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Preseason Preview: Coach Reid Intends to Play Chiefs Starters, But Will Lions?
By Harrison Reno,
10 hours ago
After opening their preseason on the road with a 26-13 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Kansas City Chiefs return home to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for the first time since winning back-to-back Super Bowls and look to get a win over the Detroit Lions.
Albeit for a preseason game, which doesn't have anything at stake for the upcoming regular season, this will be the first time the Chiefs have played at home since their 26-7 Wild Card win over the Miami Dolphins.
However, as coach Andy Reid revealed Thursday, unlike their last home outing, fans will only see the Chiefs play their starters for the first half.
"As far as the play time goes, the ones will take a half and then we'll kind of fill in after that and just kind of see how the rest of that goes for the third and fourth quarters," Reid said.
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Although the first-team offense is expected to see its snap counts jump drastically from last Saturday, the Chiefs offense will still be without starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor , who "won't go" versus the Lions after leaving practice with a shoulder injury.
However, the good news for Chiefs' fans is that Reid said the 26-year-old should be "ok." While Reid intends to give his starting unit more playing time after they played just one drive versus the Jaguars, things are still up in the air for the Lions.
"I'm thinking about playing some of these guys," Campbell said recently about playing his starters. "I'm back and forth a little bit right now, so we'll see. We're a little bit open to everything."
Like the Chiefs, the Lions are coming off a loss in their preseason opener to the New York Giants. It was a very low-scoring affair, as neither team opted to play their starters. However, that affected the Lions more, as they were kept out of the endzone in the 14-3 loss.
Uncertainty about whether the Lions will play their starters is seemingly the biggest storyline heading into the Saturday evening affair. It was last season where, in the regular season opener, Jared Goff and the Lions knocked off the Chiefs 21-20 in a contest that came down to a late fourth-quarter touchdown drive for Detroit.
With both sides seemingly intent on making deep playoff runs again next season, playing their starters, even for just a few drives, could prove beneficial, especially for the Lions, who didn't last week.
However, as the Chiefs learned in their loss to the Jaguars, even a preseason game carries the risk of injury . Kickoff inside Arrowhead Stadium is set for 3 p.m. CT, as the Chiefs and Lions will each look to get back in the win column and emerge from the contest healthy.
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