Monday, October 26, 2020

Broncos Embarrass Themselves at Home in Loss to Chiefs

The Broncos hosted the Chiefs in snowy Denver on Sunday afternoon and their two-game winning streak came to a halt with a 43-16 loss to the defending Super Bowl champs. The Broncos fell to 2-4, and this game featured a lot of blunders and critical errors by the Broncos. They are still a long ways away from competing with the Chiefs in the AFC West. Here are my thoughts and observations on the game.....

-It was a rough day for Drew Lock. He has to play better. His pick six was a bad throw and it turned the momentum and gave the Chiefs a 17-6 lead in the 2nd quarter. He missed some easy throws and his accuracy has come into question. His second interception was a little behind KJ Hamler, and it tipped of Hamler's hands and right to Tyrann Mathieu. I'm not giving up on him yet, but he needs to start playing better, making better decisions, and somehow get more accurate.

-Melvin Gordon is killing us. He fumbled in the second quarter, and that was his second fumble this year, and then he completely botched a flea flicker throwback to Lock in the 3rd quarter that led to another turnover. That was one of the worst plays I have ever seen in my life. Philip Lindsay was having a big day until he got knocked out of the game with a concussion. Lindsay has to be the featured back. Gordon can't be the main guy. This offense needs to run through Lindsay.

-It was going to take a huge, flawless effort to knock off the Chiefs. You can't give the Chiefs an interception return for a TD, a kick return for a TD, and 3 turnovers overall. It's just embarrassing and the Broncos make too many mistakes to compete with KC.

-The Broncos defense actually did well against Pat Mahomes and the KC offense. After giving up a TD on the first drive, the Broncos defense settled in, and did a nice job. They actually held KC to 0-8 on 3rd down conversions and under 300 total yards. This game was not their fault at all. It wasn't a perfect game for them, but it was the kind of effort that can give them hope when the two teams meet again in December.

-The Broncos special teams have had a bad year and Sunday was no different. The Broncos cut the lead to 17-9 in the second quarter and it looked like they had a chance to keep this game close and then they gave up a kick return touchdown and air just came out of the balloon and they were down 24-9. 

-Denver is simply not ready to challenge KC. All the moves in the offseason to try and match the firepower of the Chiefs didn't materialize on Sunday. Jerry Jeudy only had 2 catches, Hamler didn't do much, and Melvin Gordon was a disaster. Drew Lock played his worst game of his Broncos career, and the team showed just how far they are from beating the Chiefs. 

-At 2-4, the Broncos need to start putting together a few more winning streaks to get back into this AFC Wild Card race. This week they host the Chargers and sensational rookie QB, Justin Herbert. Herbert has looked amazing since his first start in Week 2, and if he comes into Denver and plays great and knocks off the Broncos, then that will be a very tough pill to swallow for Broncos fans. The Broncos not only need to win this game, but Drew Lock needs to have a big time game.

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