Kansas City Chiefs Defeat The Cincinnati Bengals: Thoughts On The Victory

By Josh Michaels | Aug 8, 2014

The Kansas City Chiefs took down the Cincinnati Bengals in one of the best games we’ll see all preseason, 41-39. In a back and forth shootout, we saw just about everything there was to see in an NFL Football game.

Let’s break down the action.

-The Chiefs starting offense didn’t show very well, opening the game with a three-and-out on the first series. Then, gave up a sack forced fumble deep within their own territory, setting up the Bengals first touchdown of the game. Later, they had a nice drive stall in the redzone after an over thrown pass by Alex Smith on third down. The sky is certainly not falling.. yet.

-Parker was picked on early and often, surrendering the 53-yard bomb and then giving up a touchdown later to Brandon Tate. He also accounted for two holding penalties as well. Not sure his starting job is safe any longer.

-Speaking of corner backs, Sean Smith‘s pick six was one of beauty. He answered the bell running with the two’s and made the most out of a bad decision from Jason Campbell. Don’t be surprised to see him running with the ones again sometime this week.

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-De’Anthony Thomas baby! The “Red Mamba” flashed brilliance on the first punt return of his career. Not only did he manage to hold onto the ball after what looked like a blown up play, he spun out of it and put on the burners for 80 yards and the score. Once he cleared the first wave of defenders, he was gone. As Gus Johnson would say, “He has get away from the cops speed!” Heck of a play from the young man.

– Malcolm Bronson was impressive tonight, having a pick-six, and, one ruling on the field away from having two. He also made some nice plays in the run game. The Chiefs are looking for young players to make a difference, especially in the secondary. I loved his athleticism and look forward to see what he can do the next few weeks.

-The penalties were atrocious on the Chiefs tonight. They were flagged 7 times for a total of 50 yards, mostly on defensive holding calls. The NFL has made it clear that they’re cracking down on contact after five yards (I don’t know how you can even play corner back in the NFL anymore) and they weren’t kidding. Some things need to be cleaned up there.

-The back-up offensive line looked great on their fourth quarter scoring drive. They capped off a 13 play drive with a nice effort touchdown from Cyrus Gray. Eric Kush, Ricky Henry, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif all dominated the line of scrimmage during that series. Very encouraging play from that group.

–Travis Kelce looks to be healthy and showed exactly how he can help the Chiefs this season. His 69 yard catch-and-run was a thing of beauty and I look for him to only get better.

We’ve got to remember, this is only week one of the preseason so we can’t get too high, or, too low on what we saw last night. The biggest takeaway was no injuries, and lots of effort from the young players. And the win, of course.

What are the readers thoughts from this first game?

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