Broncos at Chiefs - Week 13 - Record: 8-4

I thought we were about to be the first team ever to lose a game by a nanometer, a phantom one at that, just the thing that would happen to the Chiefs. Denver was driving, near midfield, with a couple minutes left in the game, and we were up 31-27. Their running back, Mike Anderson, gets the ball on a fourth-and-one and it was obvious that we stopped him just short. There was no way in the world he got that first down.

But then one of the side judges comes running down from the top of the screen signaling that the ball was past that yellow line the television puts there to indicate where the first down marker is. I was stunned. Did I miss it? Did he just barely get across it?

They measure. In come the chains. The post just barely touches the football. I mean it's a nanometer of that post.

First down.

Aagh. I couldn't believe. And I don't know what the instant replay rules are, so I'm thinking it is unchallengable.

But Dick Vermeil can challenge the call. He does, and what a call. They look at the replay, and they show it again for us all to see, and it is clear that there is no way they got that spot right.

They reverse it, as they should. KC ball, 1st and 10.

We run the ball a number of times-- Larry Johnson of course-- getting a first down along the way, except that we end up with a 4th down at about Denver's 30 yard-line with 8 seconds left. What do you do? I tell you what you do, and it's not what Vermeil did: have Trent Green take the snap and shuffle around until you get tackled promptly giving Denver one last possession. What you do do is give the ball to Dante Hall and have him run backwards fast and then all around for 8 seconds and then kneel. He doesn't have to go so far that if he trips or something Denver can flick a short pass for a TD. I can't figure out why coaches don't do this.

Fortunately, the last Denver hail mary pass play was broken up way short of the goal line anyway, so we came away with a clutch win we needed big-time.

Oh, and did anyone catch TV commentator Phil Simms ask if it can possibly be that we rely so much on offensive tackle Willie Roaf? Yes, it's true! Trent Green was back to his normal slinging self today with that extra cushy protection on that left side.

Three weeks after the Buffalo debacle, we may actually now have a contending team.