Earning Their Arrowheads

Now that the Kansas City Chiefs have returned to football (sort of) we return to our “Earning Their Arrowheads” series.

Following every game, we’ll hand out Arrowheads to the players who earned them. Not a lot of arrowheads to give out today but let’s find some silver lining anyway.

1. Thomas Jones

Jones looked good on his two carries Friday night. He had 25 yards on two touches, including a nice 17-yard scamper. Jones looked pretty explosive off the line and demonstrated some nice cutback ability. Once in the open field, however, it was evident Jones has lost more than a step. That is ok, though because Jamaal Charles has enough speed for both of them. I think as long as the Chiefs use Jones properly, he can still present plenty of value. If they overuse him, however, they will hurt his productivity.

2. Dexter McCluster

McCluster only got a couple of carries and he only gained six yards but he did have a nice eight yard run. I am giving McCluster an arrowhead because he demonstrated nice speed, shiftiness and vision on his long run. Mccluster never seemed to be the same after his injury last season. For a guy that relies so much on his speed, being healthy is huge. If McCluster can keep from getting killed, he could do some damage getting some carries on third down.

3. Ricky Stanzi

The pass protection was so bad when Stanzi was on the field that he gets an arrowhead just for not getting killed.

Seriously though, while it is hard to say Stanzi looked good per-say, he showed some nice pocket awareness and impressive athleticism. He also found Jon Baldwin on a nice 14-yard slant. I’m am looking forward to seeing more from this kid.

4. Jon Baldwin

Baldwin didn’t get to play with the first stingers but he had a couple of nice moments that showed his potential. We already mentioned his catch for 14-yards from Stanzie. Baldwin did a nice job of using his big frame to shield the ball from the defender. Stanzi put the ball right in his gut and Baldwin brought it in.

Later, he had a ridiculous bobbled catch on an overthrown ball. Stanzie reached back over the defender and flipped the ball to himself. He tracked the ball as he went to the ground and reeled it in. The catch didn’t count because the rookie had fallen out of bounds but I am pretty sure from the replay that the ball never touched the ground. Catch or no catch, it was impressive.

That is it this time around. The Chiefs clearly had no intention of competing in this game. I wouldn’t put to much stock in last night’s performance because hardly any of KC’s starters played. The Chiefs seemed to want to get out of there without anybody getting hurt and they managed it.

It is time for the Chiefs to get back to work and to get their starters prepared to take some snaps next week.

What do you think Addicts? Did anyone deserve an arrowhead?