In his three offensive drives spanning two preseason games, quarterback Alex Smith has led the Kansas City Chiefs' first-team offense to a total of 17 points (two touchdowns and a field goal).
During that time, Smith has completed 12 of 15 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, which is good for an 8.7 yards per attempt (YPA) average.
Chiefs' coach Andy Reid spoke about what he's seen from Smith this offseason after the game.
"He's playing good football," Reid explained. "He's in there and helping the young guys, and they love challenging each other. They throw the ball against the goal post and compete there—everything is a competition.
"They love it and thrive on it, but they support each other and that's fun to watch."
Smith finished Saturday's 32-10 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals 8 of 9 for 83 yards and a touchdown, which is good for a quarterback rating of 142.1.
"We treated it for what it is," Smith said after the game. "We had a chance to have a dress rehearsal against a really good team. We hadn't game-planned for them. We just kind of wanted to come out put up some of our good stuff and see if we could execute it. I thought coach put a good, concise little plan together for us that we could go out and execute. It was nice to see it.
"Everyone was kind of feeding off each other, going out there making plays, even to the end."
Smith's lone touchdown toss went to tight end Demetrius Harris for a five-yard score early in the second quarter.
"It was a heck of a catch," Smith explained of the play. "There's a lot of communication that goes on down there. [Harris] is a guy that just continues to just plug away and gets better, better and better — run game and pass game. With (Travis) Kelce out, it was nice to see him get a lot of work that week of camp.
"He works really hard, and he's a guy I know I have a lot of trust in when he's in there, because he's capable of playing at a really high level."
Smith has been playing at a really high level all offseason, and perhaps another statistic that can illustrate that point is that Smith has been on the field for 28 offensive plays this preseason, and those plays have gained a total of 191 yards, which means the Chiefs' offense is averaging 6.8 yards per play with Smith on the field.
That number is impressive, and it continued Saturday night.
"We wanted to go out there and take another step," Smith explained. "We wanted to use our rules. We knew this was a good defense. We just wanted to go out there and execute. No matter the situation we found ourselves in, just take it for what it is. I thought the fact the protection again was outstanding against a really good front, it really all started with that.
"The run game got started early, which was really, really nice for us, and it opened up some things down the field."
One play Saturday night in which the field was open came on a dime deep down the field from Smith to tight end Travis Kelce, who was matched up 1-on-1 with a linebacker. It was Kelce's first action this preseason after missing last week's game, and the play resulted in a 36-yard gain.
"We had an ideal look for the play and just needed to pick up the protection, and the guys up front did that," Smith noted after the game. [Kelce] saw it right, made the right adjustment, and, really, my job was easy. They were bringing pressure, and we able to pick it up."
"I think those are the kind of risks you take," Smith added. "There are not many linebackers in the league you're not going to make that throw against."
