Game Thread: Broncos/Chiefs here we go!

[Malibu]

That was a huge win tonight and even though the team left a lot of points on the field I feel it's easy to focus on the positives after a pretty dominant win over a solid Chiefs team on the road. I am loving this new found ground game. I'm living 6-0 vs the Chiefs in the last 3 years. I'm loving 4-0 vs afc west teams so far this year. That last one is huge because it keeps the Broncos above the fray for another week. It's crowded at the top in the afc west, but it would be even more so if the Broncos hadn't won tonight.

Divisional win on the road is always huge.

 

[DownSetHutch]

That was a great win tonight, maybe the best so far this season. We just whipped a good team in their own house, where we have had a lot of trouble playing in the past. And the stakes were high, so it makes it that much better of a win.

It may not have looked like a total domination from the score alone, but there are some stats from the game that are very telling. First the defense. 1) We held the Chiefs to 1 for 9 on 3rd downs. 2) The defense came up with 6 sacks. 3) The defense forced 3 turnovers. Now the offense. 1) We outrushed them 214 to 41. 2) TOP was 38:47 to 21:13. 3) 1st downs were 21 to 11 in our favor. 4) Number of plays was 80 to 44 in our favor.

That's an ass-whipping. The only problems were our red zone inefficiency on offense, and our inability to cover TEs on defense. The former I don't see as a continuing problem, and the latter should get better as we get healthier (if we get healthier). The coaching staff deserves props for putting together a solid game plan and sticking to it. And the team really played with a lot of energy all night and executed the game plan.

That was a great win. If we continue to play that way from here on out, things will fall into place the way we want them to.

 

[cdumler7]

What does it take to get an A or better. I mean 6 sacks, only 16 points surrendered, under 150 yards of total offense given up, and 3 turnovers. To me that is an A+ effort by our defense but hey I am a homer by nature.

 

[Malibu]

That was a great win tonight, maybe the best so far this season. We just whipped a good team in their own house, where we have had a lot of trouble playing in the past. And the stakes were high, so it makes it that much better of a win.

It may not have looked like a total domination from the score alone, but there are some stats from the game that are very telling. First the defense. 1) We held the Chiefs to 1 for 9 on 3rd downs. 2) The defense came up with 6 sacks. 3) The defense forced 3 turnovers. Now the offense. 1) We outrushed them 214 to 41. 2) TOP was 38:47 to 21:13. 3) 1st downs were 21 to 11 in our favor. 4) Number of plays was 80 to 44 in our favor.

That's an ass-whipping. The only problems were our red zone inefficiency on offense, and our inability to cover TEs on defense. The former I don't see as a continuing problem, and the latter should get better as we get healthier (if we get healthier). The coaching staff deserves props for putting together a solid game plan and sticking to it. And the team really played with a lot of energy all night and executed the game plan.

That was a great win. If we continue to play that way from here on out, things will fall into place the way we want them to.

 

[Malibu]

What does it take to get an A or better. I mean 6 sacks, only 16 points surrendered, under 150 yards of total offense given up, and 3 turnovers. To me that is an A+ effort by our defense but hey I am a homer by nature.

I think an A- is a fair grade considering there defense still has issues covering tightends and it was the Chiefs in which they have as much offensive talent after Charles that a high school team does. Sorry you don't like me giving them an A- but I believe an A- is very good and almost perfect. Just saying.

 

[Malibu]

A+ and A- not really much of a difference. It was a great performance by the Denver D and the Broncos o line. Anderson and Thompson ran hard and Manning had time to throw pretty much the whole game but he missed a few passes that were easy throws. The D was great when it came to pressure using zone blitzes, safety blitzes and stunts. The Chiefs have no wr weapons at all and gave up on the run to quick which Denver did a great job on as well when they did try to run. Special teams was very good as well. Big win against a divisional foe on the road and they sure made Arrowhead very quiet. Go Broncos!!!

 

[HOF-ELWAY-7]

The D was pretty awesome last night. They played an "in your face defense" that I think they should run every week. While they did zone blitz about 10 or so times, JDR didn't drop Miller or Ware back into coverage. Miller covered here and there but JDR utilized his strength as a pass rusher. The stats speak for themselves defensively and if it not for a Manning strip fumble it wouldn't have been much of a contest.

Offensively they pushed the Chefs around and we ran down their throats. The passing game was a bit hit or miss. Tamme dropped a TD as did DT that turned into a FG. Manning was off but a friend of mine went to the game and said the wind was brutal. We saw a little too much of Colquit.

The new kicker showed well but his kickoffs weren't too good, the wind? We'll see next week. Overall an impressive win.

I have never said this before, Go Chargers next week than the Broncos control their home field destiny.

 

[cdumler7]

I think an A- is a fair grade considering there defense still has issues covering tightends and it was the Chiefs in which they have as much offensive talent after Charles that a high school team does. Sorry you don't like me giving them an A- but I believe an A- is very good and almost perfect. Just saying.

It's not that I didn't like you giving an A- just wanted to know why you gave that compared to an A.

Also not sure the TE's gave the Broncos a ton of trouble. They had 1 drive where they did well and that is about it. They gave up a combined 56 yards to the TE's and 1 touchdown. Heck that is about what Seattle gave up to the TE's when the Chiefs played them. Throw in still have some great hope in our best pass covering linebacker has only played a handful of plays this season and is back in 2 games!

Anyway to me I was just encouraged by what I saw from Fox and Del Rio in the game planning. Fox was aggressive in allowing the fake punt plus once again sticking to the run game. Del Rio was about as aggressive as I have seen him since 2012. I'm a bit surprised he did that with Talib and Webster not playing to put so much trust in a rookie and of all people Tony Carter. I'm hoping this means this is a more permanent change. I have been impressed with this coaching staff being willing to admit their mistakes and work to correct them. They haven't been perfect by any means but if this continues I truly hope Del Rio is our guy moving forward. It takes a pretty big man to admit his mistakes and then work to correct them. That goes a long way in my book.

 

[Broncosr0k]

I would not use this game as an indication to our kicking game. It was damn cold and windy last night.

In general, I liked what I saw last night. A continuation of the run, a more aggressive defense, chiefs fans leaving by the 4th quarter and fighting each other.

I think my only critique is finishing drives with a TD instead of field goal. Oh, and some of Manning's decisions. There were at least 2 INTs broken up by Sanders. That probably happens to a lot of QBs from time to time so I can't fault him too much.

 

[randymon]

It's not that I didn't like you giving an A- just wanted to know why you gave that compared to an A.

Also not sure the TE's gave the Broncos a ton of trouble. They had 1 drive where they did well and that is about it. They gave up a combined 56 yards to the TE's and 1 touchdown. Heck that is about what Seattle gave up to the TE's when the Chiefs played them. Throw in still have some great hope in our best pass covering linebacker has only played a handful of plays this season and is back in 2 games!

Anyway to me I was just encouraged by what I saw from Fox and Del Rio in the game planning. Fox was aggressive in allowing the fake punt plus once again sticking to the run game. Del Rio was about as aggressive as I have seen him since 2012. I'm a bit surprised he did that with Talib and Webster not playing to put so much trust in a rookie and of all people Tony Carter. I'm hoping this means this is a more permanent change. I have been impressed with this coaching staff being willing to admit their mistakes and work to correct them. They haven't been perfect by any means but if this continues I truly hope Del Rio is our guy moving forward. It takes a pretty big man to admit his mistakes and then work to correct them. That goes a long way in my book.

I think his aggression ( Jack ) prob had alot to do with KC`s lack of much of a wr core ( tds) and Smiths struggles with the long ball accuracy Cd. We should see the the same vs Orton next wk and Carr to close out season but I`am interested to see if he tones it down some vs SD and Cincy.

 

[iknowftbll]

Regarding Von Miller's late hit on Alex Smith, did you guys see Travis Kelce's reaction? Hilarious. And of course, they are all claiming it was a "cheap hit." It was definitely a late hit, especially in today's NFL. But "cheap?" Huge difference.

I love reading the comments on forums like Arrowhead Pride. People wanted Miller ejected for that hit. Are Chiefs fans really that soft? You know the Broncos have had some wild success against the Chiefs just by reading what these guys have to say about us week in, week out.

Enjoy!

Travis Kelce's amazing response to the hand motion he made after Von Miller's late hit - Arrowhead Pride

 

[cdumler7]

Yeah I saw that and was also on Arrowhead Pride earlier today. They were going nuts about that hit. To me that hit is the least of their worries as they obviously have quite a bit to get figured out if they are going to make the playoffs this year.

I agree it was a late hit but not so obvious that he was trying to hurt their quarterback. Heck I remember last year Chief players going for Manning's knees just like a few other teams did. To me that is a lot more cheap than what I saw from Miller yesterday hitting him with proper technique. It was a player being aggressive and to me I enjoyed seeing him play that aggressive style. Yes the penalty sucked but it was the mentality of our defense all day to attack. I can live with a few penalties if that is the style they are playing.

 

[iknowftbll]

Yeah I saw that and was also on Arrowhead Pride earlier today. They were going nuts about that hit. To me that hit is the least of their worries as they obviously have quite a bit to get figured out if they are going to make the playoffs this year.

I agree it was a late hit but not so obvious that he was trying to hurt their quarterback. Heck I remember last year Chief players going for Manning's knees just like a few other teams did. To me that is a lot more cheap than what I saw from Miller yesterday hitting him with proper technique. It was a player being aggressive and to me I enjoyed seeing him play that aggressive style. Yes the penalty sucked but it was the mentality of our defense all day to attack. I can live with a few penalties if that is the style they are playing.

Had Miller pulled up he likely would have still plowed into Smith with enough force to knock him over and still draw the penalty. I can't attest to what is on the guy's mind in the split second that he launches himself at Smith. Smith is releasing just before Miller commits to the hit. Could Miller have pulled up? Maybe. But like I already said, he probably still would have knocked Smith over and drawn a foul. With that in mind, if he knew he was hosed either way, I'm glad he delivered a hard hit. I'd rather our guys default to hitting hard and playing through the whistle than not. I also don't believe it was cheap. Just a split second decision to make the hit and just a hair late. It happens EVERY WEEK in the NFL. Not every late hit is a cheap hit. Not every hit before the whistle is not a cheap hit. Going after Manning's knees is a good example of that. But hey, it gave Chiefs fans something to talk about other than their 0-6 record vs the Broncos since Manning joined the team.

 

[cdumler7]

Agree completely Iknowftbll. This week more than any other I have seen the losing teams complain about either the refs or things like this that had very little to do with the outcome. Heck this penalty helped them get one of their touchdowns so don't think they should be complaining much at all. It is our human default though to blame others for our failures. The best in my opinion are those who can rise above the excuses or blaming and just keep going.

Also I would say my favorite video of the weekend was when the cameras zoomed in on Brady at the end of the Packers game and caught him having a turrets episode. Always enjoy when he gets ticked off. Still trying to figure out if I should cheer for the Chargers or the Patriots this weekend. Either way it helps and hurts us I guess you could say.

 

[iknowftbll]

I think it actually is better for the Broncos if the Chargers win. Assuming the Broncos handle their business and the Chargers win, the Broncos slide into that #1 seed and still have the game lead on the Chargers. Plus they get another shot at the Chargers in a couple weeks. The Broncos remaining schedule looks a little more formidable than the Patriots, so any loss by the Pats benefits the Broncos. Even if it means a Chargers win.

 

[HOF-ELWAY-7]

15 years ago the coaches and fans would have been mad at Von for not burring Smith into the Arrowhead turf.

 

[randymon]

I think the prob was he led with his helmet. Pretty clear. Totally understand the flag. Not sure you guys would appreciate that on Manning. Right call but not ejection material.

 

[cdumler7]

I think the prob was he led with his helmet. Pretty clear. Totally understand the flag. Not sure you guys would appreciate that on Manning. Right call but not ejection material.

I would be upset but it would notbe what I was talking about if my team got beat like they did. For many Chief fans today though that is all they want to talk about.

 

[iknowftbll]

I think the prob was he led with his helmet. Pretty clear. Totally understand the flag. Not sure you guys would appreciate that on Manning. Right call but not ejection material.

Late hit and leading with helmet, yes. Would not have appreciated that hit on Manning, no. But the truth is hits like that have happened to Manning and I haven't called for an ejection of the opposing player. I've only gotten pissed off when late hits don't result in the penalties the league calls for, or if the refs to throw the flag and glad for 15 yards.

 

[iknowftbll]

And it keeps getting better for the Chiefs! If you watched the suck-fest that was the MNF game, the Dolphins pulled out a win over the Jets to improve to 7-5. In doing so they slide into that #6 spot and the Chiefs slide out of the playoffs and into the "in the hunt" column.

Good times!