Wow, that was a ton to take in over the first 30 minutes. The Kansas City Chiefs are leading the Arizona Cardinals 17-10 at halftime in their preseason opener, mostly because Chase Daniel looks like Joe Montana. Arizona took a 10-0 lead after scoring on its first possession and then capitalizing on an Alex Smith interception, but Kansas City has rolled since.
So, what have we learned so far?
Offensive line looks good
Eric Fisher was really playing some great football in the first quarter. There was one play where Fisher was beaten to the inside, only to recover and completely knock the rusher out of the pocket. It is things like that which will give Fisher the right to shed his “bust” label. The rest of the line also played well, including center Mitch Morse. There was only one play where Alex Smith really took heat up the gut, and that appeared to be because Knile Davis blocked the wrong guy.
Injuries mounting?
We don’t know the severity of any of these yet, but Jeff Allen, De’Anthony Thomas and Knile Davis all left with injuries. Davis limped off and has been ruled out with a knee injury. It didn’t look bad, but we will await word. Thomas also left and won’t return with a calf injury. Again, it didn’t look bad.
The other injury to Allen is more concerning. Allen was twisted down and while he walked off to the sideline, he was carted to the locker room. At this point, the Chiefs are simply calling it a knee injury. Let’s hope he isn’t lost for the season.
The returning guys on defense…
Derrick Johnson looked like his old self. Johnson did a great job to blow a play up at the goal line, submarining and taking out Andre Ellington. Mike DeVito also looked stout, at one point standing a Cardinals player up and slamming him to the turf. Of course, there was also Eric Berry. Berry played a little bit with the starters and then with the reserves, ;looking fine. Glad to see him back.
Chase Daniel to Fred Williams… yes please.
Daniel is absolutely lighting the Cardinals up. Daniel, despit facing decent pressure at times, is 13-of-16 for 145 yards with two touchdowns, including one to Williams and another to Frankie Hammond Jr. Meanwhile, Williams looks like he belongs. The youngster has six catches for 82 yards and the aforementioned score, including a beautiful 33-yard grab. He has caught every pass thrown his way.
Run defense is stout
The Chiefs finished 28th in the league last year against the run with Berry, Johnson and DeVito on the shelf. Tonight, the Chiefs have held the Cardinals to 30 yards on 14 carries, an average of 2.1. It’s a preseason game against a team without a great running attack, but that is still nice to see.
Overall
The Chiefs defense gave up a huge 57-yard pass to Ellington, but that isn’t a long-term concern. We know Kansas City has a great defense. Alex Smith also threw a bad interception to Tyrann Mahieu, but it is not like Smith is suddenly going to start tossing picks left and right. Again, a non-issue.
The most important things we wanted to see tonight were no injuries, good offensive line play and how the returning players looked. While we wait to see if we can check the first box, we can undoubtedly check the last two.
Check back here for postgame reaction.