 20 yards to Boss and incomplete to Baldwin. The final pass to Baldwin was a bomb into the end zone but it didn't look like Baldwin was able to track the ball right away.

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Cassel's final numbers: 13-of-18 for 142 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

Halftime score: Rams 17 Chiefs 10

Chiefs GM Scott Pioli on the first half: "Tonight it looked like the Rams came out at a much quicker tempo and came off the ball harder than us."

Your two sentence halftime analysis: Offense was good. Defense not so much.

Ricky Stanzi starts the second half for the Chiefs.

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Pioli on Ricky Stanzi: "What we need to see from Ricky is a little consistency."

Chiefs defense comes up big with a stop on fourth and two. Derrick Johnson, being as good as he always is, stepped up in the gap and plugged it to stuff Isaiah Pead on fourth down.

Ricky Stanzi started his drive at the end of the third quarter on the right foot. 9 yard completion to Shaun Draughn, 11 yards to Jamar Newsome and 4 yards to Draughn. All this was in a no-huddle offense. Unfortunately, that didn't last. Stanzi was pressured and when trying to escape he left the ball unprotected, resulting in a fumble and a turnover.

Stanzi's first two drives: 1.) Interception 2.) Fumble

Dumb mistake by the Chiefs. Mike McNeill makes a catch in the middle of the field and he was untouched. You see Terrance Parks jumping over him. McNeill, realizing he wasn't touched by any Chiefs defenders, just got up and started running. Doh!

Brady Quinn makes his first appearance with just over 9 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Trent Green said in the broadcast that the Chiefs taking Stanzi out and giving Quinn some fourth quarter snaps was perhaps an indication that Quinn is leading the backup quarterback battle.

It's getting ugly. Rob Bruggeman snapped it when Brady Quinn wasn't looking resulting in a fumble. Quinn was able to hang on to it though.

The best of the backup quarterbacks? That would be Brady Quinn, who completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Horne.

This game qualifies as a slight disappointment because my expectations were high. The Chiefs can't beat the Rams in preseason Week 2. Final score: 31-17, Rams.

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