Broncos at Chiefs: The No Bull Review

Belated Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all of you in Broncos Country. If you are like me and tend to choose function over form, this win felt good. 

If you like style, I’m sure this game left a bad taste in your mouth. Our team looked rough around the edges in every facet of the game. But they finally put it together and locked down late in the game and came out with a victory.

Also, let me give a big, stinky pile of coal to Billy “I fix games to make money in Vegas” Vinovich. You and your crew are rotten, corrupt, and are an absolute embarrassment to the NFL, the game, and humanity. Let us count the ways you worked to keep the Denver Broncos’ score down:

• The false start call on Powers was completely bogus, as Powers didn’t move until the defender jumped across the neutral zone.  
• Your crew threw a bogus PI on Surtain – the ball was not catchable in any reality.
• The Evan Engram OPI was total bullshit. He did not extend his arm for a push off. 
• At the beginning of the 4th, there’s a clear pass interference on the Chiefs mugging Sutton to the outside that doesn’t get a flag.
• There were too many blatant holding penalties on the Chiefs’ offensive line to count. I leave this for last since it is the most significant compared to the others. Most crews let holding happen quite often after all.

I tire of calling out the refs much like many of you, but I’m not willing to brush it under the rug when it was as blatant and awful as this game was. As a fan trying to enjoy a game where we want our team to face another team to see who is better, I find it pathetic that our team has to play by a completely different ruleset that lets a scrub loser team like the Kansas City Chiefs get to hang around all game.

Offense

I honestly think everyone should take a moment to enjoy how consistently good the play calling has been as the season has progressed. Early in the year, there were far too many screens, short throws, and predictable plays with too much passing on early downs. But Sean Payton is really setting up his team well in almost every circumstance (maybe 5 – 10% of the calls in a game do I think, are pretty questionable, though that could be execution for all we know).

My favorite interesting play call in the game was on 3rd and 2 early in the game. The play design has both backs in the backfield with Nix in shotgun, and they motion Harvey out into a trips look, then hand off to McLaughlin for 15 yards as KC was reading pass.

Payton utilizes tendencies, both his and his opponents to set up easy wins. I encourage everyone to try and notice this, as we get a lot of really good plays that largely go unnoticed since humans notice negatives far more than positives.

Quarterbacks

Our game plan seemed to me to really be dialed into playing the game safe. The team set Nix up with short passes, easy open downfield reads, and a big focus on not beating ourselves. I really liked how Bo Nix went about this game. He was patient and willing to live to fight another quarter.

His interception was one of those flukey tipped passes that just bounced the wrong way. The only thing he could do better would be to put some more heat on the pass, which I’m not sure if he could have done in the position he was before he released the ball.

I will say I think Nix left a bunch of rushing yards on the field. I get that he’s trying to keep his eyes downfield, but the Chiefs were constantly dropping into deeper zones without a linebacker underneath assigned to Nix. When he finally ran the ball when the coverage fell off, he got an easy first down. I hate him holding the ball with one hand as he goes to the ground, though, regardless of how big his hands are. I’d love to see him start tucking it with 3 points of contact once he’s past the line of scrimmage to protect himself from a fumble.

Bo Nix flat-out stopped trusting his receivers in the end zone in the 3rd quarter and ran the ball in for a touchdown himself. I honestly respect it. They really needed to score 6 there, down 10 – 6. 

I also loved the communication between him and Harvey on his touchdown pass. Nix pointed out where he was going to throw the ball to Harvey since the defender’s back was turned to help his guy have an easy shot at making the catch. As they play longer together, this will become second nature, and he won’t have to take that ½ second before he lets it fly.

Line

Quinn Meinerz should get MVP for making the refs throw a flag on KC to get a 1st down on 4th and 2 late in the game. Chris Jones had time to get back if Meinerz doesn’t jump and force the issue. I’m not going to lie, though…I wondered if the ref would blame Meinerz instead of Jones, but since it was so late in the 4th quarter and the score was less than the Vegas odds, the Broncos were safe.

Also worth noting was the play of Alex Forsyth. With Luke Wattenburg out, I was a bit concerned about the continuity up front. Forsyth played an excellent game from start to finish, and I honestly forgot we were down a starter for most of the 3rd and 4th quarter (which is a compliment to his play).

Running Backs

RJ Harvey is really starting to understand the speed of the game and how to make guys miss. He picks up 13 on a pass that should have been stopped for 4 because he jukes his guy and powers through an ankle tackle. He honestly is a weapon all over the field with 14 rushes for 43 yards and 5 receptions for 33 yards and a touchdown. This young man has a very bright future in this offense.

Jaleel McLaughlin needs some serious love as well. He was very impactful in the run game, averaging 5.7 yards per carry on 7 runs. I honestly think the offense could give him more carries, given how well he’s running the rock. I’m honestly just relieved to see the run game over the back half of the season stay decently effective with JK Dobbins out and have some faith in both of these guys to keep the Broncos on track.

Receivers

We got bad Courtland Sutton this week as he seemed to have bricks for hands. He dropped an easy crosser, which almost got picked off.  On the next play, he dropped a sick pass in the end zone that cost the team 4 points. He caught only 4 out of 10 targets on the day. Honestly, I’d rather he have this game now than in the coming games, which will be much more important.

Adam Trautman is normally a very proficient blocking tight end. He had one of the weakest blocks on a toss to the outside that caused a 5-yard loss. I don’t know if he didn’t understand the assignment or what, but it was puzzling. I will say that both of his catches in the game were chain movers and made a real difference, keeping the team on the field for an eventual 10 points.

Defense

The defense handled their business well enough in this game, given the circumstances (bogus penalties and some short fields to defend). Sacks were hard to come by as Oladokun was only asked to pass 22 times and had a line that was allowed to hold in order to protect him.

I have some pretty serious concerns about this defense with Brandon Jones out, but we’ll see how that shakes out when we face a more competent NFL quarterback (no offense to Oladokun, of course).

Front 7

Jonah Elliss had a big day on defense. He made a big tackle for loss on 3rd and 19, had a half sack, and 2 quarterback hits on just 12 snaps. I’ve said it before, but this guy could start for a lot of teams in the NFL. We’re lucky to have him in our rotation, coming in fresh and having such a big impact.

Nik Bonitto made such an impressive play to get his only pass defense of the game. He kept his defender at arm’s length, then shed the defender to bat away a pass.

Secondary

P.J. Locke looks good when he’s playing downhill.  He did a good job attacking the pass behind the line of scrimmage early and stopped a 3rd down play at the end of the 3rd quarter. You can’t always dictate how a safety plays any given play, but it would be worth considering, given his weakness playing off coverage downfield.

Riley Moss’ poor tackling angles continue with another sideline pass that had him flopping with open arms as the receiver ran upfield for more yards. He also took a poor angle on the Chief’s only touchdown (though Singleton had the more egregious whiff on that play).

Special Teams

JL Skinner got a super dumb holding penalty on a punt we couldn’t even return.

Jeremy Crenshaw had his gorgeous punting numbers take a plummet when the special teams unit let the Chiefs get a 44-yard return on them. 

Final Thoughts

Mostly, I’m relieved that the Broncos got out of Kansas City with a win. The Broncos are still in control of their destiny and will likely need to go to Los Angeles in week 18 and beat the Chargers to get the #1 seed in the AFC and a week off. 

With the defense down, safety Brandon Jones, and the drop problem on offense not going away, my concern is growing for the Broncos. I heartily believe in Sean Payton, Vance Joseph, and Bo Nix. The big thing to watch is what happens in the middle of the field. Jones was able to really keep that weakness at ILB covered, where Locke does not. 

The thing we have going for us against the Chargers is that their offensive line is in shambles. Hopefully, the pass rush can make up the difference.