Chiefs at Cardinals PS G1 gameday thread 8-9-2025

[oaken1]

Full disclosure: I haven’t read a word of this thread yet. Just finished watching the game.

OOF!

I could just end it there. Kind of how dortch ended the game by giving the freaking chiefs the ball at the 14 yard line to start the game. But I do have some thoughts . . .

1. Elijah jones was bad - blew a tackle on the big screen for first down, had position in coverage for an int and somehow inexplicably still almost gave up a bomb (receiver just dropped it).

2. Thought Rabbit played well - hope to see more of him this season.

3. Admittedly didn’t key on him the whole game, but even aside from his two splash plays, when I did watch him, Hall looks really good. He had some mention during practices too. Maybe a nice diamond in the rough. Which would be a godsend with the injuries to our corners and Elijah looking bad.

4. Demecardo just makes plays

5. All backup olinemen seemed awful to me. Concerning.

6. Captain obvious moment: Burch flashed

7. That late round rookie safety played well. Recall reading he might surprise and offer more than just dynamite special teams play.

8. Benson played well, but I kinda always felt like he was still leaving something on the field. Like Conners would’ve gotten more. Like he was a move or slipped tackle away from something big. Thought he ran laterally a little much at time instead of putting his nose upfield and getting what he could.

9. Offense looked vanilla. Not very dynamic.

10. Special teams look bad other than Gillikin and Ryland. Ryland was putting the kickoffs right around the goalline to 2 yard line. That’s perfect. Too bad we could cover the returners.

11. Deejay Dallas awful with muffed punt and fumbled kick return

12. The paging DVontel Special: Kylers gawd awful interception - Apologies, it must have just been great defense when he threw to a defender like that defensive back was the intended receiver. No need to think back to the article about his worrisome turnovers. That article was DEFINITELY written more about the great defense than Kyler’s awful turnovers despite the articles title and the actual words used in the article calling out Kyler. SNARK OVER: aside from that GAWD AWFUL toss kyler looked pretty good. But unfortunately that’s who he is until he proves otherwise. The pretty good QB who can’t help but kill the team at crucial moments. Like after an impressive drive throwing an unforgivable interception in the red zone.

Pre season game 1.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Watching replay at halftime. Kyler didn't see the DB or linebacker on that interception.

The receiver was about 10 yards further down the field near the sideline.

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lol. He don’t see the guy JUST SITTING THERE waiting for him to throw the ball to him . . . and that pass wouldn’t have even reached the “intended” (and I use that term loosely) receiver even had Kyler not thrown it directly to that defender who made the greatest defensive play ever in the history of the football universe because surely those articles about Kyler’s awful turnovers was really about the greatest defensive play Cardinals defense has ever had despite the title of the article and the actual words.

Yes, I may be typing that silliness all season for Kyler’s turnovers.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Pre season game 1.

For sure. But these things still occurred. Just observations. Not a death sentence.

 

[BACH]

So who stood out? Only seen highlights.

Burch was the star standout of the game. Constant pressure and constantly beating his man.

Biggest story to me was Adams. Looks like the hype is justified. He was really good.

Stand outs:
Xavier Thomas looked good and stood out against the 2nd team.

Dante Stills looked good against both Chiefs 1st and 2nd string OL.

Xavier Weaver looked good, but against 2nd team and clear that he and Brissett have build some chemistry on the 2nd string O.

Back-up Safeties. Hall looked great. Crawford looked great. PFF gave both a 90+ grade for the game. The two highest rated players on the team and only two receiving an elite grade.

RB room in general.
- Connor looked good with his limited touches
- Benson was stuffed short a couple of times (Not on him IMO) and looks much better. Great screen.
- Demarcado looked good
- Knight stood out with the 3rd stringers. He could push Carter, who was the only RB that didn't stand out.

Starting OL. They had one bad play on a 3&1, where Brown was beaten and Benson got stuffed. Otherwise good pass-pro. Awesome blocking in space.

TE room receiving. McBride, Reiman, Higgins and Vololek looked good in the passing game.

Christian Jones stood out among the 2nd stringers. Looked really good, but he only played against Chiefs 2nd team D. He secured his spot and is a lock as the #8 OL on the DC IMO.

Reiman had a couple of monster blocks - like wow blocks! Unfortunately he got call for UR on one of them when he pilled on in the 2nd effort on the DT that he just pancaked.

Starting Offense was humming on their two drive sans the HORRIBLE INT from Kyler. Vanilla in pre-season, but some good plays - Great pass to MHJ, Great pass to McBride, Screen to Bensons and Jet sweep to Dortch (One of Reiman's blocks) were my highlights from 1st string O.


Disappointments:
Special teams sans kicking game was HORRIBLE. Fumbles and inability to cover returns.

Every O-Lineman from #9 on the DC and down (Behind Christian Jones). 2nd team C and LG was a disaster (Conner and Leverett)

The Back-Up CBs. Jones and Burke had some major issues in general mixed with a couple of nice plays. Clark struggled IMO.

Every WR behind the top 6. A small tidbit was the announcers revealing the WR ranking. MHJ, Wilson, Jones, Dortch. Then Weaver and Fehoko in the next tier. Then everyone else. Fehoko did not play this game due to a minor injury.

Incomplete:
Kyler was Kyler. 7 passes as great as any top QB. 1 INT that was Nate Peterman worthy.

EDIT: Kyler appearently tried a no look pass on the play. If that is the case, then no problem. Right game to try stuff like that in.

None of the ILB behind Wilson stood out.

Elijah Simmons did not live up to the hype. Not positive nor negative going against 2nd and 3rd stringers.

Starting CBs. Chiefs got the ball on Cards 20 after Dortch fumbled the opening kick-off. First Chiefs drive and only one Mahommes played had a PI on Will Johnson and a TD on Melton (To be fair, that was a beauty from Mahommes and not sure any CB could have defended that in single man coverage)

Sweat, CC and Beachum did not play. Tomlinson and Budda played perhaps 5-6 snaps.

 

[Mainstreet]

lol. He don’t see the guy JUST SITTING THERE waiting for him to throw the ball to him . . . and that pass wouldn’t have even reached the “intended” (and I use that term loosely) receiver even had Kyler not thrown it directly to that defender who made the greatest defensive play ever in the history of the football universe because surely those articles about Kyler’s awful turnovers was really about the greatest defensive play Cardinals defense has ever had despite the title of the article and the actual words.

Yes, I may be typing that silliness all season for Kyler’s turnovers.

It was a no-look pass.

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[BACH]

Full disclosure: I haven’t read a word of this thread yet. Just finished watching the game.

OOF!

I could just end it there. Kind of how dortch ended the game by giving the freaking chiefs the ball at the 14 yard line to start the game. But I do have some thoughts . . .

1. Elijah jones was bad - blew a tackle on the big screen for first down, had position in coverage for an int and somehow inexplicably still almost gave up a bomb (receiver just dropped it).

2. Thought Rabbit played well - hope to see more of him this season.

3. Admittedly didn’t key on him the whole game, but even aside from his two splash plays, when I did watch him, Hall looks really good. He had some mention during practices too. Maybe a nice diamond in the rough. Which would be a godsend with the injuries to our corners and Elijah looking bad.

4. Demecardo just makes plays

5. All backup olinemen seemed awful to me. Concerning.

6. Captain obvious moment: Burch flashed

7. That late round rookie safety played well. Recall reading he might surprise and offer more than just dynamite special teams play.

8. Benson played well, but I kinda always felt like he was still leaving something on the field. Like Conners would’ve gotten more. Like he was a move or slipped tackle away from something big. Thought he ran laterally a little much at time instead of putting his nose upfield and getting what he could.

9. Offense looked vanilla. Not very dynamic.

10. Special teams look bad other than Gillikin and Ryland. Ryland was putting the kickoffs right around the goalline to 2 yard line. That’s perfect. Too bad we could cover the returners.

11. Deejay Dallas awful with muffed punt and fumbled kick return

12. The paging DVontel Special: Kylers gawd awful interception - Apologies, it must have just been great defense when he threw to a defender like that defensive back was the intended receiver. No need to think back to the article about his worrisome turnovers. That article was DEFINITELY written more about the great defense than Kyler’s awful turnovers despite the articles title and the actual words used in the article calling out Kyler. SNARK OVER: aside from that GAWD AWFUL toss kyler looked pretty good. But unfortunately that’s who he is until he proves otherwise. The pretty good QB who can’t help but kill the team at crucial moments. Like after an impressive drive throwing an unforgivable interception in the red zone.

Almost identical to what I just posted. Got to re-watch the game in peace with the kids out of the house and the wife PMSing in bed with ice-cream and Netflix.

 

[BACH]

I tried to focus on Elijah Simmons when he was in there. Albeit against 2nd / 3rd string I thought he had some good moments. Got some push up the middle, look forward to next game.

For me it was an incomplete for Simmons. Neither great nor bad.

 

[football karma]

to me, preseason is about 1. young players, and 2. players coming off injuries. so:

1. Benson looked lively. One run where he reverted to trying to go laterally and turned a 4 yard gain into a 2 yarder, but ok.

2 Theo Mackie, the AZ Rep Cards beat writer, posted a video on his twitter feed on Adams saying the camp hype looked to be justified. Of the three reps Mackie posted, two of them were vs a rookie (Norman-Lott) -- but it beats the alternative.

3. Darius Robinson got good inside push on the pass rush that required the QB to back up right into Burch's rush. He might have a really impactful year but only end with 4 sacks.

4. Burch was intriguing. He looked like he belonged.

5. Jonah Williams played. He wouldnt have if he/the team thought he was even 5% less than ready to go health wise

 

[daves]

It was a no-look pass.

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In no way does that video convince me that Murray was attempting a no-look pass. In the post-game interview Murray talked about running hard to his left and not putting enough on the pass, nothing about trying a no-look pass. This is a lame attempt at excusing the inexcusable.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

In no way does that video convince me that Murray was attempting a no-look pass. In the post-game interview Murray talked about running hard to his left and not putting enough on the pass, nothing about trying a no-look pass. This is a lame attempt at excusing the inexcusable.

It was only no-look in that Murray couldn't see over the linemen and chucked it hoping one of our players was out there.

 

[Mainstreet]

In no way does that video convince me that Murray was attempting a no-look pass. In the post-game interview Murray talked about running hard to his left and not putting enough on the pass, nothing about trying a no-look pass. This is a lame attempt at excusing the inexcusable.

The thought occurred to me, Murray couldn't make up his mind on where to throw the ball, committed to throw it, and he held onto it too long.

It's perplexing he wasn't looking at the receiver, especially on this type of play. That needs to be a precision pass.

 

[Cheesebeef]

In no way does that video convince me that Murray was attempting a no-look pass. In the post-game interview Murray talked about running hard to his left and not putting enough on the pass, nothing about trying a no-look pass. This is a lame attempt at excusing the inexcusable.

Agreed. What’s really weird about this is how people have run with the “no look” pass excuse… when everyone WATCHED the play live with plenty of replay angles and NO ONE said a word like that at the time.

 

[Ronin]

Takeaways From Arizona Cardinals Preseason Debut

The Arizona Cardinals walked away as winners - but we did we really think?

www.si.com

 

[FB94]

When they say it was a no look pass maybe KM had his eyes closed waiting to be hit by no one

 

[kerouac9]

No! Look: pass!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Even if Kyler was going for a no look pass (which just doesn’t pass the eye/believability test) because he could “try things in preseason”, shouldnt Kyler be trying to be consistently GOOD before trying to be great while making trick plays that totally blow up in his face.

 

[kerouac9]

Even if Kyler was going for a no look pass (which just doesn’t pass the eye/believability test) because he could “try things in preseason”, shouldnt Kyler be trying to be consistently GOOD before trying to be great while making trick plays that totally blow up in his face.

I’d also argue that training camp isn’t the place to “try stuff out” — it’s the place where you perfect your skills for the season ahead.

The offseason is the time when you should be trying to add to your game so you can work on it with others in training camp.

 

[BritCard]

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[BirdGangThing]

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in the first video fro blocks/knocks the dude to the ground and hits him again - not as aggressively as tip but definitely same ballpark

 

[BritCard]

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[Red Dawn]

FWIW Phoenix local channel KAZF is replaying the game right now.

 

[BACH]

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I LOVE Froholdt's style of play. He is the best OL in space besides Kelce I have seen in years.

 

[BACH]

in the first video fro blocks/knocks the dude to the ground and hits him again - not as aggressively as tip but definitely same ballpark

It was the helmet first dive that got called on Reiman IMO

 

[AZ Native]

FWIW Phoenix local channel KAZF is replaying the game right now.

Thankfully, I have YouTube TV and it records every game, and I can go back and watch them anytime

 

[Cheesebeef]

If there is one thing this coaching staff has successfully done, it’s creating a smash-mouth running game and attitude on offense. That’s def the identity of this squad and I’m hoping with improved talent on D, we see that side of the ball start to match the offense. We’ve already seen them play above their heads last year without talent. Excited to see what we can do with it… or at least more of it.