The Kansas City Chiefs turned in another ugly performance against the St. Louis Rams but that doesn’t mean there weren’t good individual performances.
Our “Earning Their Arrowheads” series is all about recognizing the players that showed up on Sunday…or in this case, Friday.
Let’s get to it.
Dexter McCluster
DMC showed up in a big way Friday night. He pulled in 5 catches for 37 yards. McCluster has been KC’s only play-maker this preseason on offense. When McCluster is healthy he is seriously dangerous. The Chiefs appear to be figuring out how to use him and that is one of the few positive signs we’ve seen from the offense this preseason.
Ricky Stanzi and Tyler Palko
The two backup QB’s are giving fans a reason to exhale a little bit. They have their problems but they appear to be settling down. Both guys played well against the Rams and showed they can move the football. There is a big lack of playing experience here but at least these guys don’t look clueless.
Cody Slate
We’ve been hearing for a couple years now about how good Slate looks in practice but we’ve never really seen him do anything on the field. Well, Slate arrived on Friday night, pulling in two catches for 50 yards. Unfortunately for him, the Chiefs are pretty well set at TE.
Jeremy Horne
Horne showed some promise last preseason and even got some looks in the early regular season before getting inured. He was then replaced by Verran Tucker. Horne has been quiet since but showed up in a big way on Friday. He had twp catches for 46 yards. Still, the Chiefs don’t have much room at WR. They could keep Horne or Tucker but probably not both.
Derrick Johnson
DJ was all over the place Friday, racking up eight tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss and a fantastic interception.
Justin Houston
The rookie got some looks with the starters. He is showing the ability to generate serious pressure. He has his eye on Andy Studebaker’s starting spot.
Cameron Sheffield
Sheffield didn’t record a lot of tackles but he looks good generating pressure.
Dustin Colquitt
The fact that Dustin had five punts inside the 20 is even more impressive when you consider how bad the punt protection was. Colquitt looks to be in pro bowl form this season. He very may well get there if the KC special teams can figure our how to block.
Who do you think earned their Arrowhead Friday night?