Like many of you, Niners Daily watched the Kansas City Chiefs 41-14 dismantling of the New England Patriots on "Monday Night Football."

We had good reason for watching...

For starters, the 49ers host the Chiefs.

And now to the obvious, former No. 1 overall draft pick Alex Smith returns to town this week as Kansas City's starter.

Smith looked solid against the Patriots. So did many of his teammates. With that being said, here's a look at what we picked up from the Chiefs victory:

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1**. Smith outplayed Tom Brady. The stat lines emphasize this, but we have more examples. First, Brady completed 14-of-23 passes for 159 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Brady, the future Hall of Famer, finished the game with a 59.9 passer rating and was removed in the fourth quarter for rookie Jimmy Garoppolo. Back to Smith. The former 49ers starter looked like his cerebral self. He completed 20-of-26 passes for 248 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Smith posted a 144.4 quarterback rating and looked decisive with the football throughout the game. He did take two sacks, but Smith was able to get the ball out quickly and when his primary reads were covered, he did a good job of looking at his second and third options.

2. Travis Kelce is a serious weapon. The second-year tight end caught eight passes for 93 yards with one 2-yard touchdown pass to put Kansas City up 34-7 in the fourth quarter. Kelce caught a number of bubble screens and crossing routes against the Patriots linebackers.  It was Kelce's best game of his NFL career and it seems like the 6-foot-5, 260-pound tight end could become Smith's new favorite target. Remember how Smith liked throwing to Vernon Davis? Kelce could be his new Davis.

3. Jamaal Charles is a legit dual-threat out of the bakcifled. Charles, the hero of many fantasy football teams, had two of his three receptions result in touchdowns. He also added 18 carries for 92 yards and a 2-yard touchdown run. Charles scored three scores and that was with Kniles Davis working in tandem. Davis rushed 16 times for 107 yards. The Charles-Davis tandem appears to be a major threat. Utilizing both backs has each runner looking fresh in the second half. Charles did cramp up in the second half, but the game was very much out of reach.

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4**. Edge rushers are still alive and well in Kansas City. Justin Houston recorded two sacks and Tamba Hali added one of his own. Both rushers forced fumbles on Brady, too. Hali beat Patriots left tackle Nate Solder around the edge and promptly stripped the unsuspecting Brady. Making matters worse, Hali quickly recovered his own fumble to give the ball right back to Kansas City's productive offense.

5. The crowd at Arrowhead is still really, really loud. That won't matter this week. They'll be the road team.

7.A.J. Jenkins caught a bubble-screen pass that went for no gain.

8.Dwayne Bow was targeted six times by Smith and caught five of the passes for 81 yards. Many of the receptions came at the expense of Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis.

9.Safety Husain Abdullah led the Chiefs with eight tackles and recorded a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown.

10. Nose tackle Dontari Poe recorded one tackle on defense and lined up as a goal-line fullback on offense. The sight of Power lead-blocking on Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork was a memorable moment.

11. Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt had all four of his punts go inside of the 20-yard line. He's definitely an underrated weapon.

THE VAULT

My Alex Smith feature story from 2011.

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](http://blog.49ers.com/2011/11/21/gameday-story-what-it-takes/)

Since we're in full-on throwback mode, here's a video offering...