Key observations from Chiefs' preseason loss to Saints
The Kansas City Chiefs' preseason Week 1 tilt against the New Orleans Saints didn't start off or end the way the team had hoped. A last-minute turnover saw the team ripping defeat from the arms of victory. Despite the error to end the game, there was a lot of good to be observed in the […]
The Kansas City Chiefs' preseason Week 1 tilt against the New Orleans Saints didn't start off or end the way the team had hoped. A last-minute turnover saw the team ripping defeat from the arms of victory.
Despite the error to end the game, there was a lot of good to be observed in the team's first preseason action. It's easy to look at what went wrong, but there were plenty of encouraging signs on both sides of the ball. The type that should leave fans excited for September, when the games begin to count during the upcoming NFL season.
Here are three of the best things that I observed during the course of the game:
Offensive tackles looked good in short glimpse
Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor played just nine snaps each, but they looked good in the very brief period of time they were on the field. It's admittedly not the biggest sample size, but as Patrick Mahomes said, he wanted to get a few snaps with these guys early to begin figuring out their tendencies. It feels like they were able to accomplish that.
Taylor got out of his stance a little early on his first snap, but not early enough to get called for a false start. That's a veteran skill. On his third snap, he met a little resistance in the run game, but it didn't stop Clyde Edwards-Helaire from a positive gain. On his fourth snap, Taylor made it to the second level, but he missed his mark. The effort could have been better. On his fifth snap, he was able to reset his anchor and stonewall the defensive lineman.
As for Smith, well, he looked quite impressive on the blind side. On the first play offensive play for Kansas City, he handled a bull rush from Saints DE Carl Granderson. Later on in the drive, he washed Saints DT Nathan Shepherd down the line for a beautiful pancake block.
This was a really good start for the duo and gives them something to build off of heading into preseason Week 2 in Arizona.
Blitz game is in midseason form
Steve Spagnuolo is known for his elaborate blitz packages, and it looks like he'll be using them frequently this season. The Chiefs managed two sacks on blitzes, one from rookie safety Chamarri Conner and another from free agent LB Drue Tranquill.
Conner came on a double safety blitz with Deon Bush and wrapped up Jameis Winston with around 10 minutes to go in the second quarter. Tranquill came on a delayed blitz and worked his way through a guard to get to Winston with around a minute left in the second quarter.
Spagnuolo has a ton of defenders with the skill set to thrive when he sends extra pressure, whether it's off-ball linebackers, safeties, or cornerbacks. The four-man rush didn't look as bad as many made it out to be, and they even executed a stunt with Malik Herring and Danny Shelton that resulted in a sack.Deneric Prince looked great in pass protection
Deneric prince looked good in pass protection
One of the biggest adjustments that rookie running backs face in their adjustment to the NFL game is pass protection.
Deneric Prince has struggled with it at times in training camp, even getting some extra tutelage from Jerick McKinnon. You wouldn't know that from his preseason Week 1 performance, though.
At several key junctures in the game, he went low to make a block on a free blitzer. That includes on the biggest play of the day, a 43-yard bomb from Blaine Gabbert to Richie James.
Protection issues usually stop rookies from seeing the field early in their career, but right now it's looking like something that could help Prince see the field sooner than later.
Chiefs receiver depth shines in preseason Week 1
The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t get the win against the New Orleans Saints in preseason Week 1, but their wide receiver depth showed out during the game.
Feature image via NFL Network.
