Chiefs Teicher: Chiefs’ offense bogs down in 16-10 loss to Texans

**Tribal Warfare** · 08-16-2009, 01:42 AM

Chiefs’ offense bogs down in 16-10 loss to Texans
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

Desperate for a new direction, the Chiefs changed their general manager, head coach and quarterback, but things still looked suspiciously like last year in Saturday night’s preseason opener.

They fell 16-10 to the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium, ruining the debut of general manager Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley.

For that, they can blame an offense that was mostly lifeless under new quarterback Matt Cassel. On a rainy night, Cassel was unable to lead anything close to a scoring drive in four possessions. The Chiefs had only two first downs with Cassel, one coming on a Houston penalty.

He finished with two completions in five attempts for 15 yards before being replaced by Brodie Croyle in the second quarter with the Chiefs behind 10-0.

“We executed some things and we didn’t execute some others, so we’ve got a lot to work on,” Cassel said. “That’s why we have preseason.

“We were trying to find out some things about different people, and I’m sure we’re still trying to find out what our identity is going to be.”

Cassel also committed a turnover when he fumbled a snap during one of the game’s rainy periods. He fumbled during a rainy practice session at training camp and committed three turnovers in last weekend’s intrasquad scrimmage.

“The fumbled snap is the thing we’ve got to figure out,” Haley said. “Obviously, the ball potentially is wet, but we’ve got to handle the football. We can’t have fumbled center-quarterback exchanges of all things. There’s enough other things that can go wrong without that happening.

“The called play I think was a potential chance to push the ball down the field a little bit. Other than that, I thought Matt was OK. We played it pretty close to the vest with him in there. We ran the ball a bunch. We weren’t winging it around a whole bunch.”

What little spark the Chiefs showed came with Croyle and Tyler Thigpen at quarterback. Playing in a game for the first time since injuring his knee as the starting quarterback last October, Croyle took the Chiefs down the field in the last minute and 12 seconds of the first half.

Passes of 14 yards to Mark Bradley, 14 yards to Dwayne Bowe and 12 yards to Rodney Wright moved the Chiefs to the Houston 29. Rookie Ryan Succop kicked a 47-yard field goal on the final play of the half, cutting Houston’s advantage to 13-3.

Croyle led the Chiefs beyond the 50-yard line twice in the third quarter. One drive ended when his fourth-down pass was batted down at the line. The other was killed when Dantrell Savage fumbled and the Texans recovered.

Thigpen replaced Croyle in the fourth quarter and took the Chiefs on their only touchdown drive. Aided by a 22-yard pass to Wright, a 12-yard Thigpen run and three Texans penalties, the Chiefs moved to the Houston 1.

From there, Thigpen threw to Brad Cottam for a touchdown that cut Houston’s lead to 16-10 with 5:15 remaining.

Thigpen and the Chiefs got the ball back twice more. They punted after three plays the first time, and Thigpen was intercepted on fourth down on the next possession.

Defensively, the Chiefs had two sacks in the first half, one by Maurice Leggett and another split between Tyson Jackson and Andy Studebaker. Otherwise, they couldn’t prevent Houston starting quarterback Matt Schaub from completing all seven of his passes or the Texans from scoring three times in the first half.

“On a couple of runs, it looked like we didn’t fit quite the way we had to to stop it,” Haley said. “A couple of guys were slightly out of position and allowed a cutback and a big play. But overall, I thought we were doing a decent job of stopping the run against a pretty good running football team.”

The Chiefs committed three turnovers and never took the ball away from the Texans. The Chiefs were also penalized eight times.

“We made too many mistakes,” Haley said, “to think we could have a chance to win the game.”

Houston had a 2-yard touchdown run by Chris Brown and field goals of 23 and 42 yards by Kris Brown in building a 13-0 lead.

Brown kicked a 30-yard field goal late in the third quarter that gave the Texans a 16-3 lead.

08-16-2009, 01:42 AM
Tribal Warfare The Boom Boom Room Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Far Beyond Comprehension Casino cash: $572813	Teicher: Chiefs’ offense bogs down in 16-10 loss to Texans Chiefs’ offense bogs down in 16-10 loss to Texans By ADAM TEICHER The Kansas City Star Desperate for a new direction, the Chiefs changed their general manager, head coach and quarterback, but things still looked suspiciously like last year in Saturday night’s preseason opener. They fell 16-10 to the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium, ruining the debut of general manager Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley. For that, they can blame an offense that was mostly lifeless under new quarterback Matt Cassel. On a rainy night, Cassel was unable to lead anything close to a scoring drive in four possessions. The Chiefs had only two first downs with Cassel, one coming on a Houston penalty. He finished with two completions in five attempts for 15 yards before being replaced by Brodie Croyle in the second quarter with the Chiefs behind 10-0. “We executed some things and we didn’t execute some others, so we’ve got a lot to work on,” Cassel said. “That’s why we have preseason. “We were trying to find out some things about different people, and I’m sure we’re still trying to find out what our identity is going to be.” Cassel also committed a turnover when he fumbled a snap during one of the game’s rainy periods. He fumbled during a rainy practice session at training camp and committed three turnovers in last weekend’s intrasquad scrimmage. “The fumbled snap is the thing we’ve got to figure out,” Haley said. “Obviously, the ball potentially is wet, but we’ve got to handle the football. We can’t have fumbled center-quarterback exchanges of all things. There’s enough other things that can go wrong without that happening. “The called play I think was a potential chance to push the ball down the field a little bit. Other than that, I thought Matt was OK. We played it pretty close to the vest with him in there. We ran the ball a bunch. We weren’t winging it around a whole bunch.” What little spark the Chiefs showed came with Croyle and Tyler Thigpen at quarterback. Playing in a game for the first time since injuring his knee as the starting quarterback last October, Croyle took the Chiefs down the field in the last minute and 12 seconds of the first half. Passes of 14 yards to Mark Bradley, 14 yards to Dwayne Bowe and 12 yards to Rodney Wright moved the Chiefs to the Houston 29. Rookie Ryan Succop kicked a 47-yard field goal on the final play of the half, cutting Houston’s advantage to 13-3. Croyle led the Chiefs beyond the 50-yard line twice in the third quarter. One drive ended when his fourth-down pass was batted down at the line. The other was killed when Dantrell Savage fumbled and the Texans recovered. Thigpen replaced Croyle in the fourth quarter and took the Chiefs on their only touchdown drive. Aided by a 22-yard pass to Wright, a 12-yard Thigpen run and three Texans penalties, the Chiefs moved to the Houston 1. From there, Thigpen threw to Brad Cottam for a touchdown that cut Houston’s lead to 16-10 with 5:15 remaining. Thigpen and the Chiefs got the ball back twice more. They punted after three plays the first time, and Thigpen was intercepted on fourth down on the next possession. Defensively, the Chiefs had two sacks in the first half, one by Maurice Leggett and another split between Tyson Jackson and Andy Studebaker. Otherwise, they couldn’t prevent Houston starting quarterback Matt Schaub from completing all seven of his passes or the Texans from scoring three times in the first half. “On a couple of runs, it looked like we didn’t fit quite the way we had to to stop it,” Haley said. “A couple of guys were slightly out of position and allowed a cutback and a big play. But overall, I thought we were doing a decent job of stopping the run against a pretty good running football team.” The Chiefs committed three turnovers and never took the ball away from the Texans. The Chiefs were also penalized eight times. “We made too many mistakes,” Haley said, “to think we could have a chance to win the game.” Houston had a 2-yard touchdown run by Chris Brown and field goals of 23 and 42 yards by Kris Brown in building a 13-0 lead. Brown kicked a 30-yard field goal late in the third quarter that gave the Texans a 16-3 lead.
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