Three Things to Watch For: Chiefs vs Falcons

Week two of the preseason is upon us, as the Chiefs will travel down to Atlanta to take on the Falcons. Like Kansas City, the Falcons have high hopes for the 2018 season due to the fact that their roster looks to be one of the deepest in the league. Now, let’s take a quick look at what fans can look forward to for this game.

Mahomes and Co.

The Chiefs starting offense is slated to play in the entire first half against the Falcons, per Andy Reid. The 1’s are likely looking for a much more crisp performance than what occurred last week against the Texans. Granted it was the first live game action of the season, but Patrick Mahomes took a concerning amount of hits during dropbacks in those two drives. What Mahomes excelled on though, was the timing and pocket presence to find open receivers. The offensive line took some heat from the fans, as the Houston starters were penetrating the line of scrimmage consistently.

How much will the starters display against Atlanta? It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Chiefs keep things vanilla, but the Chiefs’ type of vanilla may be more extreme than other teams. Seems like it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give Kareem Hunt some much-needed work both inside and outside, while the offense could keep things balanced.

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Same Face, New Place

The Chiefs will be going up against one former defender in this contest. Safety Ron Parker signed a cheap one year deal to gain a shot with the Falcons. Parker was one of many defenders who were cut this offseason by Kansas City because the Chiefs looked to get younger and as a fast as possible. The safety will be looking to celebrate for two reasons due to the fact that he is turning 31 years old the day of this game. It will be interesting to see how much the Chiefs pick on Parker in this one.

More UDFA Success?

The Chiefs coaches had to have liked what they saw late in the game last week. UDFA signings like Chase Litton, Darrel Williams and Ben Niemann did a lot of things well late in a close game. Williams was able to muscle through some tackles and rack up some yards out in space. Niemann made some quick reads on defense that led to some needed tackles for the unit before a big play could occur. In fact, Niemann led the Chiefs in tackles in this game with five. Litton was steady in the two-minute drill. Unfortunately, the final attempt to tie the game went off the hands of tight end Alex Ellis. Above all, seeing more success from these players would be big as the regular season draws closer.

Those were three things to watch for Chiefs fans in the second preseason game of 2018. As always, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage for great sports content!

– Braden Holecek is a Kansas City Chiefs writer for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9 Follow @FPC_Chiefs and Facebook.

– Kyle Senra is the editor for the Kansas City Chiefs on Full Press Coverage. Like and follow on Follow @nyama_ks Follow @FPC_NFL and Facebook.