| Chris Lister. 30th August, 2005 - 6:16 pm
 With week 1 of the NFL regular season on the horizon, many people in Kansas City are asking themselves just one question. Do the Chiefs have what it takes to get to the big Superbowl XL this year? From what has been seen of this brand new "amazing" defense, and this kicker, things are not looking bright so far for this football team. While yes, it is preseason and yes, these games don't matter it's still a sample of what could happen if the Chiefs are not able to pull it all together by the opening kickoff against the New York Jets on September 11th.
In week 3 of the preseason the Chiefs met the Seahawks at Arrowhead for what was expected to be a close game all the way down to the final seconds. On the opening drive, Kansas City's offense came out and moved the ball down the field like magic, as Trent Green went 5 for 5 with 76 yards passing, and he topped the drive off with a 4 yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez in the endzone. The defense was able to hold tight against Seattle's offense and forced them to go 3 and out. Kansas City's offense came back out onto the field hoping to repeat their last drive which resulted in 7 points on the board. However a touchdown just wasn't in their immediate future on this drive after Dyson picked one right off from Trent Green (Ball intended for Sammy Knight) and turned the ball over.
That was the last that was seen of Trent Green in this one, after his foot started to go numb the Chiefs decided not to take any chances and to have Green sit out the rest of the game. That meant that newly signed quarterback Jonathan Quinn would come in since Todd Collins and Damon Huard were both out with injuries. For the rest of the 1st quarter the teams went back and forth on defensive stops, that is, until the last 6 seconds of the 1st quarter when Matt Hasselbeck, found wide receiver Darrell Jackson for a 36 yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7. The Chief's secondary wasn't looking to great so far after giving up 47 yards passing, and a touchdown on 1 drive alone. Patrick Surtain was getting burned all night and wasn't looking like the all-star he was expected to look like.
Now into the second quarter the Chiefs defensive line continued to hold Shaun Alexander to small runs and made sure he didn't break out into anything big like he was known for. The defense was also putting a lot of pressure onto Hasselbeck forcing him to make bad throws and the Seahawks never saw the endzone in the second quarter, however they did pick up 3 on a 22 yard field goal right before the half.
Probably the most exciting thing in the 1st half of play was the 97 yard run by Larry Johnson of the Chiefs. He exploded up the middle, and what was meant to be maybe a 5-10 yard run turned into what probably would have been the longest run in Kansas City Chiefs history if it had been the regular season. The score going into halftime was 14-10.
The Seahawks offense came out with a bang on the first drive of the second half as Hasselbeck passed for 56 yards down the field including an 8 yard touchdown pass to Shaun Alexander making the score 17-14, Seattle was now on top. Quinn and his Chiefs were unable to get anything going on their next drive and were forced to punt it away to the Seahawks. Then, with 1:53 left in the 3rd quarter Seattle put in another short field goal increasing the lead to 6 and making the score 20-14.
After getting the ball back the Chiefs came out strong when Jonathan Quinn bombed a 49 yard pass to Richard Smith setting the Chiefs up at Seattle's 11 yard line, but after a penalty they were pushed back to the 16. Kansas City had problems in the red zone and were forced to bring out Lawrence Tynes to kick in a 23-yard field goal which made the score 20-17. With 5:00 left in the game the Seahawks sent out Josh Brown once again to kick in another short field goal (21 yards) which made the score 23-17.
The Chiefs got the ball at the 15 yard line and were down by 6 points. They needed a touchdown on this drive if they wanted to win this game. Quinn and RB McKenzi Smith got the Chiefs offense all the way down to Seattle's 9 yard line but once again couldn't bring it in for a score as all 3 of Quinn's last passing attempts fell incomplete and the Chiefs took another preseason loss 23-17.
Kansas City will head to St. Louis on Friday September 2nd for their final preseason game and then will meet the Jets at Arrowhead for opening day on September 11th. |
