By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Chiefs opened up the NFL preseason on the losing end, falling to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville, Florida 26-13 on Saturday.
A 45 yard field goal from Harrison Butker opened the scoring from the Chiefs, but the Jaguars would take the lead on a touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to running back Travis Etienne Jr.
Most of the Chiefs starting group played just the first drive of the game, leading to that field goal from Butker.
After a field goal from Jacksonville to open up the second quarter, the Chiefs would tie the game up on a one yard rushing touchdown from rookie running back Carson Steele. Steele has been impressive during Training Camp in St. Joseph and seems like a favorite to make the 53 man roster, due to his ability to also play the fullback position.
Jacksonville would take the lead back on a 35 yard touchdown pass from Jaguars backup quarterback CJ Beathard to receiver Devin Duvernay. Jacksonville would go for a two point conversion and make it on a run from D'Ernest Johnson.
The final points of the second quarter came on some confusion with the NFLs new kickoff rule. The kickoff from Jaguars kicker Cam Little would land in the endzone, and as Mecole Hardman went to pick it up the refs blew the whistle and ruled it a safety.
The Jaguars would get just a field goal from Little in the third quarter. Both Butker and Little would also convert field goals in the fourth quarter on way to the final score.
One of the biggest losses for the Chiefs in the game was receiver Hollywood Brown exiting the game in the first quarter, on the first offensive play, with a shoulder injury.
Head coach Andy Reid reports that Brown was in the hospital being looked at, but it appears he suffered a similar type of sternoclavicular injury as Tyreek Hill did in 2019.
If the recovery timeline is also similar to Hill's, there could be some doubt that Brown will be ready for Week 1 of the season. The normal recovery range on this injury is 4-6 weeks, Hill missed just four games while recovering.
Offensive lineman McCade Mettauer left the game with a left knee injury. He will undergo further examination when the team returns to Kansas City. Offensive tackle Wanya Morris was held out of the game for precautionary reasons after injuring his knee during practice this week.
The Chiefs next preseason game is next Saturday, August 17th, at home against the Detroit Lions. Kansas City will return to St. Joseph on Monday for the first of the final four training camp practices, taking the practice fields at 9:15am.