Everyone needs the preseason: players, coaches, officials, announcers, and technical crews. Heck, even fans need some exercise to get their best fanatic rants, arguments, and overreactions into high gear. So, for me, I’m going to get things going with some preseason grades. Sure, boiling a game down to just a few grades is a gross over-simplification and over-generalization of the game. But, hey, people love to read them, write them, and argue them. So let’s get fired up for the coming season with some heated discussion on the state of the Chiefs and, more specifically, their performance against the Texans on Saturday. Tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m right, and tell me what I missed.
VLTC Grades – Pre-Season Week 1: Texans
Offensive Coaching: D
The first half offense was very vanilla – a consequence of it being the preseason coupled with the wet conditions. This brought us “safe” play calling and horrific run-run-pass flashbacks that felt a little too much like the last three years. If this weren’t the preseason, I’d have been looking for Herm on the sideline during the first 20 minutes. At least we actually ran an offense out there for the final minute of the half, something Herm rarely did. Given the timing and wet conditions, I don’t really hold the overall performance against them. I’m just glad there were no serious injuries reported.
QB: C
The vanilla offense of the early going made it near impossible to grade Matt Cassel’s performance. We know as little about him as we did on Friday. Brodie Croyle, on the other hand, was very impressive, but one good injury-free game doesn’t make you a great NFL quarterback. Tyler Thigpen sure is exciting, but is he any good? It’s hard to say with the “supporting” cast he had on the field with him.
OL: C-
Vanilla play calling makes it hard to fully judge the run blocking. The first group looked fairly solid and showed flashes, but still needs to gel as a unit. Our backups looked worthless. If this keeps up, I expect some turnover on the offensive line when other teams make their cuts before the season starts.
RB: C
Larry Johnson did what you’d expect in the limited situation. I predict a solid but unspectacular season for Johnson (think Edgerrin James with the Cardinals). Jackie Battle was impressive in limited duty and may just make this team. Jamaal Charles was near non-existent. Dantrell Savage put up some numbers, but watching him run screams “third down back”, and nothing more. Since Charles is more likely to fill that role, I think he’ll have to make the team on special teams, if at all. Cuts at this position will be difficult. Who knows, maybe we’ll still work out a trade of Johnson when some team has a serious running back injury in the preseason.
WR: C-
Wide Receiver is even harder to judge. The “starters” were unreliable while the most promising players (Dwayne Bowe and Mark Bradley?) were playing late in the game and doing well against the Texans’ backups. In general, there were too many drops, more than can be blamed on rain. I did catch some good blocking by the wide receivers.
TE: F
I have a severe Tony Gonzalez hangover.
Defensive Coaching: B-
Turnovers and the offensive performance didn’t always put them in the best position, but overall they did pretty well for what is, for the most part, a brand new unit and scheme. The appearance of the cover-2 made me a little nauseous, but that’s just because of recent trauma. Zone defense has its place, just not a permanent one.
DL: C+
I saw a lot of promise and a lot of inconsistency. The latter is expected for this new group, new system, and new coaching staff, so I remain hopeful. Glenn Dorsey, Alex McGee, and Tyson Jackson could be a great rotation. I believe Alfonso Boone will be a fantastic backup defensive end in the 3-4. I don’t think we’re going to blow anyone away at nose tackle, but Ron Edwards should hold down the fort while we look for a long-term solution (can Tank Tyler continue to develop?).
LB: B
I’m pleasantly surprised with how well this group played as a unit given how new the group is. The play of backups Corey Mays, Demorrio Williams, and Monty Beisel also give me growing confidence in our depth. The most watched man was Tamba Hali at outside linebacker, who did not disappoint. He wasn’t great, but for this point in the transition he was acceptable and has lots of room for improvement. Is there room on this team for Turk McBride?
DB: B-
Despite Matt Shaub starting the game 7-for-7, this is clearly the most solidified part of our defense. They are consistent and dependable. Given their age (young), this is a foundation to build the rest of the defense around.
Special Teams: B+
Kick coverage was good. A healthy Dustin Colquitt was the best player on the team and makes punts fun to watch. Mr. Irrelevant (Ryan Succop) was just fine with decent kickoffs and a 47-yard field goal. The only blemish was at returner: we don’t have one.
To be fair, I should clarify that some of the OL backups I referred to were actually 3rd stringers, so they won’t be around anyway. Some of the 2nd stringers did ok when Croyle was in there.
Comment by VermeilLikesToCry — August 18, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
I posted this on another site but I thought I would go ahead and post it here to see what others think.
Well I just finished watching the first pre-season game or should I say debacle. Here are my observations of the game and I’m sorry that many of them are negative but there weren’t a lot of positives. First If Haley thinks he can start a regular season game with that lineup and win, he is grossly mistaken. Bowe not in the lineup? Come on give me a break! Terrance Copper? Who the hell is Terrance Copper? And number 11 Wright stunk the field up. Bradley not in the lineup? Come on! Haley may think he is sending some sort of message, but let me tell you, messages don’t win games, playmakers do, and he better start figuring that out real quick. Second, our defense looked like swiss cheese. Both run defense and pass defense looked small and slow. They way they were throwing the ball around on us I would swear Herm was somewhere in the stadium still calling cover 2. Here’s another genius move on Haley’s part: not starting Tyson Jackson. Jackson, when he was in, look really good and come regular season he better be starting. The third monstrosity, was predictable play calling. Good lord I though we were conservative when Herm was coach! Cassel wasn’t called on to do anything. We gotta take some shots down the field. Fourth is playing Jackie Battle over Jamaal Charles. I like Battle but Charles is the real deal. It’s going to be a frustrating year if Haley continues to have a hardon for certain players and ignore the one’s we chiefs fans know can get the job done when it’s crunch time.
Ok, so I did see some good things. I thought that Corey Mays did a good job filling in for Zach Thomas and should quickly get better with playing time. Bowe and Bradley did a great job of course. Let’s just hope Haley can get over himself and figure out these two guys know how to make big plays. Croyle played well and still has a cannon arm. Oh and he didn’t get injured, that’s a plus. Thigpen was still willing to put it on the line to try and win.
Final thoughts: In the words of the movie The Fly “Be afraid………..be very afraid”.
Comment by Rocky — August 18, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
What site do you go to Rocky? This site is dead.
Comment by Jonesy — August 19, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
they ruined it when they forced you to register to make a post. this was a heavily opinionated site but nobody posts anything now.
Comment by jackbauer — August 27, 2009 @ 7:11 am