Broncos Dominate Chiefs End Up as #1 Seed in AFC

The road to the Super Bowl in the AFC runs through Mile High. It definitely has a good sound to it, and Broncos earned the #1 seed in the AFC and homefield advantage after they dismantled the Kansas City Chiefs 38-3 on Sunday. The Texans lost early to the Colts, and the Broncos were able to clinch the #1 seed with their victory over the Chiefs. This game was completely dominated by Denver from start to finish. The only reason that this game was competitive in the first half was because Ronnie Hillman fumbled deep in Chiefs territory, and Brandon Flowers returned the fumble all the way to the Denver 12 yard line. The Broncos defense stepped up and held the Chiefs to a field goal and a 7-3 lead, and they took care of business the rest of the way. Peyton Manning hit Eric Decker with an 11 yard touchdown pass to make it 14-3 in the second quarter. Decker followed that play with a gorgeous one-handed diving catch from Manning to make it 21-3 right before the half. In the third quarter, Demaryius Thomas got into the act of one-handed catches when he made a ridiculous one-handed grab in the back of the endzone to make it 28-3. A Lance Ball 1 yard run late in the third quarter made it 35-3. A final 42 yard field goal by Matt Prater closed out the scoring for the Broncos. The game could have been even worse than the margin of victory, but Denver pulled most of their key players in the fourth quarter. The Broncos defense got beat on a couple of runs early in the game, but they completely manhandled the Chiefs the rest of the way. They limited Brady Quinn to only 7 completions the entire game. The victory gives the Broncos a 13-3 record, 11 straight wins to end the season, and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. It was a perfect beatdown to end the season, and I will do a final year end review of the Broncos magical season towards the end of the week. Before we get to that, here are my quick thoughts and observations on the game.........

1) Manning completely carved up the Chiefs defense. He finished 23-29 for 304 yards and three touchdowns. He set the tone early when he hit Brandon Stokley on a bullet down the middle for a first down. He was sensational all day. The thing I liked the most was that he is really gaining a chemistry with Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. Even when Thomas is covered, Manning puts the ball in the perfect spot and it is only where Thomas can get it. Manning is my choice for MVP, and continued his stellar play on Sunday.

2) Decker and Thomas both had big games. Decker finished with seven catches for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas had seven receptions for 122 yards and one touchdown. They even added two spectacular one-handed catches. Their offense runs through them, and they completely dominated the Chiefs secondary.

3) The Broncos offense was superb all game long. They finished 7-12 on third down, compiled 488 yards of total offense and put up 38 points. They came out and scored on their first drive to make it 7-0.

3) The Broncos defense teed off on Brady Quinn and the Chiefs offense. I loved how the Broncos forced an early three-and-out to setup the Broncos first scoring drive. They did get beat on some big runs early on, but once again they stiffened up in their own end to force field goals. They were even better in the second half, and they added four sacks on the day-one by Von Miller. Quinn only completed seven passes the entire game. They limited the Chiefs to a 3rd down rate of 4-14 and only 119 yards of total offense.

4) The signature play on the defensive side of the ball during the game was when Kansas City was deep in Denver territory after the Hillman fumble. On 2nd down, Charles went up the middle and got completely stuffed by Kevin Vickerson. It basically stated that the Broncos were done given up yards on the ground, and the Chiefs were not going to score a touchdown.

5) It was pretty cool how Sunday played out. I thought the Colts would keep it close, but I figured the Texans would pull it out late. The Colts battled back and forth with the Texans, but finally put the game away late to win it 28-16, and all of sudden the Broncos had the #1 seed in their grasp by the time their game kicked off late. You could feel the excitement in the stadium knowing that the Broncos were one win away from grabbing homefield advantage. It made the game much more exciting than originally anticipated.

6) The Broncos get the first round bye, and they open up the playoffs on Saturday January 12th at 4:30pm EST against either the Bengals, Ravens, or Colts. It will be fun to watch all the playoff games next weekend knowing that the Broncos are waiting in the wings for their opponent in the Divisional round.

7) I'll address all of the aspects of this Broncos season later in the week, but this Broncos season definitely ranks up there as one of the best ever for me as a Broncos fan. This team reminds me of the 1997 Broncos who won Super Bowl XXXII. This team is not as good as the '98 Broncos, but they are definitely better than the 2005 Broncos. This team is very similar to the 1996-1997 Bronco teams.