THE MULLEN REPORT

Reporter Curtis Mullen covered Thursday evening’s Kansas City Chiefs-Cincinnati Bengals NFL preseason game at Arrowhead Stadium for rodpedersen.com.  In the Monday Morning Goalie you will read Mullen’s postgame interview with Chiefs receiver/returner Weston Dressler.  For now, here is Curtis’s postgame report:

KANSAS CITY – The Chiefs started their exhibition schedule against the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday evening day at Arrowhead Stadium.  This was a typical first NFL pre-season game with 90 players being dressed for each team.

The 1st quarter was a quarter of big plays.  An interception by Cincinnati set up the first TD of the game.  Just a couple of minutes later, the Chiefs had a 65 yard kickoff return which set up a field goal for the Chiefs.  On the next Cincinnati possession they punted to the ball to rookie De’Anthony Thomas who returned the punt 80 yards for a TD.  On the next Cincinnati possession Shawn Smith intercepted a pass thrown by Jason Campbell and returned the ball 36 yards for a TD.

The 2nd quarter began much like the first quarter. Chiefs QB Chase Daniels threw an interception to Dre Kirkpatrick who returned the ball 40 yards for a TD.  After Cincinnati scored a TD to pull ahead 24 – 20, Chase Daniels hit Travis Kelce for a 69 yard TD with 21 seconds left to go in the second quarter.  The Chiefs led at half time 27-24.

As the 3rd quarter began, Cincinnati continued to throw interceptions as Jason Campbell threw his 2nd interception of the game.  This time Malcolm Bronson returned the ball 51 yards for a TD.

In the 4th quarter, the third string players for both teams got an opportunity to take the field.  Early in the quarter Cincinnati drove the field and scored a TD.  Then on the next Chiefs possession, Tyler Bray led the Chiefs on a 13 play 77 yard drive that used up 7:52.   With 51 seconds left in the game, Cincinnati scored a TD along with a 2 point convert to narrow the score to 41-39.  Cincinnati then tried a short kickoff which was recovered by Kansas City.  The final score was 41-39 for the Chiefs.

In 2014 the Chiefs will have to rely very heavily on their defense and special teams for victories. The loss of 3 starting offensive linemen will make it challenging for the offense to be particularly effective. In tonight’s game, the special teams and defense outscored the offense 21-20.

For Rider fans interested in how Weston did Thursdayday, below is a breakdown of his activity during the game.  He first entered the game at the 8:33 mark of the 3rd quarter:

# of plays total # of plays for Weston
QB 3 Rec set 4 rec set 3 rec set 4 rec set
Smith 2 9 0 0
Daniels 2 15 0 0
Bray 3 10 2 6
Murray 2 6 1 2

In addition to the offense, Weston also showed his versatility by participating in two kickoff returns.  He returned one of them for 20 yards.  During all of the plays that Weston participated in, only 2 were passes attempted and neither of them were directed towards Weston.