While it's easy to point to the preseason and call it meaningless, the buzz from the players and coaches as well as the 60K-plus fans in Arrowhead Stadium last night show that the opening game of the 2012 season holds at least some level of merit. Perhaps that's why Romeo Crennel had a message for his team to get off on the right foot in his first season as the team's official head coach.
Matt Cassel said after the game that he was proud of the team for their ability to heed their coach's words and gain some confidence this early.
"It's definitely meaningful," said Cassel. "Coach Crennel has been preaching all camp long to get off to a good start. That's exactly what we came out and accomplished tonight. I think offensively, defensively and special teams got off to a great start. I think that gives us momentum going forward."
The Chiefs are now 1-0 and will take that momentum into next week's game against the St. Louis Rams. However as great as last night's home win might feel, Cassel said he's not reading too much into it.
"But again, we know it's only the first preseason game," said Cassel. "We've got a ways to go. We've got a lot of work to do. There will be a lot of corrections made tomorrow."
The buzz is perhaps greater at this point given the lack of winning ways in the preseason since Cassel has arrived, with only one other win to speak of in the last three seasons. A particular sour note was cast last season when Todd Haley's odd preseason approach started the team in a hole they could not recover from.
? "I don't even want to talk about last year," Cassel said after last night's game. "Last year was last year. I'm proud of how we came out tonight. We performed at home. We got off to a good start. It feels good to win in front of our home crowd - even if it is a preseason game. Moving forward, we know we've got a lot of work to do. It was a heckuva start tonight for us."
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