Red Friday Report: Chiefs prepare for Bengals on Saturday

Today’s Red Friday Report asks a question about Alex Smith before preparing you for the Bengals game on Saturday.

This week on the Red Friday Report, we’ve got an interesting question about Alex Smith that we all must consider. But first, game day details.

The second preseason game for the Kansas City Chiefs takes them on the road to visit the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Kickoff is on Saturday, August 19, at 6:00 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on CBS with Trent Green on color commentary, Carter Blackburn taking play-by-play duties, and B.J. Kissel roaming the sidelines.

Radio broadcast of the game can be found in Spanish on KCZZ 1480. Manning the color commentary is Oscar Monterroso. Enrique Morales will give you the play-by-play. On the sidelines you will find Leo Prieto.

The game will also be found on 101.1 The Fox, the longtime home of Chiefs radio. The crew this week will feature Kendall Gammon as the color commenter. Mitch Holthus will be giving the play-by-play, and Dani Welniak will be the sideline reporter.

Streaming is also an option for NFL Game Pass members. NFL Game Rewind package holders can also watch the game on demand once it has wrapped up.

Injury report

This week’s injury report has some familiar faces from last week. The biggest names there this time are linebacker Tamba Hali, defensive lineman Bennie Logan, cornerback Steven Nelson, and safety Eric Berry.  Hali is still on the physically unable to perform list for undisclosed reasons. Logan is listed as questionable with a knee injury. For the sake of our run defense, I hope Logan’s injury is not series and heals quickly.

Nelson is questionable with a groin injury. Let’s also hope this is nothing serious. Nelson is a key part of the defensive backfield, having earned his way into starting opposite rising star Marcus Peters.

Berry is still questionable with a heel injury. The Chiefs are smart to rest him or let him only play a few snaps while he deals with this issue. Risking our best defensive player’s heel and ending his season is not a smart move. Especially when Chiefs Kingdom is staring at a defense that is primed for greatness.

Matchups and players to watch

Here are a few matchups and players to keep an eye on for this game. The usual suspects are all here again. Keep an eye on Patrick Mahomes. He looked great last week, with the perspective of playing with and against 2nd and 3rd string players. Compared to how Tyler Bray and Joel Stave did, Mahomes looked stellar.

The wide receiver group is one to watch again. Their continued development and bonding stands to payoff in a huge and game-breaking way. Once Mahomes takes the reigns, this offense will hopefully shift into overdrive.

On defense, keep your eyes peeled for Tanoh Kpassagnon and Dee Ford. Special K has work to do, but has the potential to become a dominant player. Ford’s time starting this preseason and perhaps into the regular season will be critical in determining if he is worth keeping or not.

A matchup to consider is Peters covering A.J. Green. Both men are extremely talented and not to be taken lightly. It may be a preseason game, but this could give us some indication of how Peters will handle top receivers in his 3rd season.

Here’s another one to look at: Alex Smith vs the Bengals defense. That’s kind of broad but, Smith has played the Bengals just twice in his career without putting up a single touchdown or interceptions. Perhaps that no touchdown streak can be broken this week.

A question about Alex Smith

This question has a bit of a story behind it. I was conversing with a friend of mine the other day and was asked this question: “When Ryan Tannehill got hurt a couple weeks ago, would you have been ok with trading Smith to Miami?” Initially I looked at my friend with some confusion. My gut reaction was no. Then, my friend followed up with another question, this one being “Think about it. He is most likely gone next season anyway. The rebuilding and transition to Mahomes will start then, why not try to get something for him and start now? Do you honestly think we will win a Super Bowl with Smith?”

That made me think. Sure, I’ll concede that Smith has been the best quarterback that the Chiefs have had since the “glory” days of Matt Cassel in 2010. Are the odds in our favor to win the big game with Smith under center? Some would argue yes, some would argue no. I find myself in the “No” side of this discussion. We have seen Smith put the team on his back on a few occasions, but we have also had the displeasure of watching Smith ruin a game for his team.

Assuming that the Chiefs did trade Smith to the Dolphins, and also assuming we got back at least a 2nd round pick, I might be okay with putting Mahomes out onto the field. The issue with rushing Mahomes out there without time to learn is what if he catches RG3 syndrome and develops a habit that is detrimental to his overall play? It’s a necessary question if  that habit would not have manifested had he not been rushed right onto the field.

Wherever you may stand on this question, the biggest thing to ask ourselves with Smith at this point is, are we settling for mediocrity?

What do you think Addicts? Are we settling for mediocrity with Smith? Would you have taken that trade and risked Mahomes developing a bad habit that would harm his overall play? What players will you be watching this week? Thanks for reading and, of course, Go Chiefs!