Mile High Sports
The drubbing handed out by the Ravens last weekend was bad.
Ugly. Concerning. Downright unpleasant.
But Lamar Jackson is different (see Thursday Night Football); he presents a unique challenge for any team. And the Chiefs – while undefeated – have been teetering on the edge of beatable.
Why not the Broncos?
Can Bo Nix and Co. storm into Arrowhead and end the Cheifs win streak? Or, are the Broncos content with the rebuilding project at hand, win or lose? Here’s what our guys think:
Shawn Drotar
The Broncos got a close-up look at what a legitimate contender looks like in Baltimore last weekend, and the results weren’t pretty. While they didn’t play badly against perennial MVP candidate Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, Denver is still lacking in top-end, consistent playmakers across their roster, and as a result, their margin for error remains very narrow every week. It won’t get much easier at Arrowhead against the Chiefs. The two-time defending champions don’t look as invincible as they have in recent years, but despite their own challenges, their extraordinarily disciplined approach to situational football – their 54% third-down conversion rate is the best in the league over the last 14 NFL seasons – makes them incredibly dangerous in close games, even with all-galaxy quarterback Patrick Mahomes slightly hobbled by an ankle injury. Mahomes isn’t quite as explosively mobile as Jackson (nobody is), but he’s still opportunistic as a runner, and still possesses a mind-meld with tight end Travis Kelce, who has 24 catches (on 28 targets; an 86% catch rate that’s almost unbelievable given the team coverage that Kelce demands) for 190 yards and a touchdown over the last two games. Kelce’s next touchdown will pass Hall-of-Famer Tony Gonzalez for the most in Chiefs history, so expect Mahomes to look his way early and often. How the Broncos decide to match up with Kelce is critical, given that the addition of five-time Pro Bowl wideout DeAndre Hopkins has paid immediate dividends for Kansas City by diversifying their already hard-to-contain offense.
Nevertheless, the Broncos match up far better with the less-physical Chiefs than they do the Ravens, and if Bo Nix and the Broncos offense can somehow mimic what Baker Mayfield and a decimated Buccaneers squad did on “Monday Night Football,” they’ll have an outside chance to pull off the upset of the year. Even if they lose, however, it’s important for Broncos fans to observe how they lose. That’s more important to the bigger picture, which is the trajectory of the team’s rebuild. Because the Broncos played respectably against the much-better Ravens, there was little reason for long-term concern. While Denver can’t lose 41-10 to the Chiefs and feel good about it, losing a game to Kansas City by single digits – on the road – would be nothing to be ashamed of. Assuming anything but a disastrous loss on Sunday, the Broncos will be 5-5 at worst, and still soundly in the AFC’s playoff mix; the long-term arrow would still be...
