Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens Recap

"It is only week 1 and while there is no need to hit the panic button there were certainly some worrying signs for the Chiefs against the Ravens ... but there were also some positives too!
The defensive front did a pretty solid job for 3 quarters and probably ran out of steam towards the end. It was pretty clear that the stat of 10 sacks from last year may well be higher in 2009, but I wouldn't expect it to be magical. Flacco had plenty of time back there to survey the field and even on times where the corner blitz seemed like it should be effective our corner would take the strangest angle and not be able to put pressure on Flacco. Bizarre. The secondary was pretty ordinary with plenty of open spaces for TE and WR to settle into. Hopefully the coaching staff will work to have these guys better prepared to stop the big plays. How many times on 3rd and plenty did they manage to pick it up?!? Crazy!

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On the other side of the ball - it was interestin g the see the game develop. Haley probably found out what the former OC coordinato r already knew -- we are struggling for weapons out there. 10 total yards at one point (I think it was deep in the second quarter). The second half was an improvemen t, however it was evident just how much of a loss the trade of Gonzo was - not that Ryan didn't play decent, but it took away a huge weapon that the defense would have needed to focus on and as a result LJ and company had no room to run and the WR for the most part were well handled. As a WR it amazes me when they don't go past the 1st down marker on 3rd down!! No point making a great catch only to be a yard short. And the final drive was a total embarrassm ent. There was ZERO protection for Croyle with guys getting beat way too easily. You could understand it if they had been grinding out drive after drive going down the field but these guys really should have been relatively fresh considerin g the amount of time the Ravens offense was on the field.
Plenty of work to be done but there is a glimmer of hope that the 2009 version of the Chiefs is heading in the right direction but a winning record still appears a pipe dream."

By Daniel Brown
ProFootball-fans.com Kansas City Chiefs Correspondent