Chiefs' offense struggles, snaps win-streak over Broncos
Tyler Brown
For the first time since Peyton Manning was the quarterback of the Broncos and Patrick Mahomes was a sophomore at Texas Tech, the Denver Broncos (3-5) defeated the Kansas City Chiefs (6-2).
The Broncos snapped a 16-game losing streak against the Chiefs, defeating them 24-9 as Denver kept Kansas City out of the end zone all afternoon. If there were two areas that explained the Chiefs' woes the most, it would be their red zone inefficiency and turnovers.
In week six the Broncos held the Chiefs to one for five in the red zone but in week eight they held them to zero touchdowns in three trips to the red area. Couple that with five turnovers, and it spelled disaster. It is simply hard to win football games shooting yourself in the foot that many times.
“Five turnovers—that’s the obvious (issue), three in the red zone,” head coach Andy Reid said. “Seventeen points we gave them really off the turnovers, great field position. I take full responsibility for it. The guys saw things that I, this afternoon, that I haven’t seen before from the guys, so that’s my responsibility to make sure they’re right, and we weren’t ready today.”
Denver scored 17 of their 24 points off of Kansas City turnovers. The first seven came from a bang-bang play where wide receiver Marquez Valdez-Scantling had the ball punched out immediately after turning around from catching the ball past the sticks on a hitch route. That put the Broncos up 14-3, which wound up being enough points to win the game.
The other Denver touchdown off of a Chiefs turnover proved to be just as costly, though. Down 14-9 with just over 12 minutes to go in the game, linebacker Leo Chenal sacked quarterback Russell Wilson to force a punt. That sack was going to give the Chiefs a chance to drive down the field to take their first lead of the game.
Kansas City and the offense never got that opportunity because wide receiver Mecole Hardman muffed a punt that Denver recovered on the Chiefs' own 10-yard-line. Two plays later, Wilson found wide receiver Courtland Sutton in the back corner of the end zone to essentially seal the Chiefs' fate. That put the Broncos up 21-9 and the rest of the game was spent in desperation mode for the Kansas City offense.
“I got greedy; I got selfish,” Hardman said. “Trying to make a play down there. Should have been a fair catch or let the ball bounce. That’s [a] problem, like the reason that we probably lost the game. I just let that thing go or fair catch it and secure the catch … I definitely take responsibility actually for losing that game. Because you never know,[I] let that ball go, I catch it at the five-[yard-line] or wherever it was, and we go down to score and that’s it. So I’ve just got to be more smart.”
Mahomes was reported to spike a fever Saturday night and played the game with the flu. While much of the day he appeared to have plenty of time to throw the ball, he was sacked three times as either the receivers struggled to get open or Mahomes was not finding them.
Mahomes was also strip-sacked for the first time this season and threw two interceptions. One of those was in the last few minutes as they tried to mount an impossible comeback. He finished with 241 yards and zero touchdowns on the day.
The Broncos clearly learned their lesson from week six, as tight end Travis Kelce received a lot of extra attention from their defensive backs. He was held to 58 yards on six catches, which was his lowest since week two when he made his season debut.
Kansas City running back Isiah Pacheco averaged five yards per carry in Sunday's loss, but he only tallied eight carries. Denver has allowed the most rushing yards of any team in the NFL and the game was a one-score game for much of the contest, but the Chiefs neglected to commit to the running game.
That could have been especially helpful considering the lack of production from many of the receivers. Rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice continued his growth, tallying another 50-yard performance. Justin Watson returned to action after missing just one week from a dislocated elbow and was the Chiefs' third-leading receiver.
The other four receivers on the roster, Valdez-Scantling, Hardman, Skyy Moore and Kardarius Toney combined for six catches and 52 yards. Moore actually had a chance to make it a 21-16 ball game but let a pass from Mahomes slip through his hands in the end zone with just over seven and a half minutes left in the game. If he had brought that in, anything could have happened.
“They’re going to know that I’m going to keep firing to them, that’s just who I am,” Mahomes said. “I’m going to keep firing to open guys, let them make plays and I trust those guys … Those little things, not just drops but just little things that add up and the Broncos did a great job of making us be patient. Like I said, they had a great game plan and executed it and we didn’t execute and score any points.”
While the Chiefs allowed over 21 points for the first time this season, no one should place blame on the defense. It is hard to stay perfectly stout when the offense hands it over five times. They did allow a season-high 153 yards rushing, but only at 3.8 yards per clip. Kansas City actually outgained Denver on the day.
They held Wilson to just 114 yards passing and had him under duress all afternoon. Kansas City is now third in the league in sacks after bringing down the Denver quarterback six times. One of those was a strip-sack by defensive end George Karlaftis, as he enjoyed a career day with 2.5 sacks and seven tackles.
Linebacker Drue Tranquill had a marvelous day filling in for the injured Nick Bolton, finishing with 11 tackles and a sack. Chenal finished with double-digit tackles to go along with his sack. Defensive end Mike Danna racked up another sack, giving him 5.5 on the year, which is now a career-high. Safety Justin Reid also blocked a field goal that the Kansas City offense did not capitalize on.
Linebacker Willie Gay was the only Chiefs injury that Reid noted after the game. He has a tailbone injury and the severity of it is unknown. Next up for the Chiefs is the Miami Dolphins (6-2) where they will take on Tyreek Hill for the first time since the 2022 trade. The matchup will take place in Frankfurt, Germany at 8:30 a.m. CDT.
