Well, as pointless as preseason games are, this is the first glimpse of football that many Chiefs fans have had at seeing their 2011 team. And even for us who have gone up to Chiefs training camp, this is the first time that we are able to see our team in a competitive situation against another team.
And Lord Almighty I'm looking forward to it. My roommate and I (who is a Bucs fan) got tickets for the game via StubHub when the lockout was still going on and no one was sure if there would be a season or not. Thus, we got tickets super cheap.
Anyway, gloating aside, I want to treat this post just as I would any post about an upcoming Chiefs game. I want to break down the Bucs and show some of the matchups we can expect to see in the game.
On first team offense, the Chiefs are returning four of the five linemen from last year (the exception being Brian Waters), a Pro Bowl receiver - Dwayne Bowe, Pro Bowl quarterback - Matt Cassel, Pro Bowl running back - Jamaal Charles, Thomas Jones, and all but one of our tight ends. The new additions to the starters are Jon Asamoah at right guard, Jerheme Urban at wide receiver, and Le'Ron McClain at full back. Asamoah and Urban were both with the team last year, but neither were in the starting lineups very much (and honestly, Urban seems to just be holding a spot for Jon Baldwin until he proves himself more to coach Haley) and are, for the most part, still unproven. McClain, however, is a proven commodity and it will be nice to see how he helps the running game.
On first team defense, there are only a couple of differences from the depth chart at the end of last season. We lost both Ron Edwards and Shaun Smith, but we did acquire Kelly Gregg for our nose tackle position (a vast upgrade in my opinion). With the retirement of Mike Vrabel, Andy Studebaker has been given the reigns for a starting OLB position, and it looks like Kendrick Lewis has taken over the free safety role for good. The rest of the team (Jackson, Dorsey, Hali, Johnson, Belcher, Berry, Carr, Flowers) remains the same.
The Bucs first team offense also returns most of its starters, which includes a young and very talented group of players: Josh Freeman, LeGarrette Blount, Kellen Winslow, and Mike Williams. No one on the Bucs team was selected to the Pro Bowl last season, but any of these players could make it this coming year and for many more years to come.
On defense, the Bucs lost starter Barrett Ruud at MLB, but also gained two highly thought of players in this years draft. Those players are Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers (although Bowers is not listed as the starter on their current depth chart). They also return players like Gerald McCoy, Aqib Talib, Ronde Barber, and Geno Hayes. Much like on offense, these players have Pro Bowl potential.
Now, starting players aside, these two teams are very comparable. The Chiefs and Bucs seem to be at similar stages in their rebuilding process and seem to be on the precipice of becoming a football power. Both teams went 10-6 last season, and both teams are very young (the Bucs being the youngest team in all of football). Although the Bucs did next to nothing in free agency, they seem to have the majority of players already in place to be a playoff team.
So this game between the Chiefs and Bucs shouldn't just be regarded as an exhibition game, it should be regarded as a preview of two possible playoff contenders, a look at two future forces to be reckoned with. Let's just hope the Chiefs don't get the short end of the stick like they did last year against the Bucs.
Am I over-hyping a preseason game? Perhaps. But man, I am excited.
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