The Saints Came Marching In

Okay, so let’s just get it all out on the table.  Watching last night’s game, where possibly the NFC’s best team came to Arrowhead and made the Red and Gold look VERY bad in a 30-7 blowout was painful.  The phrase “it was just a preseason game” doesn’t make that ache in your gut feel any better either.

The defense seemed to be able to compete somewhat with the NFL’s top offense from last season, but you can’t get rid of this nasty feeling that our offense looked like it couldn’t even play in this league.

The popular discussion on the talk shows might be that Brodie Croyle was terrible, or that our receivers didn’t come to play.  Maybe that is all true.  But I’d like to direct your attention to Will Svitek.

This dude got run over again and again last night.  Again and again and again.  Now, I don’t think Brodie gets off the hook because of this, nor do I think that our backs and receivers can hold their heads high after their efforts last night.  But man, there were times Will Svitek was even holding (though it didn’t get called) and still got run over.  Bless his heart, the dude got smoked.

It was quite reminiscent of last year’s playoff loss to Indy where Dwight Freeney left tire tracks on Jordan Black for 16 offensive snaps in a row.  They still show that highlight reel on NFL Total Access at least three days a week.  Sheesh. 

Thankfully, the Chiefs brass understand this fact very well, and signed tackle Damion McIntosh within minutes of the opening of Free Agency.  Now, we can see that his health will be the key to our offensive success.  Right Tackle is still an enigma, both Chris Terry and Kyle Turley struggled at times, but both flashed at times.  Terry’s holding penalty might be the difference in the competition between the two.

The Chiefs have proven that they can manage an occasional screen door on the right side, but no team can move the chains when both sides are crumbling.  Damion, buddy, please get your butt ready for the Texans.

But hey, if we are going to spotlight players, man take a look at 91.  The dude has been getting no props.  Tamba Hali lit it up once again last night.  You don’t get consistently double teamed by the other team unless you are playing well.  It seems right now that only an injury could keep him out of the pro bowl.

I specifically watched the Saints’ O-Line to see which poison they would choose on passing downs, Tamba or Jared Allen.  They frequently doubled Tamba on third down, which left Jared singled up on the other side, which he exploited well.  But man, for those of us who watched Hard Knocks this week, Tamba doesn’t want to quit his day job: rapping is not for you buddy.

On running plays, there was a consistent effort by New Orleans to double Tank Tyler when he was on the field.  I watched for 93 and saw him beat those double teams on at least two plays.  We got us a first round-equivalent talent right there my fellow Chiefs fans.  Again, if we can avoid the injury bug, our defensive line will be the best we’ve fielded since 1997.

There, hopefully that ache in your gut is feeling just a tad bit better now.