PRESEASON BLITZ
A look at the good, bad and ugly in the Chiefs’ preseason game Thursday
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What we learned
That preseason football can be tough to watch. Never mind. We already knew that.
Next question
Are the Chiefs ready offensively for the regular season? In order, the Chiefs gained 172, 111, 191 and 250 yards in their four exhibition games. They scored a total of 40 points. Sound ready to you?
The hot seat
Twenty-two Chiefs will lose a job this weekend, perhaps even today.
Fantasy watch
Up: The fantasy heroes were all guys you won’t have on your team, you hope.
Down: Good thing for Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, Eddie Kennison and Trent Green owners that the season doesn’t start until next week.
They wanted to play?
It figured that the luckiest people in the stadium were Johnson, Gonzalez, Kennison, Green and Casey Wiegmann, who didn’t play because coach Herm Edwards didn’t want to expose them to possible injury.
Michael Bennett, who started at halfback in place of Johnson, said that wasn’t necessarily so.
“You know what?” said Bennett, who rushed for 29 yards and caught three passes for 11 more. “A lot of the guys, believe it or not, were motivated to come out and play. Larry really wanted to come out and play. Trent was telling me that this was really his first time not playing in the preseason when he’s not hurt.”
Big highlight
The Chiefs made Reggie Bush look mortal on consecutive first-quarter plays. Greg Wesley got into the backfield to deliver a hard hit on the rookie running back and bring him down for no gain. Then Derrick Johnson chased Bush down in the backfield on a screen pass for a 5-yard loss.
Big lowlight
The defense is still far too generous. The starters let the Saints convert four of six third-down plays. Defensive improvement will be difficult to achieve with a 33-percent success rate on third down.
Injury report
The Chiefs listed no postgame injuries.
Sneak peek at next week
Finally, some real football. Chiefs-Bengals a week from Sunday at Arrowhead. Can’t wait.
