Arrowhead Pride
Which Kansas City players caught our attention during Sunday’s last-second victory over Denver?
According to the Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive tackle Mike Pennel, linebacker Leo Chenal knew exactly what was going to happen on the last play of Sunday afternoon’s 16-14 victory over the Denver Broncos. So we can add two more skills to Chenal’s resume: blocking last-second field goals and predicting the future.
The rest of us were shocked to see a walk-off field goal become a walk-off blocked kick.
Before that, the Chiefs had plenty of struggles — especially against the Broncos’ defense.
Here are a few players who stood out.
Tight end Travis Kelce: The man who now has more touchdown receptions than any other player in franchise history, Kelce was once again the safety valve Mahomes needed. Another seven catches for 58 yards — and his 76th career touchdown — were good enough to get the job done against a tough defense.
The entire Chiefs special teams unit: The primary reason this team is now 9-0 is that Dave Toub’s crew blew up the Bronco’s potential game-winning field goal. Pennel and Chenal — along with Jack Cochrane, Mike Danna and George Karlaftis — destroyed Denver’s blocking unit. It looks like Chenal will get credit for the block, but it could have been any of those guys. Was this a special play Toub called in the right moment, or it was a “Varsity Blues” moment when the big guy cleared the way for the athletic guy to make a play? We don’t know. But however it happened, it was a heart-stopping ending to a game Kansas City probably should have lost. It wasn’t just this play, either. At the end of the first half, Mecole Hardman nearly returned a missed field goal for a touchdown.
Running back Kareem Hunt: In this game, rushing yards were hard to come by. Hunt had one 10-yard run. His other 13 carries went for 25 yards total. But he did step up in the passing game, leading all Chiefs with 65 receiving yards on seven catches. He continues to be a valuable chain-mover for Kansas City — and showed a great deal of toughness on Sunday, fighting through pain to inflict even more.
Linebacker Nick Bolton: In one of the biggest moments from early in the game, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo called Bolton’s number — and the Missouri alumnus delivered. He exploded into the backfield, chasing quarterback Bo Nix straight back for a 16-yard loss to knock the Broncos out of field goal range. In a close game, that mattered a lot. Bolton and the rest of the linebackers were huge in Sunday’s win.
The whole offensive line. Backup left tackle Kingsley Suamataia had zero chance to slow down Nik Bonitto as he gave up a sack and three quarterback hits. He was the most obvious issue when Wayna Morris was out — but not the only one. Mahomes was sacked four times (and hit nine times)...
