Chiefs Preseason Game 2: Post Game Report

The Kansas City Chiefs second preseason was a tale of two halves. In the first half the Chiefs began the game much the same way they began game one: with a touchdown. The drive was efficient yet predictable but not predictable enough for the Los Angeles Rams to figure it out. It was your basic 16 play drive lasting about six and a half minutes ending with another Spencer Ware TD up the middle.

The first defensive drive did not have quite that success. The Rams marched right down the field and then repeated that process the second time scoring a touchdown both times they had the ball. Running up the middle of the Chiefs defense looked easy for the Rams. It looked like the Chiefs defense was truly missing some of their stars like Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Eric Berry. The secondary even looked worse. DC Bob Sutton was moving DB players around like unplanned chess moves.

The Chiefs second drive was 3-and-out. Coach Reid decided that he hadn’t seen enough out of his first team offense, with Alex Smith at the helm, and they didn’t let their coach down on a drive which included a 30 yard pass play to WR Chris Conley and a 20 yard pass to WR Jeremy Maclin for a touchdown. One of the low-lights of the game was seeing Jeremy Maclin thrown out of the game for fighting with a defensive back. A fight? no, not really… ti was more like a couple of shoves.

After the Rams fumbled on the second play of their next possession — a fumble Dontari Poe recovered at the 16 yard line — the Chiefs went on a strange drive that had them moving backwards at first, because of a penalty, then advancing to the 1/2 yard line, because of a penalty. However, they could not punch it into the end zone and had to settle for a field goal again.

The Chiefs led at the half by a score of 20-14 and the third quarter did nothing to change those numbers. The Chiefs had a couple of positives in the third quarter including, the defense looked better with the Chiefs second teamers… stopping the Rams second teamers… on the ground.

The 4th quarter started with the Chiefs driving but when that drive stalled Cairo Santos missed a field goal attempt opening the door for the Rams to score and take the lead… and that’s exactly what the did. QB Aaron Murray fumbled the ball on one drive moving the ball in the wrong direction. More penalties marred this game wiping out a couple of very good plays. Near the end of the 4th quarter the Chiefs were being led down the field by Aaron Murray when he fumbled again, losing the ball this time.

The Rams drive went nowhere and Murray had one more chance. Two incompletions and an out-of-bounds catch (which was reviewed) put the team in a 4th and 10. Another incomplete pass to Mike Williams ended the Chiefs chances and the Rams ran out the clock. The game ended with the Rams earning a 21-20 victory.

This game essentially accomplished most everything Andy Reid could want in terms of giving him tape to evaluate, about whose a keeper and whose not. Some of the second team offensive linemen looked good… except for the penalties. The second team defense looked good too… and so did RB Darren Reaves.

What did you think Chiefs fans? Was there someone else who stood out in preseason game 2 to you?