Kansas City Beat The Broncos On A Doink Off The Upright

The Dolphins (7-4) are now the AFC’s sixth seed.

With the loss, the Broncos dropped to being the seventh seed in the AFC playoffs.

SLOW STARTER: The game turned into the white knuckler the National Football League expected when it flexed the AFC West showdown to Sunday night rather than having the Patriots-Jets game in prime time as originally scheduled.

Denver is 7-3 SU and 7-3 ATS. Whether he can lead this team to back-to-back titles is another matter altogether. They come into tonight’s matchup after defeating the New Orleans Saints 25-23 on the road last weekend. The Broncos’ vaunted defense ran out of gas.

The victor can continue to pursue the AFC West crown, while the loser will likely have to scramble for the wild card.

Considering the Broncos were unlikely to get the ball back and McManus connected regularly from beyond 60 yards in practice, Broncos coach Gary Kubiak made a decision to go for the lengthy field goal. The Chiefs do it by not turning the football over (just three in the last six games overall) and playing strong defense. “I made that decision, and it just didn’t work out”. Neither has been bad overall this season but neither is exactly the type of signal-caller to game plan around.

The Negatives: Simply put, the Chiefs offense struggles to score points. Wish he could get out of here with the win, but that’s part of being a pro, he has to battle through it.

The Chiefs’ signal caller Alex Smith has always been a bastion of competence but has regressed a little this year, due in part to his recent inability to run the ball.

While Denver is 2-5 against the spread in their last seven games as a favorite of 3.5 or fewer points, according to the OddsShark NFL Database, a more pertinent metric might be that the Broncos are 8-2 both straight-up and ATS in games after the bye week since 2006. Houston racked up three sacks in the first half, with the final one resulting in a safety that gave the Chiefs a 2-0 lead with 6:16 left in the second quarter. Two years ago, Andy Reid’s squad forced a disappointing 14 turnovers. If they can force the Broncos offense into multiple three and outs and control time of possession, they could sneak out of Denver with a win.

“Sometimes you have to go stretch the field and let your guys make plays”. While the IR list for the Chiefs has had some big names on it, they’ve overcome a lot of injuries to remain competitive and are a hard out each game with the style they play.

As the lights went down in Mile High Stadium following the most hard loss in recent Broncos memory, one beacon shined bright.