Kansas City “Wins” In Preseason Game 1: Chiefs 13, Saints 17

If you were a Chiefs fan and watching the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night, you could feel the winning… and you could feel the losing.

The first quarter had that blatant winning feeling. New Chiefs QB Alex Smith went seven of eight in the passing game, looked ever so dapper in a Chiefs uniform, and made the Saints’ first team defense look like seconds.

Dexter McCluster made his pre-Pro Bowl season debut.

Anthony Fasano somehow looked like a Parcelsian tight end.

Jamaal Charles — “JC” in our hearts — was the obvious focus of the offense and scored a TD up the gut at the end of drive one.

In fact, the first team offensive unit played so good, Andy Reid decided to extend their offseason for the rest of the game.

Although the final score didn’t reflect a win, the Chiefs did. This wasn’t just a moral victory either. The Chiefs “winning” was going on all over the field and throughout the game.

You see, after years of Chiefs players making one flabbergastingly stupid play after another, it was a big positive to watch most of this game, until Tyler Shoemaker decided to field a punt at the goal line and then only returned it for 8 yards. I don’t mind seeing young players “go for it” or “take a chance” every now and then but, this game’s final score was still in play and Shoemaker pinned the Chiefs on their own 8-yard line in the fourth quarter.

That sounds more like something a Crennel/Pioli-led team might do.

Although it was once “again” the second and third units for the Chiefs who lost-won-lost this game in the final score, at least the outcome of this one was in doubt until the very end. In fact, several second and third team players played very well. And that, was a victory.

Since his arrival, you could see GM John Dorsey treating the bottom of the Chiefs roster like it was the Boomerang ride at Worlds of Fun, and it’s been by necessity. You can almost hear him announcing, “Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and remember the ride only lasts for a minute, then you’ll need to jump right off to make room for the next riders … that is of course unless you prove yourself to be a diamond in the rough.”

In past years, “depth” has been a big issue for the Chiefs and it looks like Dorsey is leaving no stone unturned to resolve that issue.

When the Chiefs first team defense stepped onto the field and forced the record-breaking Drew Brees and his Saints right off of the field, a six-and-out performance, once again, it became a win-win situation for the Chiefs.

• 2013 Chiefs offense good? Check!
• 2013 Chiefs defense good? Check!

When the special team units put together runs of 79-31-55 it sounded like the freakish measurements of Mae West but in this case, that’s a very good thing. Dexter McCluster, Devon Wylie, Quintin Demps and especially Knile Davis all looked curvy-swervy good in the return game, bordering on great.

How can you not count that as a win? After all, the return game almost won the whole game for the Chiefs and you can easily foresee a time when it will.

In fact, it was the special teams — returns, punts and kickoffs — that made the Chiefs’ loss of time of possession stand out less because in every case, it gave the Saints a longer field to work with.

• 2013 Chiefs special teams good? Check!

Winning again.

Were there penalties and mistakes to be corrected? Yes, but nothing too ungodly, except for maybe…

Chiefs CB Vince Agnew not only gave up two TDs, the Saints were picking on him all night long. CB Jalil Brown didn’t look sharp either in this contest but other DBs did shine like S Bradley McDougald out of Kansas, S Greg Castillo from Iowa, DB Neiko Thorpe from Auburn and DB Tysyn Hartman from Kansas State, who happened to have the Chiefs’ only interception.

Two steps back, four steps forward.

IOW: winning.

The biggest win of all was this: Kansas City Chiefs football is back. I often will say that I enjoy the offseason as much as the regular season but, I must say that on this Friday evening, watching a Chiefs game never seemed sweeter.

There’s a feeling involved there. And it’s a winning feeling!