The preseason match up between the Seahawks and Chiefs spoke a lot as to where the two teams are in training camp on Friday.
The defensive lines dominated early in the game with Kansas City forcing consecutive “3 and outs” upon the Seahawks first string offense (minus Lynch). The Chiefs offense stalled in the beginning as well, but the offensive line eventually got it together giving Alex Smith some much needed time in the pocket. Alex Smith did what Alex Smith does, he led a stellar drive ending with it resulting in a TD pass to the newly acquired Jeremy Maclin. KC went on to win the game 14-13 with the back up QB Chase Daniels and rookie tight end James O’Shaughnessy combining for another TD pass.
Andy Reid after the game, “As far as the injuries go, Dee Ford has what looks like a fractured rib, but we’ll see how things go here in the next day, but he took quite a shot there to the ribs. (Dezman) Moses had some hamstring tightness, as did JMJ (James-Michael Johnson), he had calf tightness. All in all, I thought we did some good things. Obviously, had the 14-play drive with the ones, was important.”
Reid also stated that he thought the O-line did okay after the very first play and that they were still missing a couple guys. When asked about the interceptions by Smith the head coach answered, “We’re asking him to do some different things and he’ll get all that taken care of. That’s not his M-O so I’m not too worried about it.” Reid also said the he saw improvement from the last game and noted that they were playing one of the better defensive lines in the League.
Alex Smith acknowledged the Wagner interception after the game, admitting that he didn’t see him until it was too late. But he was very pleased with the production from the first and second string units while in scoring position.
“We got into a flow and it was nice for us, I think it was the first time we kind of really did that extended for the first group.” Smith continued, “It was good and then to cap it off, that was the difference tonight, we got in the red zone twice and got two touchdowns. That ended up being the difference in the game.”
Jeremy Maclin had a solid game and attributed his TD catch to the play call by Andy Reid, but also said that he had a dropped ball and that is “unacceptable”.
On the defensive side of the ball KC played pretty well only allowing 2 Seattle field goals through out the game. The Chiefs ultimately put pressure on the Seahawk QBs, and exploited a struggling ground game which prevented Seattle from ever reaching the enzone.
Pete Carroll said that he would have to wait to see the film on his offensive line but was pleased that they didn’t give up a sack in the first half. I think after he watches the film, he might feel that Wilson should get more of the credit for that. Carroll said that he expects the run game to improve once Lynch is back in the mix, but that they need to improve on the run game in general.
Coach Carroll continued, “We are running about a third of what we normally do. We wanted to just see some good fundamental football, not make it too hard on the guys up front. I thought they ran well, but we got knocked up a little bit.”
Over all the Chief fans have to be happy with the way preseason is going, these games may not matter at all in a few weeks but the arrow is pointing in a good direction. The fans also got to see the return of Eric Berry, who played in his first home game at Arrowhead since being diagnosed with Cancer. Eric Berry is a true inspiration in Kansas City, in the post game he shared how and why it is so emotional it is for him to be back.
“Yeah… definitely just because just the ride through the stadium – up to the stadium – smelling the barbecue, seeing the fans out there waving. I made sure my windows were rolled down so I could just take it all in and I drove extra slow this time. So it was definitely a wonderful feeling.”
Eric Berry also commented on being back with his teammates, “Yeah, not just on the field, it’s been an on-going process – even from when we came in and we had to do the conditioning test, it was different. Alex (Smith) was the first person I saw when I walked into the practice facility and he lit up. It made me excited too. I thought I was going to be more excited to see him but I think he was more excited to see me. Just being around my teammates, I think we all just feed off each other. We’re a close group, it’s like we’ve all been together our whole lives. It’s not just a business for us, we’re a family. We come in as teammates and we’re going to leave as a family.”
