Random Thoughts on the Bengals Preseason Game
 

Feel free to ignore. This is just a catchall for my thoughts on the game.

1. Alex Smith has absolutely nobody to throw to. I'm looking at as much of the field as is shown during the snaps, and nobody is getting open. I'm not even sure Avery and Jenkins played, and Bowe's not exactly known as a receiver who gets wide open anyways. This is extremely troubling, and dooms us against CB-heavy teams like the Seahawks, 49ers, and Patriots (as if we weren't doomed against them already).

The good news, however, is that our non-WR receiving corps looks strong. Charles still looks great. Fasano ran routes very well last night, and Kelce has serious promise. DAT looks like he could be sharp on routes, and another year should allow Davis to develop further.

But this is a team that had the fewest receptions and yardage at the WR corps of every other team in the league, and we didn't replenish any talent in the Draft, which only featured the deepest WR class in NFL history. ****. AND we lost what was a fairly critical piece of that package last year in Dexter McCluster. Basically this means that AJ Jenkins needs to explode this year, that DAT learns the ropes in the slot very quickly, and that Travis Kelce and/or Junior Hemingway takes off, somehow.

2. Really thought Fisher looked really good on all of two plays. I watched him like a hawk, and his runblocking looked far stronger than it ever was last year. Carlos Dunlap is a very big passrusher, however (he's around 290, I think?), and gave Fisher fits on two pass plays, which tells me that the achilles heel Fisher had last year (struggling against strong passrushers) is still going to be a problem this year. On the strip-sack Fisher gave up, Trent Green argued that Fisher did a solid job on the play, but Smith held the ball too long -- which gives me some hope that Fisher is coming along.

But Alex Smith does hold the ball too long, and takes sacks rather than throw down field. That's always been Smith's game. If that's the case, than it's going to be yet another atrocious year in the game threads as folks on this forum cry (justifiably or not) about Fisher struggling to come along. As long as he blocks for Alex Smith, he's going to give up coverage sacks. Last year, however, he was just beat like a rug -- I only saw that once yesterday, when Fisher greeted a bullrush too high and got pushed back into Alex Smith's lap.

3. God, we are so fast now. We've started noticing the trend that John Dorsey has an almost Al Davis-like fascination with speed, and that shows on the field now. Charles, DAT, Albert Wilson, Knile Davis, Donnie Avery, and AJ Jenkins. Travis Kelce burned folks on his long play, too. This is as much a track team as we've ever seen, and hopefully that can compensate on offense for our lack of receiving talent.

It's noticeable on defense as well. Dee Ford is so fast around the edge, James-Michael Johnson runs like a receiver, and it sure doesn't look like anybody is going to be outrunning Phillip Gaines.

4. Rookies had a rocky performance last night, but it was great seeing them out there. Dee Ford was disruptive against the 2nd team OL, and can close that gap in a hurry. He'll need a couple years to add to his passrush arsenal, and also to work on his coverage and run-stopping abilities. That's stuff that Justin Houston had to do (albeit to a lesser extent) and hopefully Ford will improve leaps and bounds in that respect by this time next year. Phillip Gaines looked lost in coverage -- he was always going to be a project, which is why I saw him more as a 5th rounder than as the 3rd rounder we made him. On that long pass to the endzone he broke up, he showed that elite recovery speed that makes him such an outstanding athlete and could make him a great corner, but he also gave up two touchdowns from players that embarrassed him in routes. He does truly have shutdown potential, however, he just is going to take a while to get there, if he ever does.

DAT of course looked brilliant, no comments needed there, and we saw next to nothing of Aaron Murray. Fulton looked... alright. First of all, he looks ****ing massive, and not entirely in a good way. He's got a lot of extra love on those love handles, and he's going to get beat by athletic three-techs all year. But he had a decent performance last night against a DL that was missing their most important piece. I do like that he's getting his experience now. (How bad was Rishaw Johnson -- sheesh, maybe Fulton won the job by default.) I didn't notice hardly anything from Duvarney-Tardif, but I'll be rewatching soon. Albert Wilson looks like he could end up being a UDFA gem -- something this team badly needs this year. Wilson looks great in routes (albeit against 2nd and 3rd defenses), has great hands, and excellent speed.

4. As per the DL, Jaye Howard looks awful against the 1st stringers, and frequently looks bade against the 2nd string. I may revise that when I watch the game again, but I doubt it. There were huge holes opening up time after time against him in the run game. He made a couple plays against the 2nd/3rd string OL, but even then he was getting annihilated. I think he's buried on the depth chart behind DeVito and Catapano, so let's just hope we don't see a lot of him this year. That is definitely not working.

On the plus side, how good did Allen Bailey look? He's decently stout in the run game, but he's FINALLY providing the passrush from the DE position that this team desperately needs. I believe this is his contract year, and I've always loved his athletic potential. If he plays stout and throws in about 5-6 sacks this year, something he's very capable of doing, there's no reason he shouldn't be re-signed. But there is still a lot of football to play.

Vance Walker is a waste of a signing. Wow. Walker provided very little in terms of push at the NT position, and his play against the run was not that great either. He's listed as a backup NT now, but if Poe ever goes down, something tells me the team would rather slide DeVito over than get murdered up the gut thanks to Walker, who has never been a celebrated run defender anyway.

5. 3rd string guys I really like: DE Jairus Campbell, WR Frankie Hammond, QB Tyler Bray, TE Demetrius Harris, CB Kevin Rutland, RB Charcandrick West.

6. I said before that our backup OL was probably the best backup OL we've had on the field since I've been a fan, and you could see that in the 2nd quarter and 2nd half. Against a very deep Bengals team, Knile Davis, Cyrus Gray, and Charcandrick West had holes blasted open for them all game. The Chiefs offensive momentum in this game was almost entirely due to the 2nd string OL dominating on the ground.

7. As I've mentioned, I'll be watching the game a 2nd time, so I'll add thoughts to this thread as I do.

8. Malcolm Bronson.

Played well, I thought. I think he's definitely in the mix as the teams's dime back this year.

#1 CB Marcus Cooper
#2 CB Sean Smith
SS Eric Berry
FS Husain Abdullah
NCB Chris Owens
dime-back -- Bronson vs. Parker

If we suffer a single injury against one of our starters in the secondary this year, we're ****ed.

I missed him, did he play?

On the drive that culminated in Cyrus Gray scoring, West carried the ball a couple times.

Looked really nimble, with good change-of-direction.

Ugh. Speaking of Gray.

I want to keep him on the roster somehow. He looked determined, and faster than I remember.

I don't necessarily like him catching balls, but coming in as a reserve if one of our other RB's goes down would be nice.

I've always thought Gray looked really talented. He blocks well in the passing game, too.

The Chiefs should be able to retain him if they really want to. He looks very good running the ball, and the TD he scored was just pure want-to. That's stuff that gets coaches off. Did I also mention he's a plus-talent on special teams, as well?

I was afraid he was going to get cut this year with the addition of DAT and McKnight. But at this point, unless McKnight blows shit up next week, that 3rd RB is Gray's to lose.

pretty good review

One thing to note and this will hack off the gay bray lovers.....Chase is still the backup for the Chiefs. Bray had a couple of decent plays but nothing convincing that would suggest he would replace Smith if Smith went down.

This is fast becoming whats gonna be a fun team to watch.

Kniles Davis
D AT
Kelce
Wilson

All freaking weapons.

Chief fans be like:


Travis Kelce is going to be in the hall of fame and DeAnthony Thomas is our next Dante Hall/Devin Hester

James Michael-Johnson impressed me. Hopefully he can keep improving and take that starting spot next to DJ during the season.

Tldr but I read the last line. You not only watched it once....you are planning to watch it AGAIN?????? Holy shit.

tl;dr + not being able to watch the game=Direckshun's mother is a whore

Oh and I like to quote long OPs. o:-)

Chase received what I thought was strong blocking, but has such poor pocket presence (and/or is incapable of seeing over them) that he waltzed himself into at least two of the sacks he took.

Bray's performance was frustratingly neutered -- the Chiefs ran 80% of the time when he was in.

I thought Mays played well.

That position next to DJ is only on the field 40% of the game anyways.

This.

Parker- 2 penalties and 2 burns-not a good night.

Sean Smith-proved he will be the starter.

Alex looked like shit. Over threw a few balls, then should have dumped off to a wide open JC, held the ball and took the hit? WTF was he thinking? He will have to play 10 times better than that if he wants a contract.

C D- saved his job on that sweet pass to a wide open Kelce.

Bray-still looks like Bray-nice arm, big turnover. Still doesn't have a field presence and inner time clock to get rid of the ball. Would have liked to see him more.

Ford- looked fast-kept getting pushed outside-needs to spin inside and stop leaving huge gaps for the QB to run in. Should be a good one-glad to see him get some work.

Houston-incomplete- not sure I heard his name.

HUGE holes right up the middle all night. Gashed us on big gains no matter who was in there. Sorenson looked bad as well-but AJ Green does that to people.

DAT- way to early to tell anything- But we might be looking at Offensive rookie of the year. If teams give this guy a yard to move- he will burn them. That run back was very impressive. Speed to burn.

Wilson- makes this team- no way he will make it to the practice squad. Special teams are going to gamble on the kickoffs-so it seems-8 yards deep-no problem-they will run it anyways. We might end up with a few starts at the 7 yard line-more than worth the risk for those big gains.

Nice hard running by Gray to burn the clock. Our RB's are studs.

All in all- nice start-held on for the win -kept Cincy 0-8 against us in preseason. I am sure we will be playing them in the Wild Card game this year-hope it is at home. Time to end the playoff drought.

The Chiefs may have outflanked Alex Smith by allowing him to play without a new contract this year. He did look very lackluster.

If they wait this year out, and Smith has a predictably frustrating year as the team goes 6-10, the Chiefs will have greater leverage and can sign him to a cheaper deal.

Either way, they need to mimick the Kaepernick/Dalton model of being able to walk away from him in any given year.

Our defensive line didn't look extremely bad considering that DeVito and Catapano were both out.

I was expecting a bit more out of Santos.

From all the talk it sounded like he had a big leg. Then Succop kicks 2 out of the endzone, and so far Santos has kicked one maybe 4 yards deep and one on the goalline.

And I think Parker needs to move to the NB slot. He's not good enough to be put out on the outside. If you keep him at NB....then you can also utilize his blitzing.

Reid said after the game that they wanted them to kick it short so that they could get a look at the coverage teams.

Oh.

The Madden like game the pampered peyton rules will create

Possibly the most Chiefs thing I've ever read.

one pass saved mcdanielson's job? and on dat its way too early to tell anything but he may be oroy?

another halfwit post

4.3 average if you take out Matt Scott's scrambling. Meh.

The combo of Bernard/Green-Ellis was "held" to 4.1 per carry in seven total carries.

Ron Parker was horrid, and yet Sean Smith is still with the #2s. This has to end at some point, punishment or not.....

No talent in the WR core at all, unless Albert Wilson explodes like Keenan Allen last year. Remember, it's the Chiefs, so this would be similar to the Apocalypse occurring.

The DL looked awful the whole game, constantly getting blown off the ball in the run-game, and not much in the way of pass-rush on non-blitzes.

OL looked decent at times, but then looked bad at times. RBs looked fantastic. Kelce runs like a WR.

Other than that, I'll need another game to see what else we have.

LMAO

It's either that or march Bray out next year. I certainly don't believe they'll draft QB in the 1st.

This! :thumb: Even his post game interview was ****ing boring. Are you having a ****ing tea party Alex or are you the QB of the Kansas City Chiefs. You better find the fire and desire to win fast!!

I wouldn't worry about Parker starting. It's obvious the Chiefs will demote him when the regular season comes.

I thought some players on the DL looked pretty solid. Allen Bailey and Poe played very well in limited time.

justifiably so in my opinion. did not demonstrate much in the way of field/pocket presence either and has no sense of time. I did like the one throw though

I caught one of those little black under the helmet beanies from Dwayne Bowe last night.

That was pretty cool.

Direkshun: Add 3 more things :)

Alex Smith doesn't play with fire.

He plays wtih sheer, mind-numbing self-control. Too much self-control, everything is pre-meditated to the nth degree. Over time, he has managed to dull any impulse he could ever receive and operates only on the cold calculus of what should happen rather than what can happen.

Probably makes sex with him extremely boring.

that could be an option but they might want to do that sooner than later...especially if Smith poops the bed. They will know for sure then if they need to draft a QB or not.

**** that. It's preseason. Sling that thing.

I felt like Chase had time due to Kush replacing Hudson at center. He seemed to plug that flood right up the gut.

Gray's been here forever. He's probably survived multiple coach and regime changes for a reason..

Overthrew a "few" balls. He was 3/5 passing. One incompletion was when he threw it away while running towards the sideline. The other was the play in the flat to Bowe which was not a very good throw. On the one play where he was sacked, how was he supposed to get the ball out to Charles. He had pressure directly in his face and he was looking for an escape route.

Smith didn't play a good game, but your analysis is ****ing reeruned.

Drafted in 2012 now means a player has been here forever?

Did anyone else catch Ford pancaking the RT on one play when he bull rushed?

LMAOLMAO indeed

Might be the dumbest post you have ever made.

LMAO


bodyslam

This

I believe we keep Cyrus as a 4th RB like we did last year because DAT will be doing some receiving for us as well much like Dex last year, he's too good on S/t's to let go for another fringe player were not sure about. The guy I wonder about is Nico Johnson, is it even worth keeping him? We have so much depth at LB that I'm afraid that between Zombo, Moses, and Mauga they will keep a couple vets around; we need to keep Josh Martin, and then there's the fact that JMJ is better than Nico in every phase....what do we do? Also I live in Utah so I didn't get to see the whole game, can anyone give me a report on specific players in the secondary? Parker, Gaines, Van Dyke, Sorensen, Coop, any or all of the above and any others i didn't name that stood out?

Riiiiiight.

Because...... he isn't super-conservative?

LMAO

Yep he is the Spock of Qb's.

I think Laz was suggesting that Smith isn't as boring in the bed as you think.

Parker was beat like a drum the entire game.

Gaines looked good in press man, but lost his reciever a couple of times especially when the QB scrambled.

Cooper was invisible. I never heard his name called the entire game. This is usually good for a corner.

Sean Smith showed he is head and shoulders above Parker. Had an interception to the house on the first pass thrown his way.

Bronson looked to be the best safety on the field, albeit against the second string.

Van Dyke didn't play that I saw (I thought they released him).

Berry looked good on the sidelines. He seems to be growing his hair out which kind of made his head look like a dirty Q-tip.

you didn't say that in the post i quoted

You talk about lacks energy and passion etc

which is bullshit because most great QB's try and keep themselves calm.

It doesn't mean they don't care or whatever they are just trying to keep everything on an even keel.


just another stupid ass post about Alex Smith that doesn't mean shit

JC was wide open to start the play-a little swing pass would have prob. got a first down. Instead he held and shit his pants.

And what is your excuse for missing a wide open Bowe from 10 yards? That pass was not even close-even the announcers were like wtf was that.

Fact is he came out flat, didn't act like he even wanted to be there. Hopefully most of that was because it was a meaningless preseason game and we won't see the ups and downs with Alex like last year.

Nico go bye bye real soon.

Parker was matched up on Aj Green, and got his shit pushed in. Green torches him for a 50 yard pass, and Parker got hustled for two penalties. Sorensen started and was out I position nearly every time.

Gaines had a beautiful breakup on a 40 yard pass in the sidelines, but gave up two TDs. He was so badly beaten on one of those TDs that he wasn't even on the screen when it was caught.

Van Dyke didn't register for me, no idea how he played. Coop didn't get thrown at once, but I'll determine why when I re-watch.

Bronson looked like our best safety. He was on good position, and displayed good speed. I also liked Kevin Rutland, who I thought was effective on coverage, and his speed bounces off the screen.

I'm pretty sure you're confusing my creative license with my literal thoughts.

You should watch Guardians of the Galaxy. You'd love Drax.

They showed his jersey a few times- he played in the 4th-but didn't have much action- incomplete performance for any evaluation.

QBs - Daniel looked middling, even though he threw a TD to Kelce, most of his other completions where underthrown and caught by desperate dives and scoops from the turf. Bray looked meh. Alex did nothing. I didn't see Murray play (if he did, it was after I left about 2 minutes into the 4th quarter.)

RBs - Sherman looked like his usual self, and had a nice block on Wilsons return. JC touched the ball a couple times and averaged like 7-8 yards, so not worried there. Knile didn't show anything great or anything bad. DAT took that punt to the house and I called that shit all day as soon as he lined up. DAT is now my GF's favorite player for quote " I like when people are small and good at things " I said it before and will say it again. We stole DAT, and we are going to reap the rewards in Reids offense, and with Toubs special team prowess really making him shine.

WRs - I am worried about the WR position. Nobody showed any real moxy or extraordinary, just meh overall. Wilson looks like he's making a push to make the team. Kelce showed a spark. He may end up being who we thought he was, but I'm not ready to crown his ass just yet~

OLine - Honestly looked messy. Starting O line had some issues, and both starters and depth problems where compounded because there where no WR's getting open. They all need LOTS of work.

DLine - Overall looked good, even the depth. If this performance up and down the line from starters and depth is what we can expect, our CB's will need to step up because I don't think much running is going to happen on this D.

LB's - First string LB's looked as projected, I liked the look from both Mays and JMJ, and I wouldn't be surprised if either one of them wins the starting job next to DJ. Dee Ford looked a little too aggressive at times, blowing past the RB on several run plays, but on passing plays you can see the explosiveness. That being said, he didn't make an impact in the pass rush this game. Nico Johnson is going to be cut~


CB's - Gaines and Bronson looked good out there for rooks. Gaines was our only guy able to run with AJ Green and broke up a pass intended for him, while Parker looked lost trying to defend him. Parker will be replaced by Smith before the season starts. Overall, I am pretty worried about our CB's. I saw Owens on the field several times but don't remember him doing any thing. Parker looked abysmal, Cooper didn't get much time. Smith played well when he was in there.

Safetys - I expect Berry to ball, so im not too worried about the safety position. I LOVED what I saw from Bronson, he may be a rook but he was ball hawking hard and not just on the pick 6. Abdullah had a single play but wasn't on the field much. Whoever the dreadlock safety was with so much hair that I couldn't read his name needs work. Seemed lost out there and wasn't really in any position to make impact plays. White boy safety (cant remember his name) didn't do much, but DID throw a nice block on the INT return.

Special teams - Dave Toub, DAT, Colquitt. #1 ST in the league? Maybe.

So again, where are all these overthrown receivers you were talking about? I never made an excuse for missing Bowe. I called it a poor throw. Please, give us some more of your hard-hitting analysis about all of Smith's overthrows last night.

Hmm. You're right. Idk who I'm confusing him with; I feel like he's been here forever..

This wasn't Fisher's fault. It was a 3 step drop. Fisher should have never had the responsibility for holding the block that long.

Dreadlock safety guy is Jerron McMillian.

And I have a higher opinion of how Knike Davis and Dee Ford played.

What? You don't remember how animated Montana was?

And Bob Dole agrees with whoever posted that the last Cyrus TD was pure will.

I was referring to a different play than the strip-sack he gave up.

Trent Green himself said that play was largely on Alex Smith's shoulders.

There was a separate play where Fisher was shoved back quickly because he was too high.

Jeff Allen wasn't helping either.

It is going to be a Long season if you keep defending Alex after he played like he did. Alex was a negative, did nothing, showed nothing, no passion and like I said even his interview was boring. After choking in the second half of the playoff game-I was hoping to see some kind of spark out of him. Fact is he has zero competition, it was the first game, he didn't give a shit and it showed.

Does anyone else see this as a COMPLETE oxymoron? Did the Steelers ever have stellar corner play? No, can you name any of the 85' Bears corners? Other than Leslie Fraser, because we all know him as a coach? Secondary play becomes less relevant when you have the tanks we do rushing the QB, our DB's only have to be good for 3 seconds every play and we'll be solid; plus the fact that we'll mostly just rush 4 so our corners will have help over the top.
I'm sorry but this just infuriates me when people knit pick at our defense when it is this good; no team in the last 20 years has been outstanding on all 3 levels, it's just not possible within the modern salary cap.

It was the first pre-season game.....JFC.

We're going to draft a G next year to replace Jeff Allen. Just watch. Brandon Sherff come on down.

The Steelers weren't playing in this era.

In this era, you can't succeed without a great secondary.

The Chiefs have four solid starters. Everything after that is a mess.

I don't believe Jeff Allen is a free agent after this year.

Rodney Hudson is. Allen and Stephenson both hit free agency in 2016.

I'm not really defending Alex's play. I was pointing out how dumb your analysis was. You can't say "he overthrew a few balls" and not expect somebody to call you out on it. Words mean something and your analysis made it look like you didn't watch the game at all.

The whole "I wanted to see fire" statement you keep making is stupid as well. It was the first preseason game. I doubt there were many starting QBs "playing with fire" (what the **** does that even mean) last night.

eah Davis looked good running hard and determined. He could be the guy to get us those tough yards at goal line and 3rd and a foot that we struggle at.
Ford did what he was drafted to do. Get after the QB as for overrunning plays DT made a career of it to the point Marty jerked him in obvious running situations. DT is a HOF'er so not so worried about that. Hali currently does this a lot too drives ya crazy but you cant stifle the aggressiveness.

being rationale about Alex Smith is not the same as 'defending'

going off the deep end about stupid shit with Alex Smith is just annoying

You're Geno Mafia, dude. You're a part of the conspiracy against the fans!

Mitch Holthus keeps slobbing Ricky Henry's knob.

I wish Ricky Henry would take Jeff Allen's job.

If Allen is so ****ing talented, then make him the swing tackle/backup guard on the left side.

This isn't 1985. This league is so pass happy it makes me sick. If your corners suck, and a team knows it cant run on you, what do you think is going to happen? So yes, our corners need to get better, because the ball is going to be in the air.

I mean, when was the last time a team with a great secondary won a superbowl on defensive performance? RIGHT GUYS?

Oh yea, it was last year~

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-sh...123810323.html

Bengals QB Matt Scott pukes twice but plays well against Chiefs. He trying to be like Willy Beamen.

This much scholastic commentary on last nights game?

You would think we watched the first game of the season and not just a preseason game.

The overblown hostility towards Smith really isn't warranted... yet.

I'm not talking about the 70's Steelers, I am talking about 2000's Steelers, nobody knew who Ike Taylor was until he started talking in the top 100 players. Or how about the Niners the last few years? Their corners have been the consistent weakness and they've been 1 play away from the SB the last 2 years? Or the Giants? Don't give me that shit, you don't need a legion of boom to be a dominant defense, in fact a dominant d line is MUCH more important than secondary play and I will cite you the Seacox; their defensive line won them that game and intimidated the Broncos o line from the get go. D line wins championships in the 21st century, and that is a proven fact.

you are responding to the guy who said alex was the greatest qb in chiefs history one week last year and said we should bench him the very next week...

You are a prisoner of the moment and I pity you. If you think corners win championships not linemen then go get that head checked. I will state it again, with our d line our DBs only have to be good for 3 seconds, I think they can do it..