Arrowheadlines: Austin Blythe to miss remaining preseason after hernia surgery

Chiefs headlines for Monday, August 23

The latest

Chiefs C Austin Blythe had hernia surgery, expected to miss three weeks | Chiefs Wire

According to a report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Blythe recently underwent surgery to repair a hernia. The surgery is expected to sideline him three weeks, which lines up with Week 1 of the NFL season. Core muscle injuries can be tricky, however.

It’s unclear when Blythe suffered this injury. Nick Allegretti and Darryl Williams had been seeing increased repetitions at the center position before training camp broke. Blythe was getting work at the left guard position at that time. A free-agent signing this offseason by way of the Los Angeles Rams, the 29-year-old Blythe had been the primary backup to rookie C Creed Humphrey to this point.

Blythe is the third veteran interior offensive lineman to be sidelined by injury this preseason. He joins Kyle Long (tibial plateau fracture) and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (broken hand). On one hand, this is giving the Chiefs a nice extended look at some of their younger players along the offensive interior. On the other hand, it has the team quite thin at the position with the regular season approaching.

Derrick Gore sealed Chiefs’ win with late run out of bounds, leaving many observers confused | Pro Football Talk

The Chiefs had the ball and the lead with 1:51 remaining when Gore got the ball on third-and-10. Gore made a nice run around the left end to pick up the first down, and then immediately ran out of bounds, even though he appeared to have a path to the end zone.

That was smart: The Cardinals were out of timeouts, so by stepping out of bounds after picking up the first down, he set the Chiefs up to just have to kneel down three times to seal the win. And that’s exactly what they did.

But ESPN announcers Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick didn’t understand.

“I wonder if he got confused about the first down marker vs. the goal line,” Riddick said.

“I think he could’ve got there,” Levy said.

“You ought to get into the end zone. I don’t know what he was doing,” Griese said.

The ESPN trio weren’t the only ones who didn’t know what Gore was doing. The Kansas City Star‘s review of the game asked, “why did he run out of bounds late in the fourth quarter?”

1 Player Each NFL Team Should Cut Before the 2021 Season | Bleacher Report

Kansas City Chiefs: WR Gehrig Dieter

Wideout Gehrig Dieter has been on and off the practice squad since the Kansas City Chiefs signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Alabama in 2017. He’s probably as familiar with the offense as anyone at this point, but he has rarely had an active role.

Dieter has appeared in only 10 regular-season games and has just three career receptions, including the playoffs.

The issue with keeping him is that Kansas City is a legitimate title contender with no room on the 53-man roster for players who don’t contribute. While the Chiefs parted with Sammy Watkins in free agency, they also added rookie wideout Cornell Powell in the fifth round. With Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle all returning, there just isn’t an opening for Dieter.

While Dieter does provide some special teams value (124 career snaps), he isn’t worth a roster spot or an $850,000 cap hit.

Ranking NFL divisions from best to worst: NFC West on top? AFC South or NFC East at the bottom? | ESPN

4. AFC WEST

FPI ratings (4.0 overall):

Kansas City Chiefs: 6.6 (1st in NFL)

Los Angeles Chargers: 0.1 (7th)

Denver Broncos: minus-0.2 (19th)

Las Vegas Raiders: minus-2.5 (25th)

The fall of the Chiefs’ division has to stop here (though it was close between this one and the one just below it). Kansas City is the No. 1 team according to FPI by a solid 1.3 points (6.6 to 5.3) over the Tampa Bay team it lost to in Super Bowl LV and the top FPI team in offense by a healthy margin (5.9 to 3.2) over the Packers. The Chiefs have been to the last two Super Bowls and lost an overtime AFC Championship Game the season before that. Their quarterback (Patrick Mahomes) is the league’s best player. Their coach (Andy Reid) is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer who hasn’t lost a step. They have the league’s top tight end (Travis Kelce) and fastest wide receiver (Tyreek Hill), and their rebuilt offensive line looks like it could be one of the best right out of the gate. The only thing that keeps the Chiefs from being an obvious Super Bowl favorite is that their conference looks much tougher than Tampa Bay’s.

Will Parks fined for low block against the 49ers

Around the NFL

Nagy reiterates Andy Dalton will start Week 1 for Bears: ‘We need to see him in the regular season’ | NFL.com

Nagy will point to that play as a sign of what Dalton can bring as the staff continues to promote the veteran as the Week arar1 starter. Dalton finished 11-of-17 passing for 146 yards, a TD, and ended the half with an interception when his receiver slipped. Minus the big play that accounted for half his yardage, it wasn’t an inspiring outing for the veteran playing mostly with backups.

Nagy said after the game that Dalton remains the Week 1 starter. The coach noted that evaluation of the veteran isn’t being made in the preseason, though that doesn’t explain why Dalton was left in the game for a whole half Saturday.

“We need to see him in the regular season,” Nagy told reporters afterward.

Ravens win 19th straight preseason game with victory over Panthers, match Packers for all-time record | CBS Sports

“It means a lot,” Harbaugh said about the winning streak last week. “Whether it’s a winning streak, or just the idea of how you approach the games. I just think it’s a credit to the players in terms of preparation and the coaches over the years in terms of we run a good training camp, offseason program and guys are ready to play good fundamental football. That’s what wins, whether it’s preseason or whatever it might be.”

Patriots WR N’Keal Harry (shoulder) expected to miss four weeks | NFL.com

The timeline would keep him out to start the season, which begins Sunday, Sept. 12 — just three weeks away — for the Pats.

Harry injured his shoulder leaping for a deep pass Thursday night and slamming into the ground.

The injury complicates Harry’s trade request that remains standing in New England, with the former first-round pick hoping to land a fresh start before the season opens.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

5 winners and 3 losers from the Chiefs’ win against the Cardinals

Winners

Chris Jones: Last week, Jones did what he did best: he destroyed an offensive lineman and took down the quarterback from the interior. This week — with another sack in an impressive overall performance that included a batted pass at the line of scrimmage — Jones showed off what he’s been working on at the EDGE position. Place your DPOY bets on Jones. He is poised for a monster season.

Juan Thornhill: Was the concern about Thornhill much ado about nothing? The third-year free safety played with the first team and made the play of the game with a diving interception in the end zone. He’s getting plenty of reps this preseason. It appears his confidence is returning — and when the games count, he’ll be ready to contribute.

Byron Pringle: Just when people were worrying about the wide receiver group, one of the guys for whom everyone seems to be rooting steps up. Pringle led all Chiefs with four catches for 63 yards — including a beautiful 41-yard catch. He’s got the physicality and the kick return ability that ensures he’ll be on the roster — but if his offensive production can be at this level, Pringle could be a real factor this season.

A tweet to make you think

Mathieu didn’t say to whom this tweet was directed. But does it matter?

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