Right now it is half-time, and we're up 10-3. We should be up 17-3, at least. We started out great, just slicing through the Denver defense like a hot knife through soft butter (sorry for the overused cliche but I'm tired).
Meanwhile the Broncos had two straight 3-&-outs, and we went to work again, flying down the field with the aid of that awesome screen pass and run by CEH we've been eagerly anticipating forever.
Then...
Yes, it is my fault, I'm sorry. Please, I am so sorry. I actually remarked, "This is not going to be close. We are smearing these guys. I feel sorry for the Broncos." Yes, yes, I did it, I'm sorry.
Because right at that point, it was different.
First of all we started dropping passes. Byron Pringle alone had two key drops, right away. We had to settle on a field goal.
The Broncos came back to move the ball and they ended up with a field goal. Willie Gay played terrifically, but here he even dropped an interception.
Our offense then looked pathetic. Mahomes ditching balls, others committing dumb penalties, including one that had Travis Kelce get called for pass interference on a play when he accidentally slammed into a Denver D-back running in coverage.
After a fine Tommy Townsend punt Denver got the ball at their own 3, then started heading downfield. We simply could not stop their big slippery rookie back Javonte Williams. Denver was employing one of the smartest things you could do to stop a Patrick Mahomes. Just have the ball forever on offense. Get our defense tired. Keep the ball out of Mahomes hands.
We could have stopped them in their 20-play clock chewing effort if, yes, Charvarius Ward had intercepted a ball right in his hands. Nope, another drop. Thing is, our D-backs were actually covering pretty well. The Broncos got deep into the red zone, yet tried for it on 4th-&-2 and were stopped.
Well, here we go -- we get the kick-off to start the second half.
Right outta the gate Tyreek Hill has two drops, the second getting picked. Errrrrgh. The second really wasn't as much his fault, as Mahomes let his throw sail on him. So after Hill's miss it made for the easy interception. The television broadcast is now just flashing Mahomes' QB rating for tonight so far: 49.7. Are you even kidding me. The announcers then mentioned something very profound.
Why isn't Mahomes throwing the ball down the field?
In fact the other day my brother-in-law mentioned something that was pretty insightful. Why don't quarterbacks throw the ball down the field deeper much more often? You'll either get a completion (yay!), an incompletion, or even if it is intercepted it is no different than a punt later. Thing is you may even get a PI call in your favor.
The announcer then said something else just as observant. That Mahomes is doing that side-slinging thing far too often. He just missed a receiver who was wide open and he could have just thrown the ball regular and got it to him just fine.
Shout-out though to Darrel Williams, who has already had two terrific catch and runs. We definitely have to keep getting this guy involved.
As it is, Butker gets the field goal to make it 13-3.
Annnnd... after a nice Thornhill pick, more penalties kill us. After the punt the Broncos guy pulls our guy into the returner who fumbles -- KC ball! But still, our offense can't do anything. Mahomes had another side-slinger throw that got tipped and almost picked. Grrghrgh.
Denver gets the ball back and sure enough their nice new back is pounding out yardage. It got to 4th-&-2 and how-about-that, Dan Sorensen pick-sixes a tipped ball, tipped by Ben Neimann no less. A big-time play from two Chiefs D players who've been a bit deep in the doghouse of late.
Buttt... Butttker misses the PAT. Not nice. Still 22-3 us.
They score a touchdown yet don't get the two-point conversion attempt, so with about 4:00 left we're up 22-9.
Annnd we close it out.
So we extend our regular season winning streak over the Broncos to 12 games. There will be a time, sometime, when the Broncos will win one against us. Really, today they had a good chance to do so. After that first drive of the game our offense was very flabby and the team got some nice breaks that devastated the Broncos chances. I'm sure everyone in the Broncos kingdom as it is is just sick having to endure all of that yet again. I feel them. Some of those games were heartbreakers. Cairo Santos overtime field goal comes to mind. Mahomes' astounding first start ever won on a late KC FG.
We'll be playing again in Denver on the last day of this regular season.
When playing this team I do, however, still think of all those games we played against the Peyton Manning-led Broncos and how spanked we'd get over and over and over again. Just got to enjoy the moment for now.
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The image is by Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.
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