Kansas City Chiefs: Five takeaways from preseason Week 2 vs Steelers

Week 2 of the preseason is now in the books for the Kansas City Chiefs. This one wasn’t anywhere near as clean as the game before; Not only from a score standpoint, but also turnovers were an issue and the game didn’t start on time.

That being said, there were some solid takeaways from this game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 2 of the preseason.

The Defense Looked Good

The starting defense looked much improved from last week. It helps that guys like Frank Clark, Alex Okafor, and Chris Jones played most of the snaps when the starting defense was on the field. When the reserves came on, the defense didn’t miss much of a beat. Rookie Juan Thornhill looked good when he was on the field and Herb Miller showed up on a couple of plays including a strip.

The Offense Looked a Little Off

It’s only the preseason, so not a whole lot of planning goes into each game. That being said, Patrick Mahomes missed on a couple of throws that he usually makes. The Steelers defense was throwing some things that the Chiefs probably weren’t anticipating in a preseason game and it showed. They’ll need to work on that during the regular season.

Starting Offensive Line Looked Great

The starting offensive line played more snaps than any of the starters. They were able to keep Mahomes and Chad Henne clean despite some wrinkles the Steelers tried to throw at them. This was some good work against a front seven that will be among the best this coming season. The offensive line as a whole looked good, even the backups, so that’s a tremendous sign moving forward.

Rookie Woes

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Kansas City Chiefs, especially the rookies.

Herb Miller got burned on a big play in the second quarter that brought back some bad memories from last season.
Mecole Hardman made a rookie mistake on a punt return where he thought his speed could outrun the coverage, but ended up losing about ten yards. Special teams coach Dave Toub is going to be grilling him in the film room for that.
Lastly, seventh-round pick Nick Allegretti had a low snap that cut a drive short.

Hardman’s error is a common mistake, but if you are a player like Miller and Allegretti whose jobs aren’t entirely safe, those mistakes are ones you can’t afford to make if you want to make the roster.

Back-to-back weeks with a TD for @MecoleHardman4! #KCvsPIT pic.twitter.com/MgKWrwTTcJ
— NFL (@NFL) August 18, 2019

Singing the Praises

Darwin Thompson once again looked great when he was on the field. He needs to continue his work in pass protection, but that will come with time.
Mecole Hardman may have had that error on special teams, but he continues to impress on offense and makes a scary offense even scarier.
Juan Thornhill continues to force his way into the lineup and will likely be the starter come the regular season game against Jacksonville if he continues to play like this.
To steer away from rookies, Armani Watts is starting to show up and Blake Bell looks to have the second tight end spot opposite Travis Kelce just about locked up.

This game wasn’t near as squeaky clean as the previous game, but that is to be expected in the preseason. The Steelers are a better team than the Bengals.

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That being said, the score doesn’t matter in preseason. This game is strictly about getting tape on guys from both teams. Now next week’s game against the 49ers will be a completely different story. That is where we will see something resembling a regular season game.

What were some of your takeaways from week two of the preseason?

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