When former Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard hit Tom Brady in the knee back in 2008, it created ripples that are still being felt today. Not only did it forever link the two the way any major injury to a Hall of Famer does, but it also ended up changing other franchises.

Without that hit, Matt Cassel is likely still a backup — if he’s even still in the league — instead of playing out a huge contract from the Chiefs. Then there’s also the possibility that Jay Cutler could still be a member of the Denver Broncos. His trade was put into motion after he was upset the Broncos were trying to acquire Cassel before he was shipped to Kansas City.

Considering how big of a deal that hit was, certainly when Pollard and Brady are back on the same field together, it would register with the Patriots quarterback, right? Not so much, Brady told reporters on Thursday.

“No, injuries are a part of the game. I hate being injured, that was a tough one but I’ve moved on, he’s moved on to some different teams. He’s a very good player, fits in this scheme very well. I don’t think too much about that injury or anything.”

Patriots guard Brian Waters was a teammate of Pollard’s and says the safety enjoyed being able to lay out the Patriots signal caller.

“He took pride in the fact that he was able to get a hit on Tom. He’s not going to live that down one way or the other,” the longtime Chief said. “He’s a guy that takes pride in putting hits on people, being physical. He’s never going to back down or have any kind of regrets for that.”

Pollard isn’t exactly the star for the Baltimore Ravens defense so he won’t be the focus of the guys in the booth Sunday, but I’ve still set the over/under on how many times we see that fateful hit at 2.5.

It’s not often you say an 18-point game was closer than the score indicated, but that was the case with the Chiefs against the Ravens.  Baltimore scored 21 unanswered points in the final 7:16 of the game — including a touchdown with five seconds remaining –  to turn a three point deficit into blowout victory.

Look beyond the score — as you often should in the preseason — and you’ll see a lot of positives for Kansas City on both sides of the football.

Offense: Tyler Palko

Once again, the Chiefs backup quarterbacks both had to run for their lives all night behind a porous offensive line.  This time around, Palko was the one able to adjust on the fly and make some impressive plays.

Palko finished 8-13 for 95 yards and a touchdown, including a solid two-minute drill at the end of the first half.  That was a nine play, 80 yard, 2:58 drive that was capped by a nifty four-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Copper.  He also dropped a perfect pass into the hands of WR Zeke Markshausen that should have gone for a score, but the soon-to-be free agent couldn’t hold on.

Overall a solid job behind a horrid offensive line and should keep the discussion about who should backup Matt Cassel an active one.

Defense: Justin Houston

Talk about a role reversal among rookies.  Houston was the bad egg that showed up to camp late and out of shape while first-round pick Jonathan Baldwin was ready to build on all the positive things he did off the field leading up to training camp.  Now following a fight between Baldwin and Thomas Jones, the talented wide receiver is out for the rest of the preseason and Houston has his legs underneath him.

The only clip you’ll see of the third-round pick will likely be the YouTube-worthy ankle breaking he was given by backup Ravens QB Tyrod Taylor (see the video below) in the fourth quarter, but there was much more to his game against the Ravens.  He had a quick first step off the edge that led to two sacks (plus a third taken away by a “tuck rule” call), showing off the talent that made him a star at Georgia.

It was a whole lot of fun watching Houston and Cameron Sheffield meet at Joe Flacco from opposite sides in the second quarter and knock the quarterback down as he rushed an incompletion.

Special Teams: Dustin Colquitt

A punter isn’t going to have a much game than the one Colquitt put together Friday night.  You never want to see a guy booting the ball eight times in a game, but it’s a lot easier to take when this is how he’s doing it.

Colquitt had 8 punts for an average of 46.5, including a whopping five landing inside the 20.  To put that in perspective, he dropped 33 inside the 20 last season in 16 games, including seven games with either one or none.

He followed a career year in 2009 with a step back last season and now Colquitt looks like he’s poised to put together another solid campaign.

Win-loss records don’t mean a thing in the preseason, but the Chiefs do need to show a whole lot more than they did in their 25-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Head coach Todd Haley held out most of his impact players last week, so letting them play more in Baltimore will obviously provide a better product and give us all a better read on where the team is at this point in the preseason.

Don’t expect the sharpest of outings, but things will be better than last week.  Here are the three players (offense, defense and special teams) from each team to keep your eyes on Friday night.

Chiefs

Offense: Keary Colbert

Other than Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston, you could probably put any Chiefs receiver here.  With the uncertainty surrounding rookie Jonathan Baldwin and the lack of any sort of air attack last week, it could open up the door for Colbert.

In his short time in camp, the former second-round pick has left a good impression.  Will it be enough for him to jump young players like Verran Tucker and Jeremy Horne for the final spot at wide receiver?

Defense: Quinten Lawrence

After two years of riding the shuttle between the active roster and practice squad as a wide receiver, could Lawrence really have a shot at making this team at corner?  It seems like things are headed that way.

Against the Bucs he was far from perfect, but recorded seven tackles and looked anything but a player learning a new position without the benefit of a full offseason.  Going up against the improved receiving corps in Baltimore, thanks to the acquisition of Lee Evans from the Buffalo Bills, Lawrence should be in for quite the test.

Another good effort and Lawrence will need to be seriously considered for the final cornerback slot.

Special Teams: Ryan Succop

Due to a lack of any offense from the Chiefs, we never did get much evidence about how Succop will adjust to the new kickoff rules against Tampa Bay.  His only kickoff was a touchback, but after he only had eight all season it will be interesting to see if he will continue the league-wide trend or start coming up short.

However, Succop also said Kansas City special teams would mix things up with directional and hanging kicks.  Assuming they get more than one kickoff, look for more than just shooting for the end zone from Succop.

Ravens

Offense: Torrey Smith

The Chiefs aren’t the only team here trying to sort out what to do with their wide receivers.  The Ravens have Anquan Boldin and traded for Evans but they will need someone else to step up without Todd Heap and Derrick Mason to serve as QB Joe Flacco’s safety valve.

Smith is a second-round pick with blazing speed, but he didn’t catch a pass in the first preseason game and is battling it out with fellow-rookie Tandon Smith to serve as the Ravens third wide receiver.

Defense: Jameel McClain

Expect plenty of big hits coming from the Ravens inside linebackers on Friday night, but it won’t be Ray Lewis going the extra mile to knock someone into next week with rest on tap him.  Instead, it will be “the other” McClain and Dannell Ellerbe looking to earn the right to start next to the All-Pro linebacker.

McClain started 15 games and had 71 tackles last season for the Ravens, but Ellerbe is fighting to take that starting spot away from him in camp.

Special Teams: Billy Cundiff

The league-leader in touchbacks is just going to launch the ball a few times and call it a night, right?

Not so fast, says Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh.  Knowing that his team needs to practice covering kicks, Harbaugh plans on having Cundiff send the ball short so he can guarantee his coverage unit something to actually cover.

“We’re not going to go through the whole season kicking touchbacks,” he said.

With Cundiff’s leg, I’m not so sure about that statement, but it should be interesting to see how often they go out of their way to give the Chiefs something to return.

The Baltimore Ravens felt that Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher and defensive end Tyson Jackson should have been fined for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Joe Flacco and trying to pull Todd Heap’s helmet off, respectively.  Fortunately for the young Chiefs’ wallets, the NFL felt otherwise and decided not to fine either player.

“We saw both of those on film,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday.   “We sent those into the league. The helmet-to-helmet on the slide, Joe is protected at that point from a head shot.  And then the other one, that speaks for itself.  Everybody saw that.”

Operating as a bodyguard for his teammate, offensive tackle Michael Oher intervened on Heap’s behalf.

“It looked like he was trying to take his helmet off,” Oher said.  “I don’t know what he was doing.  You can’t have that on a teammate.  We’re a family.”

The way the league protects quarterbacks I was surprised that Belcher didn’t draw a flag on the play and I’m flat out shocked that he didn’t get a hefty fine.  The play looked like it could have gone either way but we’ve seen a whole lot less get flagged.

As for Jackson’s weird helmet pulling incident, I’m not even sure what exactly he was trying to accomplish…  y’know, other than ripping Heap’s helmet off.  Maybe he figured it was about time someone on the defense tried to take him out?  Either way, it wasn’t something worthy of a fine.

After taking an early 7-3 lead the Chiefs offense all but disappeared and led to the defense finally breaking late.

The Chiefs biggest playmakers just couldn’t get into the flow of the game.  Jamaal Charles only had two carries for -5 in second half and Dwayne Bowe didn’t have any catches while both Kevin Curtis and Verran Tucker each had a catch.

While the Baltimore Ravens offense wasn’t able to deliver the big play, they moved the ball all day long.  Todd Heap delivered the best game of the season for the Ravens with 10 catches and 108 yards while Ray Rice hurt Kansas City out of the backfield by catching five passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.

Following a missed 4th and short on the Chiefs first drive of the third quarter at the Ravens 33 yard line, the Chiefs only had seven plays the rest of the quarter.  By then it was 23-7 and the game was all but over.

You hate to laud a defense after they give up 30 points, but the Chiefs defense held their own considering how many terrible situations they were put in by their offense.  Even the league’s best defense is going to eventually break down and that’s what happened while the Kansas City offense was coughing up the ball throughout the second half.

For the final time this season, here are the best on offense, defense and special teams for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Offense: Jamaal Charles

He was the Chiefs best player all season long and that didn’t change on Sunday.

Charles took his second carry 41 yards to the house to give Kansas City their first and only lead of the day with two minutes remaining in the first quarter.  After that play, however, he only had seven carries and one reception while the Ravens took charge of the game forcing the Chiefs to throw the ball the few times they had the ball.

Even when he wasn’t getting the ball, Charles never stopped going full speed.  On a Matt Cassel interception, Charles forced and recovered a fumble during the Ravens return to give Kansas City another chance.  Though after that drive stalled when he was stopped short on that fourth and short, Charles didn’t touch the ball again.

Defense: Glenn Dorsey

Tamba Hali had another two sacks including one in which he stripped Joe Flacco and you can make a case he deserves yet another game ball.  But Dorsey put in a non-stop effort that proved once and for all that he was worthy of being drafted in the top five.  The Ravens had trouble with him all day and may have even taken the title from Hali for “Most Deserving Of A Holding Penalty”.

On the day, Dorsey led the Chiefs defense with 11 tackles, 2 QB hits and could have been credited with at least half a sack.

Special Teams: Ryan Succop

There a lot of things that need to be fixed in Kansas City, but special teams need to be at the top of that list.  Their return game has been completely non-existent since Week 1 and they took a step back both kicking and punting the ball.

He wasn’t given a chance to kick a 50 yard field goal in the third quarter that would have tied the game, but the Chiefs kicker did everything asked of him on Sunday…  which wasn’t much.  Succop did not appear on the field again after his touchback at the end of the first quarter.  Yup, it was that kind of day.

When the Baltimore Ravens take the field at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs, head coach John Harbaugh will not have his brother Jim on the sideline for support as he has in the past, according to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.

Jim does want to try to come next week if Ravens win today, but Ravens are checking with the league to make sure that all rules are followed now that Jim is the head coach of another NFL team.  Dad Jack will be here today, as planned – although after checking the temperatures out here (12 degrees windchill right now) he is not quite sure if he’ll be on the sideline or not.

The way I see it, the crowd at Arrowhead will be so loud that John won’t be able to hear himself think let along worry about which family member will or won’t be on the sidelines.  Though I’ll take any change of routine for the Ravens as a good thing for the Chiefs today.

WR Quinten Lawrence, FB Mike Cox, S Reshard Langford, LB Charlie Anderson, C Rudy Niswanger, WR Chris Chambers, DL Anthony Toribio and QB Tyler Palko.

What a wile ride for Curtis.  From thinking his season was over five days ago to playing in a playoff game over a guy that has been on this team for over a year.  Remind me why Chambers is still a member of the Chiefs if he a player here for less than a week can take his spot?

The rest of the list is about what we all expected.  Palko goes back to the third quarterback meaning whatever was ailing Brodie Croyle last week is no longer an issues.

I’d rather see Mike Cox in instead of Tim Castille, but if Kansas City’s biggest issue today ends up being at fullback, things will be just fine today.

Coming in with a record of 12-4, the Ravens come in as one of two favored road playoff teams.  They finished the regular season with a tight 13-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals while the Chiefs closed things out with an embarrassing 31-10 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

The overwhelming message from the national media is that the Ravens will have no problem taking down the home team, a message that head coach Todd Haley has no doubt reminded his players of throughout the week.

Here are the three players from each team that you will need to keep your eyes on.

Chiefs

Offense: Jamaal Charles

It is finally time.  Time for Todd Haley to fully unleash his most potent weapon.

Charles came inches away from recording the most effective season for a running back ever with his 6.4 yards per carry average, yet continued all season to have his carries limited by head coach Todd Haley.  Only three times did Charles carry the ball more than 20 times in a game this season.

Now that the Chiefs find themselves int he second season there is nothing left to save Charles for.  That isn’t to say Thomas Jones should be ignored because he has a very important role to play against a tough Ravens defense, but Charles needs to be the star.  Anything short of 25 touches for Charles should be seen as a failure for the Kansas City offense.

Though he has received some national attention, this game should officially serve as the coming out party for Jamaal Charles around the country.

Defense: Tamba Hali

We’ve all heard the cliche: Big time players make big time plays in big time games.

Hali has been the Chiefs biggest player on defense all year and is now playing the biggest game of his career.  He is the rare holdover from the 2006 Kansas City team that lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the playoffs, but back then he was playing the role of sidekick to Jared Allen.  Now that Hali is the one running with sidekicks, he needs to wreak havoc all day long in the Ravens backfield.

Luckily for the Kansas City defense, Hali is playing his best football of the season.  Over the last five games he has registered 6.5 sacks, including 2.5 last week against the Raiders.

Special Teams: Dustin Colquitt

Speaking of cliches, we all know the Chiefs will need to win the battle of field position if they are going to pull out the upset.  That puts the focus on Colquitt, who like Hali is playing some of his best football of the season down the stretch.  In the last six games, Colquitt has averaged three punts per game inside the 20 with only two touchbacks over that span.

Colquitt who will look to keep the ball away from Lardarius Webb who was quiet the last two games (4 returns, 15 yards) but the two weeks before put up two of his three 20+ yard returns of the season.

Ravens

Offense: Ray Rice

There was no player more excited for this matchup than Rice.  He has been given nearly 24 carries a game over the final month of the season and will be facing a defense that just gave up over 200 yards on the ground to the Oakland Raiders.

With the Chiefs possessing the ability to go one-on-one with both Brandon Carr and Brandon Flowers on the outside, look for Eric Berry to play in the box more than usual to try and slow down Rice.

Like Charles with the Chiefs, good things happen for Baltimore when Rice carries the ball.  If you put aside a tough overtime loss to the Patriots, Rice only averaged 12.3 carries in their three other losses this season.

Defense: Terrell Suggs

The question isn’t how good Suggs its, but rather how healthy is he?  The vocal linebacker has made it clear that he plans to play but that doesn’t mean he will be as effective as he needs to be.  If Suggs favors that knee at all — which was injured on a cut block — look for the Chiefs tackles and backs to keep going after the area.

Ray Lewis leads the defense in tackles, but Suggs is the leader of the Ravens pass rush.  If he finds his way to Matt Cassel at anywhere near the frequency that the Raiders linebackers did, it will be a long day for the Kansas City offense.

Special Teams: Billy Cundiff

The struggling Chiefs special teams will have quite the challenge in front of them Sunday and one of the biggest reasons is Cundiff.  He is going to the Pro Bowl this season thanks in large part to his 26-for-29 season on field goals, though he is just as valuable on kickoffs.

You can get a more detailed rundown of what Cundiff and punter Sam Koch bring to the table here, but the most important thing to know is that no kicker in NFL history recorded more touchbacks than Cundiff did this season.

The last time the Kansas City Chiefs were on national TV, they were given a jolt in the arm by Dexter McCluster’s 94-yard kick return for a touchdown that ended up being the difference in the Week 1 victory over the San Diego Chargers.  It was in the days after that huge play that media and fans alike thought the Chiefs had finally fixed their return problems.

We have seen since that game that it takes much more than a couple of electric return men to patch all the holes.  Clearly a midseason injury to McCluster didn’t help matters, but the blocking on special teams has been below average all season long.  Turns out when the Ravens come to town those units won’t get much of a chance to redeem themselves.

Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff and punter Sam Koch are two of the best in the league at keeping the ball out of the hands of kick returners.  In fact, Cundiff has had as may touchboacks this season as any kicker in NFL history.  Yes…  ever.

To put his feat (pun intended) in perspective, Cundiff’s 40 touchbacks are 11 more than the second best (Sebastian Janikowski) and 17 (!) better than the two kickers tied for third best.  Ryan Succop?  He has prevented a return with a touchback just eight times.

The silver lining with Cundiff and the Ravens kick overage is that the few times he doesn’t get all of the ball there is the potential to get in a decent return.  Baltimore has yet to give up a touchdown on a kickoff this season, but their 26 yard average on returns is second to last in the league.

Unfortunately for special teams coach Steve Hoffman and his returners McCluster and Arenas, things don’t get any easier when the Ravens are forced to punt.

You know all the accolades — and they are well deserved — showered upon Raiders punter Shane Lechler?  Sam Koch of the Ravens is better.  If you look at pure leg strength you would think I’m crazy, but when you look deeper into the stats it’s clear that Koch is the superior punter.

Koch and his 43.6 yard average will never catch Lechler’s 47 yards but even with a weaker leg he has a net average that is only 1.6 yards less than the Raiders punter.  The biggest reason why Koch is better than Lechler is that you simply can’t get a big return, or really any sort of return, against the Ravens.

Even with Koch sending off four more punts than Lechler he has allowed 11 less returns, dropped 12 more inside the 20 and received 11 more fair catches.  Better still, Koch has a return average of 8.1 yards compared to Lechler’s 8.8 while neither has allowed a touchdown this season.  In his five seasons, Koch has punted the ball 402 times in the regular season and has only allowed one touchdown.

No one is saying that Hoffman, McCluster and Arenas are going to just sit on their hands and throw in the towel.  But if they are going to turn things around in the return game, they are going to have to do it against one of the best duos in the league.

“The suspect jumped into the river, went about 15 feet according to the deputy,” said Sgt. Dwayne LaGrange, a spokesman for the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.  “At some particular point they said he did witness hands and head come up and go under the water and never resurface again.”

Deputies say Reed stopped his car on the side of River Road.  His car matched the description of a vehicle they say almost ran another driver off the road.

Deputies later determined Reed may have been driving a stolen car.

“He was a good person,” said Karen Reed, Brian and Ed’s mother.  “He kind of had a little run in with drugs and stuff.  He had kind of got off it.  Other than that he was alright.”

Karen said her son was driving a family member’s car.

Wow, what terrible news.  Thoughts and prayers go out to the Reed family as they go through a heartbreaking situation that none of them had any control over.