Teicher: Chiefs fall 25-0 to Buccaneers in preseason opener
 

Chiefs fall 25-0 to Buccaneers in preseason opener
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

Fans who watched the Chiefs go about their business at a leisurely pace in training camp inevitably suspected the first preseason game would be a sloppy, mistake-filled mess.

Those fears were realized Friday against Tampa Bay at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs lost two fumbles, made two awful decisions on kick returns and took a safety in a catastrophic first half.

The Chiefs never recovered and lost 25-0.

The Chiefs played without several key players, including Casey Wiegmann, Tony Moeaki and five defensive starters. The Bucs also left their starters in after the Chiefs had yanked theirs.

None of that appeared to matter. Coach Todd Haley said during training camp that the focus would be on preparing for the Sept. 11 regular-season opener and not the initial preseason game.

Still Haley was disappointed with Friday’s performance.

“You don’t want to do that, especially on your home turf,” Haley said. “That being said, that’s the first (game), not the last one. What’s important is that our guys recognize they have a lot of work ahead of them and a short time to do it.”

One indication of how the Chiefs approached the game is that Matt Cassel was the quarterback for eight plays but wasn’t allowed to throw a pass. That proved to be a wise decision given the lousy pass protection afforded Tyler Palko and Ricky Stanzi after Cassel’s departure. The backup quarterbacks dropped back to pass 22 times and were sacked on six of those plays.

Poor tackling was a problem on defense. That was understandable to an extent given that the Chiefs held few full contact drills at training camp.

“We haven’t tackled a lot, but we’ve coached it,” Haley said. “We’ve taught it in individual drills and had a bunch of work in that area. It’s unacceptable. That’s one of our points of emphasis for our defensive team going into this year.”

The mayhem started with the opening kickoff. Rather than use one of the regular kick returners, Javier Arenas or Dexter McCluster, the Chiefs sent Quinten Lawrence deep. He took the kick 5 yards into the end zone and instead of downing the ball, tried to run it out.

He was tackled at the 8. The Chiefs failed to gain a first down and punted. Although the Bucs’ offense didn’t take advantage, the Chiefs were pinned deep again on the punt.

A failed snap exchange between Cassel and Darryl Harris on the first play of the possession left the ball on the ground. Tampa Bay recovered at the Chiefs’ 9.

The Bucs scored two plays later on a 5-yard run by quarterback Josh Freeman.

Jackie Battle fumbled the next time the Chiefs got the ball, and the Bucs recovered at midfield. The Bucs soon took a 10-0 lead on a 25-yard field goal by Connor Barth. Barth, a former Chief, later kicked a 40-yard field goal that put Tampa Bay ahead 13-0.

And the Chiefs weren’t done with the miscues. Punt returner Chandler Williams watched a punt bounce and roll before picking it up on the 3, where he was immediately tackled.

Three plays later, Palko was sacked in the end zone, giving the Bucs a 15-0 lead. From that point, the Chiefs weren’t able to do much of anything to recover from the mistakes.

Poor tackling was a problem. So was 0 pass rush and 0 coverage. Their QB had all day, and didn't even need it. Man wide open on literally every single play.

I just hope Haley decides this team is ready to take the shells/diapers off. The team is pretty damn ****ing conditioned by now, I'd say. Get some padded practices in, get those fatasses hitting each other for real, and get them ready to crack skulls in September

OMGWTFBBQ

OH NOES! LET'S PANIC!

Teicher is such a tool.

I am so glad I don't have to rely on the Star for my sports news.

I think Denver's second team could take the Chiefs after watching you guys play last night.

well then it's a good thing that our 1's are better than yours.

hey whats the over/under for the amount of "jump passes" we will see from Jesus Tebow this season?

It looks as if John Fox has came in and fixed our running game and our defensive woes. We were already an excellent passing team and we can actually run the ball this year Denver is going to be one of the toughest offenses in the NFL to stop. If we get teams playing catchup we will be able to release VONDOOOOM.

Can't even read what you are typing right now, this pesky 2010 AFC west championship banner is blocking my view.

Denver Broncos. Preseason week one champs!

JFC

You are a moron to the 10th power.

I knew that Hail Mary Tebow threw would give you a little pup tent.