Game Notes From Chiefs vs. Ravens

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Well, the game might have ended in a 31-13 loss, but that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty to talk about. Quite contrary, yesterday's game left us with a lot to talk about if you know where to look.

• First, let's start at the very beginning of the game. The game, just like most this preseason, began with a touchback. Nothing strange about that right? Normally there wouldn't be, except for the fact that Ravens coach John Harbaugh had said the days leading up to the game: "In this game, we’re going to have to punch it down there because we need to train our guys to cover kicks. We’re not going to go through the whole season kicking touchbacks. That would be foolish. Right now, they can know that they’re going to get a chance to return kicks in this game because we need to cover them.” Out of 31 points worth of kickoffs, plus the opening of the game, only twice were they not touchbacks; and out of those two, one was six yards deep in the end zone. So, looks like Harbaugh didn't mind being a little "foolish."
• Next, I want to talk about Justin Houston. I jump to Houston because he was the first Chiefs player to make a big play, forcing the fumble after the Chiefs had to punt after their first series. Houston would finish with two sacks, which each happened in the second half, three tackles, and two QB hits. Houston, of course, should have had a third sack in the fourth quarter, but instead got juked out by the athletic Tyrod Taylor who then ran in for the touchdown. Besides that lapse, I thought Houston had a very good game, even if it was against second and third string players.
• Most of the Chiefs starters played into the second quarter. And in the opening series, we saw something we didn't see last week; we saw Cassel throw and Charles run. Although Cassel lead the Chiefs to two field goal attempts (one being no good), he didn't have all that great of a night, finishing 6/14 (43%) for 73 yards and a 59.5 passer rating. I should say that three of Cassel's incomplete passes were dropped (Bowe, Moeaki, Jones), three were deflected, one was thrown away and one was nearly intercepted. On third downs, Cassel was called upon to attempt four passes. He completed two of those four (with one drop), gained one first down, and took one sack (although McCluster blew his chop block and left Cassel with no protection). Third down is something I'd like to see Cassel improve at, so hopefully he's just knocking off the rust.
• Our first team defense looked a little rusty at times, giving up a twelve play field goal on the Ravens opening series, but really buckled down after that. Our second team defense kept up the good work, although they did give up a touchdown before halftime with starters Joe Flacco and Ray Rice going up against the likes of Sabby Piscitelli and Jon McGraw (which is my sarcastic way of saying I wasn't impressed with the Ravens offense). Our defense didn't start getting scorched until the last seven or so minutes of the fourth quarter, when our depth had been exhausted and the Ravens still had many of their second team players still in. Something I think our defense could improve on is rushing yards on first down. When Flacco and Rice were in the game, they averaged 3.3 yards per carry on first down, which is a little high then I would have liked, but most of those numbers came against our backups, so I''m not too concerned.
• Here's our backup situation: it's not good. And here's why. Tyler Palko might have been 8 of 13 for 95 yards and a touchdown, but he was also extremely lucky. I don't know if Jim Zorn's drills have gotten to Palko, but he seemed more than comfortable attempting passes from his back foot. I noted on at least two occasions he tried this, and one was his touchdown pass. Palko is no Brett Favre, and nothing good can come of Palko having success with these type of fundamentals. And as far as Ricky Stanzi is concerned, he is clearly a rookie. Besides that delay of game penalty late in the game, Stanzi looked off. I'm afraid he might be suffering from the David Carr effect: when a good quarterback gets no pass protection, suffers from numerous sacks, and starts rushing throws and not being very accurate. And Stanzi was indeed sacked numerous times and threw an interception. It might be time to start making some phone calls.
• Here are some player notes I thought worth noting. Is Mike Cox seriously our reserve running back? Can we not do better than putting a full back in as tail back? I found that humorous. And Jalil Brown, who had been looking good in training camp, gave up a deep pass and was flagged for pass interference in the game. So in other words, he didn't look very good in last night's game.
• If you watched the entire game, then I am sure you had an opinion on the very last drive of the night. After Stanzi failed to convert of fourth down with 1:18 left, instead of kneeling it down, the Ravens went above and beyond to score a touchdown, even calling two timeouts to ensure they would have enough time to score. The Ravens were already up 24-13 at this point. After the game, it looked like coach Haley wasn't the happiest person in the world. After the game, Harbaugh said "The idea in that situation is to give those young guys who work hard and who are trying to make a football team -- this football team or another football team -- to play the whole 60 minutes and give them a chance to show what they can do." I wouldn't mind this at all, but I'm not sure if Harbaugh is being completely sincere, since he decided to leave his second QB in until the final series, when he finally let Hunter Cantwell enter the game. If he was truly concerned about getting to see what his guys can do, he would do what the Chiefs do and make sure all their players get plenty of playing time. It was almost as if Harbaugh intended to run up the score, wanting to embarrass the Chiefs. Harbaugh had this to say about Haley and his discussion following the game: "I think he said something like, 'I don't know about that,' "I understood, and I just said, 'Preseason, preseason for the young guys.' He said 'OK.'" Not sure if I totally buy this and it makes me wonder, what did we do to upset the Ravens?
• Three tuck rule incompletions in one game! Very strange.
• It was reported that the team would address the Jones-Baldwin fight after the game. That didn't happen, at least not from Haley. When asked in his press conference, Haley seemed surprised by the question and refused to disclose any information on the topic. Looks like the mystery of Baldwin's hand will go on a little longer, but here's some insight via Jamaal Charles' twitter: "Real talk...RT @Dangerzombie: @jcharles25 Thomas Jones is my hero..lol. Respect is earned by hard work. Blood,sweat,and tears." Not sure if this has to do with Baldwin, but I got to think so.

All-in-all, just another typical Chiefs preseason game.