The Denver Broncos had no pushover on Sunday night – the sound of so much crying for 7 weeks, when they fell by 27 points against their rival Kansas City Chiefs. But as Patrick Mahoms and Co. take a dhoom near the impeccable performance to upset, the Chief, for his part, was not perfect in this rematch, letting the Broncos land and often stumbling himself into the scoring range. Although Travis Kells dominated Denver’s defense in a flat-out 22-26 win, he always looked as explosive as anyone.
The Chiefs ’near-victory ensures the Broncos’ playoff birth and sweep in 2020, improving the AFC West leaders to 11-1 a year, while dropping Drew Lock and Denver 4-8 and Drawer 4-8.
Here are some quick fixes from Sunday night’s AFC West clash:
Why Chief won
You can fill this section with any combo like “Patrick Mahoms,” “Tyrick Hill,” “Travis Kells,” etc. and will probably be on 98 percent of the time. And from a statistical point of view, this wasn’t even a great outing for the Chiefs ’offense! Yet with only 3 out of 10 finished on Kansas City’s third downs one night, a young Broncos team outposted and once “didn’t give up the game”, while Mahoms and Kells were unbeaten when needed. If not for Missed touchdown catch He wasn’t challenged, Hill would have had shameless numbers and even huge touchdowns. Yes, the defense was eventually forced two turnovers, including a game-sealer, but as is often the case, these people won because they could do this. Affordable To play loose-gooey for half the contest; His coach, QB and offense are very good.
Why the Broncos lost
They never cut aggressively. Denver’s ‘D’ wasn’t as stingy on Sunday night as it should have been in the complete abandonment of some rare Mahoms misrepresentations / miscommunications and / or Andy Reed’s run game, but that unit was enough from the start. The big point was that when the Broncos actually caught the ball (and they held it longer than the Chiefs), they couldn’t turn the big drives into big points. Try to compromise as early as possible by trying for three near half – those kinds of decisions are good when you’re playing 16-13 Riders in Belgium, but not against the Chiefs. Drew Lock, meanwhile, was good but not great; His supporting cast, saving for an enthusiastic Melvin Gordon, didn’t always help him, either.
Turn
Only six minutes left. Broncos down three. The ball is on its own 49. K.J. Hamler was fired, and Rangin barely missed out on a new set of downs. But on the fourth-and-3, Fangio opted to pull the ball back to the Chiefs. Now, Denver would have gone for it and failed, Casey would have been guaranteeing points. But already in the fourth, the Mahoms and the Chiefs are gifted another possession? Not a great recipe for success. Turns out, the Chiefs needed just five plays to enter the Denver region after that, and their field goal with 1:09 left them all but sealed the win.
Play the game
Maybe this shouldn’t count, but it was an incredible catch anyway. Tyrick Hill’s first TD, which was ruled incomplete and did not guarantee a challenge from the chiefs, showed some great concentrations from the star:
What’s next
The Chiefs (11-1) will clash on the road in Week 14 for a match against the Miami Dolphins (8-4), who sharpened the Bengals on Sunday. The Broncos (–8), meanwhile, will go to Carolina for a start down with the Panthers (–8), who are leaving their bye.
