It might have just been the second preseason game of the year, but it meant a little something extra to former Rams quarterback Nick Foles, who spent all of last season with the team he faced on Saturday night.
"It's always emotional when you go back to playing a team that you played with," Foles explained. "There's a lot of friends that I kept in touch with or bonded with in my year [with the Rams]. So just to see them all and play against them, play against your old coaches, there is an emotion to that.
"But, it was fun to go out there with my new teammates and just continue that bonding and just play some ball."
Foles did play some ball, finishing the game having completed 18 of 22 passes for 133 yards, including one fantastic drive at the end of the first half.
"In that drive we had a little over 3 minutes on the clock, and it was really just getting into a rhythm, get that ball down, and get some points on the board," Foles added. "We'd really like to come away with a touchdown.
"To get the ball down to a foot, or whatever it may have been, and you don't get in - that's always tough."
On that drive, Foles looked to have control of an offensive scheme that he's only been studying for the past couple of weeks.
While some of the language and terminology is the same from back in 2012—his rookie year with head coach Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles—the differences are enough that he's been cramming and staying after practice for extra time in the film room over the past 17 days.
"I think this week compared to last week I feel a lot more comfortable," Foles explained. "Just every single day, football just starts coming back. The feel for just being in the huddle, learning the plays, and just getting acclimated to the offense. It's an offense that I ran four or five years ago, but it's also changed quite a bit.
"So there is a learning curve, but I have great coaches and my teammates have helped me a lot along on the way. I'm always asking Alex (Smith), Aaron (Murray), Tyler (Bray), and Kevin (Hogan), I ask them questions and they always help me, so that's something you really like."
Postgame facts and stats from the Chiefs second preseason game against the LA Rams.
CHIEFS RETURN TO LOS ANGELES: The Kansas City Chiefs returned to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time since 1994. The Chiefs were part of NFL and Los Angeles history, playing the Los Angeles Raiders on December 24, 1994 in the final NFL game to be played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum until the Rams relocated from St. Louis to Los Angeles for the 2016 season. The Chiefs beat the Raiders 19-9 in that game. Approximately 35 miles away at Anaheim Stadium on the same day, the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Washington Redskins 24-21. After those two games on Christmas Eve in 1994, the NFL did not have a team located in Los Angeles until the 2016 season. The Chiefs have never played the Rams in the LA Memorial Coliseum in the regular season.
SUPER BOWL I: After relocating to Kansas City in 1963, the Chiefs first trip to the LA Coliseum was on January 15, 1967 to take on the Green Bay Packers in what would become known as Super Bowl I.
CHIEFS OPENING DRIVE: For the second time in two weeks Alex Smith led the Chiefs on a touchdown drive to open the game. Smith completed 6 of 7 passes for 65 yards and was perfect on third down conversations converting 3 of 3 attempts.
SMITH LEADS LONG DRIVE AND STAYS HOT: QB Alex Smith strung together a 13-play, 75-yard TD drive to open the game, eating 7:16 off the game clock. Smith continued his excellent preseason by completing 9 of 12 passes for 137 yards, one touchdown and a 139.9 passer rating. Today's game bring his preseason totals to 12 completions on 16 attempts for 173 yards and a touchdown.
WARE-ING OUT THE OPPOSITION: For the second consecutive week RB Spencer Ware scored the Chiefs first touchdown on the opening drive. Ware finished the night with a game-high 10 carries for 37 yards (3.7 avg.) to go along with the score.
ROOKIES START: Chiefs rookie S Eric Murray and CB DJ White tallied their first starts in Chiefs uniforms.
PICK IT UP POE: DT Dontari Poe recovered a QB Jared Goff fumble in the second quarter of today's game. His recovery is the first fumble recovery of the 2016 preseason.
FOLES RETURNS TO FACE FORMER TEAM: QB Nick Foles returned to Los Angeles to face his former team. He completed 18 of 22 passes for 133 yards in the game.
KICKOFF COVERAGE PINS OPPONENTS: K Cairo Santos had five kickoffs in the game, with four of them resulting in the Rams starting their drives at or inside the 20-yard line.
THIRD DOWN SUCCESS: The Chiefs offense converted 6 of 12 (50.0%) on third down and held the Rams to just 1 of 6 (16.7%) on third down for the game.
SORENSEN DROPS GOFF FOR LOSS: S Daniel Sorensen sacked Rams QB Jared Goff for a seven-yard loss and forced a fumble on the play. Sorensen recorded 1.0 sack (-7.0 yards) in the 2015 regular season.
REAVES GAINS GROUND: RB Darrin Reaves carried the football six times for 32 yards in tonight's game, averaging 5.3 yards per carry.
With the kind of performance he had on Saturday night—coming in after starter Alex Smith, who also played well, Foles said that his confidence is coming with the familiarity in what he's doing.
"Instead of really thinking through the play, it's turning into a reaction and that's what you want as a quarterback," he added. "You don't want to have to really think, you just want to know and just see everything, like all right, it's Cover-2, and so I know where to go. Stuff like that.
"That was more there today than it has been."
