The Kansas City Chiefs’ first exhibition game was a tug of war with the Arizona Cardinals. Trailing late in the fourth quarter, the backups did their best to get the win, but fell short mainly due to numerous penalties on their final drive.
It didn’t take long for the Kansas City Chiefs’ first-team offense to score its first touchdown in August. After the Cardinals fumbled the opening kickoff that Chris Roalland-Wallace recovered, Mahomes threw a perfect short-yardage pass to receiver Jason Brownlee.
With injuries to Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice, Brownlee, rookie Jalen Royals, and Tyquan Thornton received most of the passes during the game. The Chiefs took a 14-3 lead after backup quarterback Gardner Minshew executed a perfect bootleg for a four-yard run.
After that, Bailey Zappy threw two interceptions and never took control of the offense.
On defense, the first team unit made some impressive plays, including a red zone interception by safety Jaden Hicks. The underthrown pass by Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was an easy turnover, but Hicks also made some solid stops against the run. He’s an upgrade over Justin Reid, which is why the Chiefs let him go in free agency.
Although the Chiefs’ pass rush was nearly nonexistent, undrafted rookie defensive end Janarius Robinson managed to record a nice sack.
However, the big question mark was how the Chiefs’ revamped offensive line performed. Rookie Justin Simmons was perfect on eleven snaps. The same can’t be said for left guard Kingsley Suamataia. Although he made some nice plays, he was beaten a few times up the middle, which forced Minshew to escape the pocket.
If there were a concern for this football team, I’d have to say the time this coaching staff has given cornerback Nazeeh Johnson to be a starter certainly failed on Saturday night. He gave up a touchdown when he couldn’t find the ball, another pass interference penalty, and poor tackling.
However, rookie corner Nohl Williams was impressive during his time on the field. He broke up a touchdown pass and made a significant stop behind the line of scrimmage. He also delivered a substantial hit on special teams as the gunner on punts.
Head Coach Andy Reid was likely pleased, but the team lost backup safety Deon Bush, who tore his Achilles and is out for the season, and cornerback Justin Watson left the game with a concussion.
This might lead the Chiefs to pursue free agent safety Kendall Fuller or shift cornerback Roland-Wallace to safety. The second-year player had a key interception in the second half, stopping a Cardinals drive.
In the end, Chris Oludoken did his best to secure the win, but multiple fifteen-yard penalties betrayed him after scrambling into Cardinals territory. Reid won’t be happy with triple digits in penalties, but he likely approves of his starters on both sides of the ball.
Next, the Chiefs will travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks next Friday night.
