***Official Chiefs Crowd Reaction to the first Preseason Game Thread***

[Chiefster]

Well we looked pretty much like we did all of last year. Good thing it was only preseason. We were running a base defense so the jury is still out on that. I still don't read too much into the loss because it is only preseason.

Thoughts?

[Connie Jo]

My take...yeah, was disappointed we didn't win. I know it's only pre-season, but a win would've been an encouraging boost after last season.

I may be crazy, but I'm still thinking Thigpen looks too good not to give him a shot at starting position. He's quick, avoids sacks, throws decent on the run, not afraid to run, & just seems his heart is really in to the game...winning. He also did an excellent job of keeping his eye on the play & ball when whoever it was he tossed to, dropped it...Thigpen was on it in a hearbeat!

Our front line still doesn't appear to be giving our QB enough protection/time. I know it was raining, but that's barely an excuse in the NFL to be dropping so many balls/catches. And, there were too many tackles missed also.

Granted I was grumpy last night while watching, so maybe it wasn't as bad of a game as I'm thinking? I had no one to watch the game with, my son visited the night before, drank all my beer...so no beer with a lousy frozen pizza, and it was storming too bad to go get any, haha.

[Three7s]

My take...yeah, was disappointed we didn't win. I know it's only pre-season, but a win would've been an encouraging boost after last season.

I may be crazy, but I'm still thinking Thigpen looks too good not to give him a shot at starting position. He's quick, avoids sacks, throws decent on the run, not afraid to run, & just seems his heart is really in to the game...winning. He also did an excellent job of keeping his eye on the play & ball when whoever it was he tossed to, dropped it...Thigpen was on it in a hearbeat!

Our front line still doesn't appear to be giving our QB enough protection/time. I know it was raining, but that's barely an excuse in the NFL to be dropping so many balls/catches. And, there were too many tackles missed also.

Granted I was grumpy last night while watching, so maybe it wasn't as bad of a game as I'm thinking? I had no one to watch the game with, my son visited the night before, drank all my beer...so no beer with a lousy frozen pizza, and it was storming too bad to go get any, haha.

I liked Thigpen a lot last season, but after watching the last preseason game, I can understand why Haley isn't too confident in him. The throws me made just looked ridiculous. Yes, he completed them, but his passes clearly looked awkward. I think I even saw a couple that looked side-armed.

Thigpen's best asset is running the ball, and I think Haley plans to utilize that by running the wildcat with him at times, but to say he should be the starting QB is just not working with me right now. If we went by the first game, it'd be Croyle who's starting, obviously. I just hope that we aren't quite as conservative on offense against the Vikings when Cassel's in there.

[yashi]

Thigpen is a playmaker at turning a dead play into a nice one, but he is still very inaccurate and doesn't seem all that poised in the pocket. He always seems a little shaky.

I love what I saw from Cassel. He stands tall in the pocket and delivers accurate passes on the money. He's very accurate and doesn't seem to make mistakes. I can see why he only threw 11 interceptions last season.

I'm a big Thigpen fan and it's very comforting knowing that he's available if Cassel goes down, but for me there's no question that Cassel is the guy.

[Connie Jo]

I liked Thigpen a lot last season, but after watching the last preseason game, I can understand why Haley isn't too confident in him. The throws me made just looked ridiculous. Yes, he completed them, but his passes clearly looked awkward. I think I even saw a couple that looked side-armed.

Thigpen's best asset is running the ball, and I think Haley plans to utilize that by running the wildcat with him at times, but to say he should be the starting QB is just not working with me right now. If we went by the first game, it'd be Croyle who's starting, obviously. I just hope that we aren't quite as conservative on offense against the Vikings when Cassel's in there.

Well, I admit I was somewhat pre-occupied when watching, so likely wasn't observant enough to make a rational QB judgement. No doudt Thigpens drive being the only one to score a TD influenced my opinion as well. :)

[Chiefster]

My take...yeah, was disappointed we didn't win. I know it's only pre-season, but a win would've been an encouraging boost after last season.

I may be crazy, but I'm still thinking Thigpen looks too good not to give him a shot at starting position. He's quick, avoids sacks, throws decent on the run, not afraid to run, & just seems his heart is really in to the game...winning. He also did an excellent job of keeping his eye on the play & ball when whoever it was he tossed to, dropped it...Thigpen was on it in a hearbeat!

Our front line still doesn't appear to be giving our QB enough protection/time. I know it was raining, but that's barely an excuse in the NFL to be dropping so many balls/catches. And, there were too many tackles missed also.

Granted I was grumpy last night while watching, so maybe it wasn't as bad of a game as I'm thinking? I had no one to watch the game with, my son visited the night before, drank all my beer...so no beer with a lousy frozen pizza, and it was storming too bad to go get any, haha.

Decent analysis Connie!

[pbatrucker]

As for the OL, Richardson was running with the 1st team at RT this morning. I'm surprised it took this long for someone to take over for McIntosh.

[Coach]

Thoughts from the first half...

I was mostly focused on the defense, because I think the offense will be fine.

The play where Leggett sacked Schaub was AWESOME. 1 down lineman (Magee), rushed 6, and the OL had absolutely no idea what to do as 2 guys were immediately in the backfield and Leggett went through untouched. We haven't seen a blitz like that in years, and we got to see it on the very first drive. Awesome.

The first team run defense was excellent, aside from a couple runs by Chris Brown late in the drive. On pass plays the guys up around the line looked hungry. Pass coverage wasn't great aside from Flowers, who did well and made some plays.

Dorsey played surprisingly well all around.

Cory Mays has really long hair.

I was really impressed with LJ. The run blocking wasn't great and he was working for a couple extra yards on every play.

On the end around to Kevin Walter, Hali made a very nice tackle in the open field that saved an extra 10 yards (at least). He definitely looks slim and quick, and explosive in pass rushing. He got a little anxious on one 3rd and long and drew a neutral zone infraction though.

I already strongly dislike Wright and Lawrence. Can we get a real return guy please? These guys struggle to catch a punt without falling over. I wonder why Savage isn't returning kicks.

Jackie Battle looks really impressive and I see why Haley seems to like him a lot. I could see him at a minimum being a very good short yardage guy for us down the road.

At one point I saw some white guy wearing Jared Allen's old 69 playing NT on 1st down. I looked him up and he's some 6'6" 265 lb guy listed as a tackle? Not sure what that was about, but he was taken out the next play.

We were able to get to the QB with just 4 guys rushing the passer at one point on 3rd and long (Hali, Jackson, Magee, Studebaker). I don't remember seeing that last year. Studebaker actually looks really good in a situational pass rushing role.

I LOVE the safety blitzes. Neither Page nor Pollard are particularly good coverage safeties, but I think both guys can excel if they're thrown in around the line of scrimmage sometimes. Both made a lot of plays when they were around the line last night.

McGraw is still a special teams stud and I'm really glad we kept him.

Our defensive line gets shuffled around a lot depending on the situation, with Jackson sometimes playing inside and such. Same with the OLBs, I saw Hali playing both left and right. Hopefully this keeps offenses on their toes.

Bowe is incredible and made Croyle look good. Croyle made some really bad throws at times, throwing behind receivers and the play where Bowe had to dive for a ball when he was standing still. Croyle did make some pretty nice throws too though.

This is pretty much what I noticed as well.
Other important Notes:
1. LJ looked stong as I expected.
2. Jackie Battle is a rock and should be a great short yardage back.
3. We need a NT.
4. WR's looked lost.
5. Our OL looks like we expected it to look.

I am excited about the 3-4 transition. It's fun to see the LB's flying all over the field and rushing the QB.