3 Ways Broncos' Defense got Lucky vs. Chiefs
The Denver Broncos defense did a terrific job against the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs offense in their prime-time matchup on Sunday night. Holding the explosive Chiefs to just 267 total yards and 13 (offensive) points while getting an interception in a crucial area of the field can be considered a successful outing.
Had the Broncos' offense held up its end of the bargain, the team may have stolen a much-needed victory on the road. It's a tough task to find a lasting insight from what Denver's defense did on Sunday night, but adding a little rain on the parade is warranted.
When the Chiefs come up again on the schedule in the season finale, there are three areas of concern that the Broncos can't rely on. Remove these from the equation on Sunday Night Football and the score looks much different as does the total yards for the Chiefs.
Unforced Errors
Some gifts came the Broncos way at Arrowhead that this team can't count on being duplicated. The Chiefs’ wide receivers dropped several passes that were likely first downs or more.
These were plays where the receiver was open and they just dropped the ball. Tyreek Hill was the main culprit as he dropped passes when no defender was near him.
In addition, there were a couple of Patrick Mahomes throws that were altered slightly by the Broncos' defense, but the quarterback still threw catchable balls in those instances and these should be considered drops as well. Had the majority of those been caught, the final score looks much more lopsided.
In addition, the lone interception by the Broncos' defense came off a dropped pass that was tipped up in the air. Credit Patrick Surtain II for being in the right position to haul in the deflection as many interceptions occur that way, but that pass should have been caught.
The Chiefs were in scoring range when that turnover occurred. The Broncos' defense cannot count on the same number of dropped passes in the next meeting.
Chiefs Didn't Exploit Broncos' LBs in Coverage
The addition of Baron Browning and Kenny Young to the Broncos' defense has helped the team significantly, but the linebackers struggled in pass coverage vs. the Chiefs. Denver's defense was weak in the short middle of the field because of the linebackers' coverage woes. The floundering wasn’t against the elite tight end in Travis Kelce either as the Chiefs' running backs did much of the damage.
Darrell Williams had a huge catch and run of 38 yards over the middle that saw Browning get burned. Young didn’t fare much better, even though there has been a lot of gum flapping in regard to his prowess in coverage. Fortunately for the defense, the Chiefs didn’t exploit this matchup often even though it was effective when they did.
Chiefs Failed to Exploit Denver's Biggest Weakness
Vic Fangio made the curious decision to sit one of the Broncos' best defensive linemen. A healthy Mike Purcell was inactive for the game in favor of other players perceived as better pass rushers. The Broncos' run-stuffing nose tackle was in street clothes watching the Chiefs' effective run game from the sideline.
On Kansas City's first play from scrimmage, Broncos' defensive lineman DeShawn Williams was pushed backward for 12 yards as Clyde Edwards-Helaire gained 10 yards and a first down. Prior to the fourth quarter when the game was mostly decided, only five of the Chiefs' 16 rushes by running backs went for less than three yards and none lost yardage.
The Chiefs just couldn’t find it in their nature to stick to the run as they only rushed 20 times, if you remove the four scrambles by Mahomes. Kansas City's passing game wasn’t in synch and if it had leaned on the running game, the offense would have churned out much better production.
What it Means
Again, the Broncos' defense deserves credit for how well it played overall. Often, the game of football has a little luck involved and the Broncos received their fair share on Sunday.
However, teams can't count on being lucky on a week in and week out basis. In the season finale, the Broncos need to clean up some mistakes that occurred in this game to keep the Chiefs' offense in check.
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