The Good:
-In the first half, Kansas City's #1 and #2 offense torched St. Louis #1 defense for 24 points.

-KC's #1 defense held the Rams' offense scoreless.

-KC's #2 defense got several pressures and sacks against the Rams' #2 offense playing with mostly the #1 O-line.

-Larry Johnson is ready to excel if Priest goes down.

-The whole team only allowed a 3.2 ypc average, no run longer than 11 yards. The first team held Marshall Faulk to a 2.6 ypc average

-Jared Allen is the real deal. He's pushing for spot in the starting rotation as an unheralded 4th-round rookie. They couldn't stop him in single coverage, and double-teaming allowed Wilkerson to pressure the passer from the other end.

-Boerigter looks dangerous. Hall looks dangerous. Sammie Parker looks dangerous. Richard Smith looks like an excellent #4 WR. This group may lack a top-tier WR, but there is almost zero drop-off from top to bottom. Even the rookies look like they'd be good enough to start games for any team in the league (although not put up pro-bowl numbers...)

The Bad:
-Julian Battle isn't getting it. He played poorly, had a few penalties, and erased a sack/strip/fumble-recovery with one illegal contact penalty. He probably needs and will get until the end of the next training camp to win at least the nickel position or will be cut.

-Omar Easy isn't consistent enough to earn a spot in the running back corps. Jonathan Smith had a costly fumble in the first preseason, but would be a better choice since he can also play fullback.

The Ugly:
-The interior of the defensive line was quiet. Then again, if they tied up blockers to allow the ends to get the pressure they did, I'll take it. They certainly did their part in preventing any long gains on the ground.

-The #2 and #3 teams were beaten 7-0 in the second half.

-Kavika Mitchell went out with an ankle sprain. No idea how bad. He was supposed to replace Maslowski, and his experience last year was supposed to make the difference this year. I thought I saw Scott Fujita calling defensive plays, but I was in the middle of barbequeing, so I'm not sure. That would be interesting, because KC doesn't seem to have a true MLB in size/power, but Fujita has the brains to be the defensive field general. That would allow Mitchell and rookie Keyaron Fox to compete for an outside slot opposite Shawn Barber. It would put a tremendous amount of speed and athleticism on the field, but it would leave us light. On the other hand, Woods and Wesley are big hitters, and McCleon and Warfield aren't afraid to hit in run support, either, so maybe going a little light won't matter much. We'll have to see. It worked against one of last year's top offensive teams this game, so we'll have to see what the next few games bring.

Final Conclusion:

Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham and his players insist that the problems are fixable. They say that the run defense will improve as Cunningham's players become familiar with his system.

Well, they certainly demonstrated an amazing improvement since the last game. The defense absolutely disrupted the rhythm of the Rams' 1st team offense. Sure, it's a preseason game, but it's a nice step on the road to recovery. Project this performance out to a season, and the Chiefs have a record-setting defense and a perfect season, and you know that's impossible. But if they keep improving at all from this performance, a top-ten defense isn't impossible, although top-15 is more likely. There are two things I cannot emphasize enough: a 3.2 ypc average with no run longer than 11 yards, and it's still just the 2nd preseason game so it doesn't really mean anything for certain! I'm not going to relax about this defense until after game 9 or so during the season!

On the other hand, I'm feeling quite a bit more confident that everyone who said the Chiefs made no significant addition on defense were full of hot air, because it is looking like Gunther is getting more out of his players than Greg Robinson could...but last year's FA acquisitions and this year's draft picks are starting to demonstrate why we signed/drafted them, as I predicted. Repeat after me:

Big Name Only Means Big Salary Cap Hit. Players play according to their ability, not according to conventional wisdom. Teams scouts know more than sportswriters and fans.

It's going to be a good year, and my early prediction for the opener is KC will beat Denver by more than 6 points.