The Chiefs took a solid step towards raising their level of confidence Thursday with a 21-17 victory over their cross state rivals, the St. Louis Rams.
Even though the Chiefs suffered a fumble on the opening kickoff by rookie return man Dantrell Savage, they were able to quickly re-group and shut down the Trent Green (yes that Trent Green) led attack before it even got started. The Rams settled for a Josh Brown field goal, but the Chiefs defense had to feel proud that they were able to dominate right from the start.
Chiefs safety Jarrad Page had a few words to say about the Chiefs red zone defense:
“That’s where you have to take pride, down in that area. The team has two choices – they can punch it in for a touchdown or they can end up attempting a field goal (or they could turn it over). Of course we always want to get either a turnover or force them into that field goal. We try our best to keep them out of the end zone.”
After that, the Chiefs starting offense hit the field, and after laying an egg last week in Miami, they clearly came out with something to prove. They methodically carved up the Rams second team defense en route to a 14 yard TD scamper by backup running back Kolby Smith, which put the Chiefs ahead for good at 7-3.
Quarterback Brodie Croyle talked about the importance of setting the tone early with solid play offensively:
“It’s big for us. We want to come out here and put together a couple of good drives and we were able to do that. We did what we needed to do.”
“We knew we weren’t as bad as we played last week. It was good for us to get back out here and get some confidence heading into our game with the Patriots.”
Even though the Rams chose to rest nearly all of their starters in this one, the Chiefs continued to pour it on with their top group - sans Larry Johnson, who was held out because of the inclement weather - and slammed home another solid touchdown drive that culminated in a second rushing TD for Smith, who talked about the heated competition at the running back spot for the Chiefs:
“Each one of us is different. You can’t say, ‘Well, this one does this and this one does that.’ Each of our differences makes the team better. It makes things that much harder for the defense.”
The Chiefs continued to emphasize their strength at the running back spot, turning the ball over to rookie Jamal Charles, who has drawn routine praise from both the coaching staff and his fellow players for his outstanding speed and vision out of the backfield. Charles finished off the night with 6 carries for 43 yards - an average of 7.2 yards per carry - and showed the brave fans who sat through a miserable downpour for most of the game why the Chiefs selected him in the 3rd round of the draft last April.
Croyle spoke about the impact Charles will have on this season for the team:
“It was good getting Jamaal out there. He might be one of the fastest football players I’ve ever been around. He is a football player, he loves blocking. He’s great running screens. He’s going to be a huge help for us this year.”
Not to be outdone, the Chiefs defense played well throughout the majority of the game, only allowing St. Louis to score twice despite the Rams having multiple opportunities in the second half to make the score much closer. The Chiefs defense forced a fumble - recovered by rookie defensive end Brian Johnston - and intercepted journeyman quarterback Bruce Gradkowski as well.
Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards was very pleased with the way the team pulled together after losing a tough game last week in Miami:
“It showed in how we played, especially the first quarter. I thought we responded well from our disappointing setback last week. We went (to Miami) of the mind of continuing to build and we took a little step back. We gained our step back this week. We played fairly well in the first half offensively and put some points on the board and defensively you give up the ball on the first play and you hold them to three (points), I thought that was a good job.
“I thought our seconds at the end held on and did some things that needed to be done to win the football game. That was good to see because in the last couple of weeks the seconds and thirds didn’t do a good job and the games got away from us. Good win for us, good way to finish the pre-season.”
He also downplayed the significance of Savage’s early fumble, although he did shed some light on the possible direction the team might head with the running back spot:
“I don’t think you can go on one play (fumble). There’s a multitude of things you have to look at when evaluating players…The good thing about Savage is when he got his opportunity again he really ran it well.”
“You’re right. There are five of them and you can’t keep five. But I think we’re in a little bit of a different situation with what we’re trying to do here – building a football team. The thing you don’t want to do is cut good football players because the numbers don’t add up at that position, and keep a player maybe not as worthy because he plays a certain position. When you do that it’s the wrong way to go, especially where we are. You want to keep your best football players. They always find a way to get on the field and when injuries occur it’s always good to have another good football player in that spot. We have some tough decisions (to make).”
Things could get very interesting indeed this weekend at Arrowhead, as the Chiefs will have their hands full trying to sort out who to keep and who to send packing, as they cut their roster down to the league maximum of 53.
The one spot that will be highly intriguing to watch is the kicker spot, where both rookie Connor Barth and veteran Nick Novak have battled throughout the pre-season. Neither player has truly asserted their skills over another, and the Chiefs would have liked to see each get a shot at kicking a solid field goal last night, but the weather and offensive firepower dictated otherwise.
All in all, a solid victory by the Chiefs and one that should give them a much need boost of confidence headed into a opening day match up in New England against the defending AFC champion Patriots.
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Touchdown! Score big this 
