As always, cross-posted on my own blog.

To tell the truth, I couldn't even watch the game. It wasn't aired in Hawaii and I didn't have time to "watch" the play-by-play on NFL.com. So I'm dependent on reading other views and evaluating what they say by how they say it, and by the context and reasoning provided.

First up, two rather negative reactions about the defense.

And one positive, from Jason Whitlock of all people.

When I start agreeing with Jason Whitlock on a regular basis, it's time to check if he's been replaced by an automaton, or a saintly twin brother, or something.

But regardless of the source, there is quite a bit of sense in things like this:

Middle linebacker Kawika Mitchell was improved. So was the whole interior (Ryan Sims included) of KC’s defense. I didn’t expect Kansas City’s revamped defense to shut down one of the league’s best offenses in early August. Culpepper and his backup, Brad Johnson, have thrown for a lot of yards in the NFL.

True enough. Both pro-bowlers at times in their career, right? Brad Johnson was considered the top QB in the NFL at times. Experienced QBs with a good game plan going up against a D that's still gelling, has a few players starting for the first time, and deliberately goes vanilla? No contest.

KC’s defense drew a tough first assignment. Allen struggled against left tackle Bryant McKinnie, one of the league’s top young linemen. Allen has been getting whipped by Willie Roaf in practice. Friday’s exhibition confirmed my pregame suspicions: The defense will be improved, but Gunther Cunningham is going have to be creative in getting an outside pass rush.

I'm not sure I buy that the outside pass rush is going to be problematic. Allen got 9 sacks as a rookie, leading all rookies. He could have broken DT's rookie sack total if several hadn't been called back by penalties. Carlos Hall is a speed rusher. Hicks can't dominate alone, but usually thrives with help. Sims is surging. Bell, Kawika Mitchell, and Derrick Johnson all have good enough speed to harry the QB on a basic blitz. And the secondary should be good enough to give the line time to get there. But we'll see, he may be right. However, I'll say that the more creative Gunther has to get, the worse our defense will perform, because we'll leave ourselves open to the big play.

So here's what I got out of the 1st preseason game:
1) Sampson is going to be good (tho not pro-bowl) at RT.
2) Priest Holmes is going to be amazing. And his total carries may be low enough to not risk injury as much as last year.
3) Keyaron Fox is a good backup if Bell gets dinged up.
4) Kawika Mitchell is ready to start, and do well. But he'd better stay healthy for his own sake; if he gets injured, Boomer Grigsby may never relinquish the starting spot.
5) Derrick Johnson is going to be good.
6) No injuries.

That's about all we need to know for a preseason game. Especially the first. We've now identified some problems, but also seen some areas where things are going fine. For example, Vermeil's tactic of letting his older O-linemen rest hasn't hurt us at all, and may end up helping us immensely. It's nice to get some confirmation on that.

The next preseason game will tell us lots more.