There wasn't a shortage of big plays from the Kansas City Chiefs in their victory over the Bengals on Thursday night.

Two defensive touchdowns on interception returns, an electric De'Anthony Thomas touchdown on a punt return and a long touchdown reception from Travis Kelce, kept the crowd on its feet throughout the night at Arrowhead Stadium.

In addition to all of those plays, there was also a nice 65-yard return from rookie Albert Wilson, not to mention Dustin Colquitt's booming 71-yard punt that pinned the Bengals offense deep in their own territory.

Let's take a look at the three top plays of the game on defense, offense and special teams.

Defense

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**With two pick-six's tonight for the Chiefs, the best all-around defensive play came on Malcolm Bronson's touchdown early in the third quarter.

With defensive back Justin Rogers (#44) coming free on the blitz, Bengals quarterback Jason Campbell quickly fired the ball to the outside and Bronson got a terrific jump on the pass and returned it for the score.

At the time the Chiefs were up by just three points, but the combination of pressure from Rogers and the good jump from Bronson out the out-route gave the Chiefs the ten point lead.

In addition to the athletic ability to make the play, Bronson showed good awareness on 3rd and 3 to understand routes for the situation. He read it perfectly and knew pressure would be coming on the blitz and the ball would most-likely be out soon.

Offense

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**The play of the day on offense had to be Travis Kelce's 69-yard touchdown catch.

It had everything you wanted in intrigue for the first preseason game.

The tight end position is one that's been under the microscope since the beginning of training camp. It's no secret how much Andy Reid likes using the tight end in his system, and on paper, the Chiefs didn't show a lot of production last season at the position.

But led by a healthy Anthony Fasano this year, the group was looking to impress in their preseason opener by simply taking to the game field what they've been doing in St. Joseph, Missouri at training camp.

Showing big play ability from that position, especially from a player coming back from injury, made for the perfect medicine for what has been ailing Chiefs fans.

Finding big-play contributors outside of Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe in the passing game is a key area for the team during the preseason.

Another player who might provide that big play ability on offense is rookie De'Anthony Thomas, who showed what he could do with the ball in his hands on special teams on Thursday night.

Special teams

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**De'Anthony Thomas' punt return for a touchdown electrified Arrowhead Stadium.

With less than a minute to go in the first quarter and trailing by a touchdown, Thomas took it to the house and came through on a statement he made to some of his teammates while at training camp.

"During camp he goes 'I'm going to return the first one in a game,'" punter Dustin Colquitt said. "Then he does it. And you're like, 'Okay?' I look at him and he's like 'Yeah, yeah.' Very humble kid and it's going to be fun to watch his career and what he can do."

Thomas only showed on Thursday night what anyone who has been to training camp has already seen, explosive burst and a smooth open-field running ability that suits his "Mamba" nickname.

A few other notes from the game on Thursday:

Chiefs coach Andy Reid was obviously encouraged by the takeaways on defense.

"Turnovers are an important thing on defense," Reid said. "We want to score touchdowns on all three phases of the game. We were able to do a pretty nice job of that tonight. In the return, you have to cut back on some of the turnovers that we had on the other side. We'll get that straightened out."

Quarterback Alex Smith talked after the game about his thoughts on the first-team offense.

"Not what we were looking for especially for first team offense," Smith said. "Good to be out there playing football, real, live football for me. It's the first opportunities as QBs. Even when we go live at this point in training camp, we're not really live. First real experience back into real bullets and getting hit."

Dustin Colquitt talked at training camp about how special teams can be seen as "jab artists." After his 71-yard punt on Thursday night, Colquitt may have thrown a roundhouse. He spoke about that kick in the locker room after the game.

"Yeah that's one of those that you just catch it right," Colquitt said. "The energy of the crowd helps with that. You're jacked up. You have a lot of adrenaline flowing. And then, it's a jab because now the defense comes on the field and they (the Bengals) have to run all the way down to that end zone. And they're hyped up because of where the field position is so that's the jab and then they come in for the knockout punch."

First-round pick Dee Ford talked about his first experience playing at Arrowhead Stadium. He finished the game with two tackles and two quarterback hurries.

"It felt good," Ford said. "I was introduced to the NFL. It was a great atmosphere, not the complete atmosphere that I will see in the regular season but it was an awesome atmosphere."

Rookie WR Albert Wilson praised his teammates in the locker room after the game in setting up his 65-yard kick return.

"It was a great feeling," Wilson said. "It was my guys up front continuing to block. Even though it is kind of hard to cut back and continue to block without holding, they did an excellent job out there and gave me a little alley and I took it."