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Chiefs-Rams final score: Some good, some bad from Kansas City’s 21-20 loss

The Kansas City Chiefs lost their second consecutive preseason game as the Los Angeles Rams come out on top, 21-20. The Chiefs were driving in field goal range down one with less than two minutes left but an Aaron Murray bobbled snap and fumble threw it away for them.

The Chiefs saw Alex Smith play most of the first half, Nick Foles play the third quarter and Aaron Murray play the fourth. As usual, there were some bright spots and some low spots.

A few things we saw here:

Final stats are here.

The good from the first team offense

Alex Smith and the Chiefs offense looked terrific on the first drive going 75 yards over 13 plays. The Chiefs featured multiple tight ends once again and Alex continued to find them. He also found Jeremy Maclin two times for 28 yards.. Maclin finished with 48 yards on three catches. There was a lot to like about the first drive.

The Chiefs third drive was also a beauty that resulted in a touchdown. Alex Smith hit Chris Conley on a 37-yard pass and a touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin on a 20-yard pass. BIG PLAY Alex Smith out there slinging it around! Watch those highlights here.

Chiefs run defense kinda sucks

There was not so much to like with the second drive for the first team. Rams DL Aaron Donald was abusing the Chiefs interior line. Donald is arguably the best defensive lineman in football (JJ who?) so I get it.

The Chiefs left guard, Parker Ehinger, is a rookie. He’s going against one of the best defensive linemen in football AND it appears that Mitch Morse was supposed to double team him. Clearly, Aaron Donald didn’t care. He is so good at shedding and closing on the quarterback. Man, I can’t even hate.

On that second drive as pressure came Alex quickly began to drop his eyes and start running. I haven’t seen the all-22 so I don’t know if he was not looking at his reads or if no one was open and pressure came too quick.

Chiefs run defense kinda sucks

This was a topic last week as the Seahawks were able to run pretty well against the Chiefs first team defense. The Rams had few problems running on the Chiefs, whether it was Todd Gurley or Bennie Cunningham.

This was probably the most frustrating thing to come out of this game. You can say that Eric Berry, Tamba Hali and Justin Houston returning will help but we don’t know when Houston will be back. Berry, a safety, won’t solve all the problems. Is Tamba even healthy enough? There are some questions about this defense that has me a little concerned. Is this the year the offense has to carry the defense?

The best pass of the night goes to...

Hey, one of my five things to watch tonight was Chris Conley so I’m glad to see this. Here’s what I love about this play: Conley wasn’t wide open when the ball was thrown. If you can notice in the corner of your screen it looks like Conley had maybe a step on the defender. Alex threw the ball anyway and he actually threw him open a little bit. IF Alex can add this to his repertoire on a regular basis, it’s going to be a really good year for him.

Maclin was ejected for fighting

LOL. Ejected in the preseason? Maclin is a gamer! I’m not sure what happened but he and Lamarcus Joyner were going at it for some reason. Maclin appeared to grab first, Joyner punched first and they were both ejected.

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