Gametime: Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, at 7:00 pm CT
Location: Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO.
How to watch: KCTV5
Radio: Chiefs Fox Football Radio Network KCFX (101.1 FM)
*Free stream will be provided on the team’s official site and phone app.*
Tonight, football will be officially back at Arrowhead Stadium for the first time in seven months when the Cincinnati Bengals come to town to face the Chiefs for week 1 of the NFL preseason.
Head Coach Andy Reid revealed in a press conference following the team’s final day of training camp on Thursday that everyone will get a chance to play starting with Patrick Mahomes and the first team unit playing the entire first quarter.
Backup quarterback Chad Henne will the second team in the second quarter and undrafted rookie QB Kyle Shermer and the third team will have the third quarter and second-year QB Chase Litton will lead the fourth team unit in the final quarter.
Tonight will allow fans and coaches alike, a glimpse of how the changes the team has made over the offseason will play out on the field. One of which includes the biggest change of the whole offseason, the defensive scheme change. After finishing near the bottom of the league in defense, the team decided to replace Bob Sutton with Steve Spagnulo at defensive coordinator. Ever since the change was made, the football world has been waiting to see what the Chiefs defense look like and how the players translate in Spagnulo’s 4-3 scheme.
The 4-3 will allow some of Kansas City’s young outside linebackers like Breeland Speaks and Tanoh Kpassagnon to return to their natural position at defensive end where they wreaked havoc during their days in college. Tonight will be the first to show if they’re able to do the same to an opposing NFL offense.
They won’t be alone however, veteran defensive end Frank Clark, who came to Kansas City in a trade with Seattle made some headlines during training camp along with safety Tyrann Mathieu.
“Honey Badger, he’s gonna be in the cut waiting for something to pop off. I’m the front line. I’m going to war, we’re the perfect combination.” said Clark on playing alongside Tyann Mathieu.
How improved are the Chiefs secondary?: General Manager Brett Veach did everything in his power to help improve this area of the roster and it seems a few bright spots were able to shine through during training camp.
Drafted in the second round of this year’s draft, rookie safety Juan Thornhill as been making a name for himself throughout training camp and has everyone’s attention, including Andy Reid’s coaching staff.
Thornhill will finally get an opportunity to demonstrate his skills against the ‘Red Riffle’ Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense along with the rest of Kansas City’s young secondary.
However, in regards to the Chiefs defensive backfield, other players to keep an eye on include: Armani Watts, who got injured early last season and was placed on IR. Charvarious Ward, who made his way up the depth chart late last season. Jordan Lucas, who showed flashes of potential in 2018. Bashaud Breeland, who reunites with teammate Kendall Fuller from their days with the Washington Redskins. and Morris Claibourne, who just signed a one-year deal with the team on Thursday.
The speed on Offense: The Chiefs offense can be described in one word, ‘speed’, and a lot of it. Of course, everybody knows about Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins.
The Chiefs competition at wide receiver provides plenty of speedsters that are competing for a spot on the roster and rookie Mecole Hardman from Georgia is one of them.
Since being drafted, Hardman has shown he has a similar skill set as teammate Tyreek Hill by been flying all over the field during camp, catching long bombs from Pat Mahomes and even playing a role on special teams as a kick returner. Having both Hardman and Hill on the field at the same time will serve as a nightmare for opposing defenses.
Two Dark Horses to watch on offense: Marcus Kemp is a young vet that will compete for a spot, Kemp has had a terrific camp thus far and has been an excellent special teams player in the past. Another dark horse to watch at wide receiver is Byron Pringle, who just managed to crack the Chiefs final roster before getting injured and spending the year on IR. Time will tell, but if he can stay healthy and continues to impress the coaches with another strong camp, he could find himself on the roster.
Finding a running back: Earlier in the offseason, the Chiefs deemed running back Damion Williams the starter and made it clear there will not be any real competition at the position. That is until Williams went down to injury a few days after the start of training camp. Williams would miss a week of practice, enough time missed to fill the coaching staff with doubt that Williams will be capable of carrying the load on offense for a full 16-game season. Following the last day of training camp, Head Coach Andy Reid announced the team will go ‘running back by committee’, opening the door for runners Carlos Hyde, Darrel Williams, Tremon Smith and rookie running back Darwin Thompson to get their fair share of the reps on offense until one of them shows they deserve to be the starter.
Getting to know the Opponent: The Chiefs take on a Cincinnati team hoping that the few changes they’ve made during the offseason will be enough to improve from their disappointing 6-10 record from a year ago. The Bengals’ 2018 campaign was an injury-plagued one that saw many of their starters eventually wind up on the team’s injured reserve list.
The Bengals last-place finish was the final nail in the coffin for long-time head coach Marvin Lewis.
Lewis’ replacement at head coach is 36-year-old Zac Taylor, who was an NFL assistant coach for the previous six seasons, most recently with the L.A. Rams as their quarterback coach in 2018.
Following his hiring as head coach, Taylor said the Rams’ playbook would be “starting point” for his Cincinnati scheme meaning plenty of single back looks with three wide receivers and a tight end, providing a good test for the Chiefs new-look defense.
The Bengals were pretty quiet during the offseason, signing most of their own unrestricted free agents and added cornerback B.W. Williams, o-lineman John Miller, Justin Evans, and John Jerry in free agency who’ll mostly serve as depth on the roster. In the draft, the Bengals made the smart move to invest in their offensive line by drafting Jonah Williams out of Alabama with the eleventh overall pick and Michael Jordan out of Ohio State in the fourth round and the selection of blocking tight end Drew Sample out of Washington in the second round shows Taylor may try to replicate the Rams’ zone-blocking techniques on running plays.
