Preseason observations - Week #2

[chiefzilla1501]

Didn't watch the game as in-depth as I did week 1. Frankly, when the second unit got on the field, I got a little bit bored.

OFFENSE

• I had no problem with Alex Smith in week 1. This game, we saw a LOT more of the Alex Smith many of us were concerned about. Missed too many blitz pickups, held the ball too long when he wanted to go deeper, gave up on the pass too quickly in others. Not a good week for him.
• Eric Fisher. JFC, guys. I get that he wasn't the guy many of us wanted at 1.1. I didn't either. But calling him a pussy for nursing a finger injury... it's really sad that people are wanting so badly for this guy to be terrible. The truth is, the injury doesn't matter, because he played through it and he played fine. He got beat once on a speed rush, and was beat twice because it was a coverage sack. He played well enough for a preseason rookie against an elite defense, injury or not.
• If anything, I wasn't impressed at all with the interior blocking today. Jeff Allen, in particular, was mediocre
• I was wrong about Knile Davis. Excellent game today. However, still a legit question about whether he is a pure space runner. He knows how to attack when there's a good size opening, but still unsure if he's powerful enough to break a wall or nifty enough to juke your way through a narrow hole
• Cyrus Gray played his way out of a job. He was terrible. Inexcusable drop with the first team, no burst, no agility, and was the only return guy in 2 games to look useless. At least with Draughn, I see some acceleration and power
• It dithgusts me that Baldwin is getting that many snaps. I don't want to see him in a Chiefs uniform. He is stealing reps from Avery and Hemmingway, who should be competing for that #2 spot with Baldwin nowhere in that picture
• Chase Daniel - better, but it's going to be a problem if he starts. Horrible blitz recognition. Last week, very frazzled under pressure. This week, ran a checkdown heavy offense
• Tyler Bray / Stanzi - Stanzi should be the backup and he should have gotten reps last year. Sadly, neither of those will happen and we'll never really know what we had in him. Bray... I took a lot of shit for suggesting the kid should be on the practice squad. I like the potential, but has a very, very long way to go. Looked extremely frazzled when pressured
• Travis Kelce... man, had high hopes for the kid. Two inexcusable drops already this preseason on limited snaps.

DEFENSE

• Defensive Line was solid. Poe didn't dominate like he did in Game 1, but he was very effective at driving his blocker. Tyson Jackson played a much better game too. On run defense, he was definitely moving his guy and looked like he was getting an upper hand. Good improvement
• We wanted aggressive, and we're getting it. I'm worried if we're too aggressive. Too many plays where we overpursued. Teams that bootleg, counter, and cutback are going to break some big runs if we don't knock that shit off.
• We've been playing vanilla offenses. I also fear that this aggressive approach is going to make us suckers for playaction and draws
• Akeem Jordan has played solid. He hasn't played his way out of a job. But man, Nico Johnson has earned a right to get first team snaps. He was a man amongst boys with the second unit.
• Allen Bailey needs to get snaps this year. He has to become more consistent, but the potential is there. There were a few drives where his strength is just unreal. Just bulldozes his blocker into the backfield
• We are getting a small glimpse of how awesome Eric Berry could be this year. He's going to play a lot of positions, from LB to Nickel to SS to FS to FS in a 46. And we saw several instances where he just missiled through a gap. He looks like an entirely different player this year
• I actually think our D-line played well in the pass rush. As 2-gap, they were occupying blockers and driving the pile more than I'm used to. I think that will really show once we dial up the blitz
• Sean Smith is definitely taking to the bump-and-run. It's really hard to tell what we have in our other guys. What scares me is that Sutton seems to like playing his safeties in some nickel coverages, and in other cases, play them at pure Centerfield like a 46. I think Lewis is going to be a huge liability this year. He just hasn't been tested.
• Hard to believe we're saying this, but we have strong safety and d-line depth. The problem is that in both cases, we have starters who would be good backups.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Wasn't Draughn the guy who completely whiffed on a blitzer to cause one of the 7 sacks?

I don't remember if he did. But I'm pretty sure gray did.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I don't remember if he did. But I'm pretty sure gray did.

I'm fairly certain it was #20.

And it wasn't like it was a CB blitz from across the field. It was a 1 on 1 through the center and he just whiffed.

[Sully]

Guys I'm impressed with, so far...
Poe, obviously.
I thought Fischer looked decent run blocking last night.
Davis looked good, but on one zone play to the right last night, he overran a huge gap. He gained a yard or two, but probably could have made some real yardage if he'd have seen it.
Jackson played VERY well last night.
Houston, obviously.
Berry, obviously
Although I hated the Smith trade, and feel we got Cassel 2.0, I don't think he looked as bad as his numbers indicated last night. We were running very basic blocking schemes, which led to some pressure, and he also had some dropped passes.

Baldwin is awful. Flush him, he's done. Drops aside, I knew he wasn't a burner, but never realized how slow he was till I saw the play where he was (purposely) overthrown in the end zone. He was bracketed, but didn't need to be, as the CB used no effort to jog with him the entire play.

And, oddly enough, Edgar Jones is becoming one of my favorite players. He is decent as a backup LB, but he's a beast on special teams, and is probably our next Gary Stills or Bennie Thompson. I noticed that about him last season, but so far he looks even better this preseason.

[keg in kc]

You're probably taking shit for talking about putting Bray on the practice squad because he has to clear waivers for that to occur. And that will most likely never, ever happen. We had to win a bidding war to get him in the first place, there's been all sorts of praise about him all summer from the team, so it's nigh on certain that he's gone the second he's released, and on someone else's 53.

[Hammock Parties]

Houston is destroying his man in run defense almost every time. He's gonna be a top 5 OLB this year. Again.

[Easy 6]

I missed the game unfortunately, but it looks Smythe got punked.

7/16 for 62? yeah, pretty bad... but its preseason and i'm not going to panic until that starts happening in regular season games.

[Bambi]

I dvr'd this game. I don't seem too optimistic about the results though.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Bambi

I dvr'd this game. I don't seem too optimistic about the results though.

I doubt we win this time but anything is possible, everybody says it's just preseason.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

I heard the announcer say Houston has the same number of sacks his first two seasons as Hali did.16.5 I think. I bet this year the pile up 30 sacks between them. I bet Poe gets 5 too. We're gonna be the sack masters of the NFL , I can just see it. In fact , now I'm thinkin we'll just set an NFL record for most team sacks in a year because I forgot about DJ. He'll have 5 and Berry will have 5. I even bet Tyson Jackson gets one.

Edit : I forgot Devito. He's gonna have 5 too.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

You're probably taking shit for talking about putting Bray on the practice squad because he has to clear waivers for that to occur. And that will most likely never, ever happen. We had to win a bidding war to get him in the first place, there's been all sorts of praise about him all summer from the team, so it's nigh on certain that he's gone the second he's released, and on someone else's 53.

I praised bray in Week 1. I just don't buy that he's a hot commodity. The real bidding war is the draft. Imo. He will make the 53 simply because stanzi won't.

[milkman]

Bray looked like hot garbage in this game.

I believe it was Deez that called him Tyler Cassel.

Perfect.

[GayFrogs]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

[*]It dithgusts me that Baldwin is getting that many snaps. I don't want to see him in a Chiefs uniform. He is stealing reps from Avery and Hemmingway, who should be competing for that #2 spot with Baldwin nowhere in that picture

I interpreted that as they're giving him one last try, force-feeding him the ball to see if they had anything in him.

[Coogs]

I asked this in another thread, but a cat fight interrupted the football conversation before it was answered.

Does Reid's offense allow for pre-snap reads, and audibles to be used if the situation calls for a different play than the one called in the huddle?

It looks as if Smith has them at the line in plenty of time, but the play called in the huddle was what we went with every time.

[Mav]

Originally Posted by Coogs

I asked this in another thread, but a cat fight interrupted the football conversation before it was answered.

Does Reid's offense allow for pre-snap reads, and audibles to be used if the situation calls for a different play than the one called in the huddle?

It looks as if Smith has them at the line in plenty of time, but the play called in the huddle was what we went with every time.

They said they didn't game plan for that game.

So, im going to guess they didn't put anything in like that for it.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Mavericks Ace

They said they didn't game plan for that game.

So, im going to guess they didn't put anything in like that for it.

Reid himself said they need to o get better at the hot read. Pretty direct comment ththere that Alex should have been smarter