Chiefs come back to Glendale and win again, exposing some Cardinals' flaws
This one ultimately was meaningless. But there might have been some flashbacks to Super Bowl 57 for Jonathan Gannon of Kansas City Chiefs receivers, running backs and a quarterback breaking off big gains.
As the Chiefs did in February at State Farm Stadium against Gannon and his Philadelphia Eagles defense during the Super Bowl, they found success with a balanced offense against now head coach Gannon's Arizona Cardinals in Saturday night's 38-10 preseason loss to Kansas City in Glendale. Yes, it was very far from a Super Bowl, but the Chiefs have a regular season win, a Super Bowl win and a preseason win in Arizona in less than a year's time.
"Yeah, it's a concern. When the ball goes over your head. It's a concern. So we won't win many games if we do that," Gannon said.
The Cardinals committed eight penalties for 82 yards, which Gannon blamed on a lack of technique. Some of those calls extended Kansas City drives that led to scores.
There were also explosive plays, or plays that gained big yardage. The Chiefs hit several of them and it was the one thing Gannon said he was most displeased about.
Mahomes hit tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling for 20 or more yards. Then he connected with Justin Watson for an 18-yard touchdown.
Jerick McKinnon and quarterback Shane Buechele broke off long runs, Buechele's for a touchdown. Four other Chiefs receivers had a catch of least 25 yards, including a 44-yarder for Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
"They had over 300 yards and explosives, I think they had eight or nine explosives, you're not going to beat anybody like that. So that's one of our core principles of defense," Gannon said.
"Explosives definitely are something that we need to tone down because explosives are what leads to you losing the game," said Cardinals safety Isaiah Simmons, who had a rough night trying to cover and tackle the Chiefs just as he did in the regular season opener last September. "So definitely cutting the explosives down just everywhere around. And I also feel like I can play better.”
Gannon was asked if, beyond all that didn't go well for the Cardinals, how much of the loss was simply playing the defending Super Bowl champions.
"Yeah, it's a good football team," Gannon said. "But... every team in the NFL is a good football team. And if you don't play the type of ball that you need to play on all three phases versus anybody, you will get beat. And so we've got to make sure that we give ourselves a chance to win."
As is typical of how the Chiefs operate, there was a moment to look back on fond memories of wins at State Farm Stadium, and then time to move on and prepare for a new season.
"We played here a lot the last few years. So you think about that stuff obviously, but we’re trying to get better and trying to work on stuff," Mahomes said. "It’s clearly a different atmosphere than the Super Bowl. The only thing that was (the same), I think we scored 38 points, which is exactly the same we scored in the Super Bowl, so someone said something about that to me at the end of the game. Other than that it was another football game, and keep it moving."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Where Cardinals need to improve after preseason loss to Chiefs: Everywhere
