The Kansas City Chiefs will hit the road this weekend to take on the Los Angeles Rams in the second preseason game of the year.
The game will air locally on KCTV5 and is being picked up nationally (in progress) by NFL Network.
While the Chiefs still won't game plan for the Rams on Saturday night as they continue their own evaluation in trying to cut down a deep and talented roster to just 53 players by Saturday, September 3, at 3 p.m. CT, the starters will generally see more action than they did in the first preseason game.
It's slowly building towards the regular season opener against the San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium on September 11.
Here are five things to watch during the game on Saturday:
- Can the first-team offense continue their momentum?
In their lone drive against the Seattle Seahawks last week, quarterback Alex Smith and the first-team offense had a nice 51-yard drive that culminated with a Spencer Ware 1-yard touchdown run.
It took them just eight plays to find the end zone as the drive was highlighted by a third-and-9 connection between Smith and receiver Jeremy Maclin.
"I thought the ones and the twos did a pretty good job," head coach Andy Reid said earlier this week of their first game. "The threes and the fours, we need to do a better job there. We had too many penalties and shot ourselves in the foot."
Everything is a progression when working towards the start of the regular season, and if the Chiefs can carry their momentum—particularly offensively—from last week's game into Saturday night, there'd be plenty of reason for optimism for an offense that would have found success against two of the better defensive teams in the NFC.
The Rams have one of the best defensive fronts in the entire NFL.
- Will Spencer Ware see increased reps with Charcandrick West most likely being unavailable?
With third-year running back Charcandrick West missing practice all week because of an elbow injury suffered in last week's game against the Seahawks, there should be plenty of reps for Spencer Ware, Knile Davis and Darrin Reaves to take out of the backfield. West is considered day to day with the injury but is unlikely to play against the Rams.
Despite being brought off the PUP list on Tuesday, veteran Jamaal Charles hasn't gone through a full practice and won't be playing in the game on Saturday.
Ware and Reaves combined to carry the ball 16 times for 66 yards last week against the Seahawks.
It'll be interesting to see how the reps get split between these three players on Saturday night with the other two running backs unavailable.
- Can Dadi Nicolas have another solid performance?
One of the bright spots of the game last week against the Seahawks was the performance of rookie sixth-round pick Dadi Nicolas, who finished the game with 3 tackles, 2 of which resulted in a loss, 2 quarterback hits and a sack.
The former Virginia Tech Hokie was a defensive end in college and is making the transition to outside linebacker. It's the same transition former first-round picks Dee Ford and Tamba Hali made as well.
"He's gotten better," Gary Gibbs, the linebackers coach, said of Nicolas, "but again, it's a process. He's one that started at ground zero and we made progress at OTAs and our sessions back in Kansas City, and he's also made progress here in training camp.
"He's a long way from where he wants to be but he's worked hard at it. He's a better player now than he was when he came to St. Joseph."
- Who can step up on the outside and make plays?
Last week against the Seahawks, veteran Rod Streater made one of the better catches we've seen in a while, which poses the question, who could it be this week?
"Rod and Mike (Williams) have started to pick it up pretty well," David Culley, the wide receivers coach and assistant head coach, said of the two veteran pickups this offseason. "These next three preseason games will be very important in establishing whose who and what's what."
Another player to keep an eye on that has proven during practices to be able to make plays is rookie fifth-round pick Tyreek Hill, who saw an increase in time with the first-team offense on Wednesday with Jeremy Maclin sidelined with a groin injury.
"His speed allows him to get separation" Culley said of Hill. "Some guys have to use head and shoulders to get separation. Hill gets separation by his make-up speed—his down-the-field speed. The thing that he has to learn right now is that it's not just* *about speed. It's about when they put a guy on your head, or they put a guy in front of you, you have to be able to adjust and be able to get off on releases.
"That's the thing that he has to learn to do right now, which I think he can get much, much better at it."
- Veteran Marcus Cooper
While much of the talk over the offseason has been about the three young defensive backs the Chiefs brought in during the draft last spring, one of the players who has been around for a couple of years and has put together a pretty good training camp is Marcus Cooper.
"He's our juggernaut," Emmitt Thomas, the defensive backs coach, said of Cooper. "He plays a little corner, he plays a little nickel, safety and also special teams. He came in his rookie year and had a great year for us turning the ball over.
"[Cooper] is probably our best next turnover guy back there except for (Marcus) Peters. We're looking forward for him to come in and contribute and be a spot play when we need him." Cooper has been making plays at camp and has a great opportunity over the next few weeks to compete for a role in this defensive backfield by the time the regular season rolls around.
