AFC Game Of The Week
Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
Chiefs: After three weeks, they are still the most electric offense in the NFL and Patrick Mahomes continues to have people talking for all the right reasons. He officially holds the record for the most touchdowns through the first three games with 13 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. This is like an offense you’d play with on Madden with how quick they are and how they move the football down the field. As good as they’ve been on that side of the ball, there’s one issue they have and that’s their inability to stop anyone on defense which is a shocker because they’ve had one of the better units in the league for the last few seasons. They give up a lot of big plays and they can never get off the field and I think they have the mindset that if they give up a touchdown, it’s no problem because the offense will get those points back, yeah that won’t work. They always seem to get off to such a hot start and then hit hard times and falter when it truly matters the most. A few weeks ago, I said moving forward that Kareem Hunt is going to be their most important player during the crucial months of the season, especially when the weather changes up and it gets cold so neglecting the running game would be the worst thing they can do. With a win on Monday night, they will be 4-0 for the second straight season.
Broncos: After a quick 2-0 start, they struggled in week three against the Ravens even when they got off to a hot start in the game where they jumped out to a 14-7 lead and struggled to do anything offensively after Baltimore scored the final 20 points of the game. At one time, the Denver Broncos had one of the best defenses in the league. Outside of Von Miller, they’re just average at best and they have a lot of trouble in their secondary. They traded away their best all-around corner, Aqib Talib to the Rams in the off-season and his absence is definitely being felt in the backend and I’ll give my reason to back that up. Opposing quarterbacks have completed 69.5 percent of their passes and have a 102.2 rating this season. Two years ago those numbers were 55.4 percent completion rate and a 69.7 rating so back then, they knew when to clamp down and prevent the big play down the field. After some below average quarterback play over the years from Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch and another Brock Osweiler appearance, they were hoping Case Keenum would elevate their offense after his breakout 2017 where he led the Vikings to the NFC title game and he’s been very uneven. He’s thrown three touchdown passes and five interceptions. They will look to bounce back after suffering their first loss of the season.
Chiefs Player To Watch: Chris Conley– With the weapons they have on the perimeter, it’s almost as if this guy is the forgotten piece. He’s 6’3 but plays as if he was smaller and he does his best work in the slot. I look for him to be used in a variety of ways in this game.
Broncos Group To Watch: The Running Game– Both rookie running backs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman have got off to quick starts and they will be needed to keep this high-powered offense on the sideline come Monday night.
Final Analysis: This has been such a legendary rivalry over the years and it resumes on Monday night. For the Broncos to have a shot, they need to build up the lead early and control the game with the running attack to keep that offense on the sideline. Also, I’m attacking the Chiefs linebackers in open space as they struggle to defend in coverage. For the Chiefs, their defense needs to get in Keenum’s face and pressure him. If they can limit Denver’s running game and force Keenum to beat them by throwing the ball, the Broncos offense will struggle. For their offense, I’d attack the Broncos fourth-string corner, Issac Yiadom. He’s the weakest corner in the Broncos secondary.
Prediction: Chiefs 40 Broncos 21
