Last night was finally the return of football. Luckily, the Chiefs came out firing and were able to secure the victory. As we all know there are the good and the bad with every game. Lets take a look at the best and the worst moments from the Chiefs season opener.
First, lets look at the best moments from the game.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s debut
This was the debut Chief fans and football fans around the world were waiting for. The rookie out of LSU was talked about constantly over the off-season and he showed why last night. He was electric! You could tell right from the first series that he was more than a capable runner at this level. Having 25 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown isn’t an accident. 106 of those yards were after contact also, which is absurd! This kid is the real deal and the Chiefs couldn’t be more happy about how his debut went. NFL defenses are probably going crazy knowing that they have this dynamic RB in an already loaded offense they have to gameplan for now.
Kelechi Osemele is a world beater upfront
Brett Veach has done it once again! He was able to bring in the veteran on a really team friendly contract and give him chance to start for a contender and he delivered. He helped the Chiefs dig their feet in the run game all night long. You saw replay after replay of him dominating the guy across from him and getting to the second level on some runs. This guy is nasty and doesn’t care who is front of him on any given snap, he is looking to dominate every play and will be key for the Chiefs offense going forward.
L’Jarius Sneed looked more than capable
We all knew going into this season the Chiefs could get a upgrade in the defensive backfield and with Breeland out the first four games, some of the young guys are going to get involved right away. One of them happened to be Sneed last night. Sneed got the start at CB and delivered. The first series he got beat by Cooks a couple of times, but after that, the first year CB was locked in. He had a great play getting a pass defended during the 1st quarter and later had an interception that was almost returned for a touchdown. The Chiefs scouting department is looking good so far with the debuts from Edwards-Helaire and Sneed. Lets continue to hope for good things from Sneed. If that level of play continues the Chiefs won’t be able to keep the rookie off the field.
Chiefs looked rusty on offense and still scored 34 points
This is something we have come accustomed to seeing, but the Chiefs had some dropped passes in the end zone and at the end of the game were stuffed at the goal line multiple times. They could’ve easily had 40+ points last night and still managed to win by 14. When Mahomes starts you can pretty much guarantee at least 25 points for Kansas City, but it seems like no matter if the Chiefs give you an average game, you can still expect a high output of points to be scored.
Defensive line looks intimidating
The Chiefs have invested a lot of money in the defense, especially upfront and they showed out last night. Watson was under pressure a large majority of that game. The tandem of Chris Jones and Frank Clark made life difficult for the Texans all night. Jones ended the game with 1.5 sacks and Frank Clark was in Watson’s face all game. This is a good sign because this is the strength of the Chiefs defense and if they continue to put the opposing QB under pressure then the Chiefs will be winning a lot of games this season.
Now, lets take a look at some of the worst moments from the season opener.
Injuries
This goes without stating, but anytime you can leave a game without injuries is a plus. However, the Chiefs had some key players leave the game due to injury and could potentially be out for sometime to come. Charvarius Ward left the game with a broken hand, Khalen Saunders left the game with a dislocated elbow, and Alex Okafor left the game with a hamstring injury. Expect Ward and Saunders to miss sometime with their injuries. Okafor has a chance to play next week, but lets hope this isn’t a trend going forward.
Demarcus Robinson
I don’t expect this to continue, but Robinson had a tough game against Houston. He makes this list strictly because he dropped two touchdowns last night. One was on the first series of the game and the second would’ve been a highlight reel play, but it went through his hands, off his chest, and incomplete. The second one would’ve been all over social media due to Mahomes running away from him and throwing it sidearm into the back of the end zone, but I’m sure we will get more of those as the season goes on. Lets hope Robinson can get back on track next week because he will be valuable for the Chiefs going forward.
Run defense could be an issue again
This was by far the Chiefs weak spot a season ago, but it might be an issue this season as well. The Texans weren’t absolutely gashing the Chiefs on the ground, but 5.4 yards per carry on the ground isn’t a fantastic day at the office. It could always be worse, but at times the Chiefs had missed tackles and couldn’t seem to stuff the Texans when they really needed to. This could be attributed to it being the 1st game with full speed contact happening, but lets hope the Chiefs clean this up going forward.
Unable to punch the ball in at the goalline
With the Chiefs spending their first round pick on Edwards-Healire, I don’t think it was a secret that they were going to try and run the ball more. If the Chiefs want to be able to do this, they have to be able to punch the ball in the end zone when they get the chance. The Chiefs were able to run the ball at will until they were in goal to go situations. This has to be cleaned up as Edwards-Helaire had 6 carries inside the five-yard line and was unable to convert in any of those situations. I expect the Chiefs to clean this up by next week.
Mitchell Schwartz gave up a sack
Who would’ve thought that this early in the season Mitchell Schwartz would’ve gave up a sack? Schwartz didn’t give up a pressure all post-season and is hands down the best RT in the NFL. Do I think this is fluky? Yes. l’ll be honest I would be pretty surprised if he gave up another sack the rest of the season. This is just a bad moment from the game, definitely don’t expect this going forward.
I know with all this being said the Chiefs looked great for a season opener. I know everyone was excited to get the season underway. With a 34-20 victory over a playoff contender the Chiefs are on the right track to repeating as Super Bowl champions once again!
