Chiefs report card: Some strides made in second preseason game
The key plays, stats and grades for the starters from the KC Chiefs’ second preseason game on Friday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
The recap
Player of the game: Patrick Mahomes had ups and downs in his first full half of the preseason. He completed 8 of 12 passes for 138 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He made some really nice throws to sustain drives, but he also made some ill-advised decisions, including one interception and one near interception.
Reason to hope: The offense showed significant signs of improvement in protecting Mahomes despite having a new starter inserted with Andrew Wylie at right guard for Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (concussion protocol). The starting group scored points for the first time this preseason.
Reason to mope: The defense provided little resistance for the second week in a row, regardless of facing either the starting quarterback or the backup. Atlanta gained 241 yards in the first half, scored two touchdowns and had two time-consuming scoring drives of more than 60 yards.
Looking ahead: The Chiefs have broken camp in St. Joseph and will move to Kansas City for the remainder of the preseason practices. They travel to Chicago this coming weekend for the third preseason game on Saturday.
Report card
D
Rushing offense: After running just once with the first offense last week, the Chiefs made an effort to get Kareem Hunt involved (seven carries, 15 yards), though Mahomes’ scrambles were the majority of the rushing yards. Hunt’s pass receiving accounted for most of his yardage from scrimmage.
C
Passing offense: Mahomes showed the potential good and bad that comes with his big arm and relative inexperience. He threw one interception into coverage, should’ve had another picked off in the red zone, but he also was accurate for the most part and unleashed a 69-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds left in the first half. Tyreek Hill caught it at the 6-yard line behind three defenders. Mahomes showed very good timing and placement on throws to Travis Kelce. Offensive line kept Mahomes clean and upright and showed big improvement from last week.
D
Rushing defense: Linebacker play was glaring, once again, with Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens not on the field. On the first drive of the game, Atlanta took advantage of over pursuit and a cutback lane and also bodies at the point of attack. The defense came up with a stop on fourth down deep in red zone. They allowed Atlanta 3.8 yards per carry in the first half.
F
Passing defense: After Steven Nelson left the game after being kicked in the head, cornerback David Amerson was targeted repeatedly for big yards, and he couldn’t stay in bounds on a near interception in the end zone. Pass rush seemed to have minimal impact on either Matt Ryan or Matt Schaub. Both were comfortable in the pocket and able to step into throws.
C
Special teams: Atlanta returned the opening kickoff for 34 yards, and kicker Harrison Butker needed to make the tackle to avoid an even bigger gain. Early in the second half, an Atlanta return man had time to drop the ball, fall on it, get up and still gain 19 yards. A penalty wiped out a nice punt return for the hosts early in the first quarter. The Chiefs also had a penalty on a kickoff return that eliminated return yardage in the second quarter. Tremon Smith returned a punt 37 yards, and Butker was perfect on field goal and extra point attempts. Butker split the uprights from 49 yards out.
C
Coaching: The in-game adjustments during the preseason will be minimal, but the Chiefs’ offensive staff certainly seemed to hammer out some of the pass protection issues from previous games. Penalties were too costly, even early in the season. Fundamental things, like a lineman lining up off the line of scrimmage, shouldn’t take points off the board. The Chiefs had a touchdown wiped off the board for an illegal formation.
This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 9:09 PM.