Samantha Axon, Sports Editor
@SAxonCourant
For the second time this season, the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs will face off. This time the meeting will be held at Arrowhead Stadium, instead of Metlife. The Broncos are looking for redemption this time around, while the Chiefs are looking to take back the AFC West in order to gain home field advantage and a first round bye in the playoffs. The Broncos are also playing for a Wild Card slot in the playoffs, as they are currently just out of wild card range, and have a 33% chance of being in the playoffs.
The last time that these two teams met, the Chiefs were able to pull off the win with 5 seconds left in overtime. Denver attempted a 62 yard field goal kick, but kicker Brandon McManus’ attempt was too far to the right, giving the Chiefs a starting position on Denver’s 38 yard line. The Chiefs were able to make their way to the Denver 24 yard line. Kicker Cairo Santos attempted a 34 yard kick, and the football bounced off of the goal post, and diagonally through the uprights, barely giving the Chiefs a 30-27 win.
Chiefs’ strengths
The Chiefs’ strongest aspect is their special teams, and have worked solely on improving them since the beginning of the franchise. Over the course of the season, the team has scored multiple touchdowns off of special teams, with key players such as Tyreek Hill and Jeremy Maclin. The Chiefs have been able to capitalize on punt returns, and without the special teams being this strong, the team may be looking at a very different season.
While the special teams are a very strong aspect of the team, the defense is really what brings the wins to this team. The Chiefs’ defense has the second highest turnover ratio in the NFL, +13. The team has
benefitted greatly from interceptions: in a game against the Atlanta Falcons, safety Eric Berry scored 8 points off of turnovers, a pick six and a pick two. The defense is vital to the team, and often makes up for their lack of strength offensively. In some games, the defense has even scored more than the offense.
Chiefs’ weaknesses
While the Chiefs have been a very strong team, they struggle the most offensively. While the team has some of the best offensive players, such as tight end Travis Kelce and running back Tyreek Hill, quarterback Alex Smith shies away from making passes over 10 yards. While this has decreased the number of interceptions, it also has not allowed the team to make long plays, which has hurt players such as Kelce that specialize in deep plays. Even though Smith has been improving and taking more risks with the ball, it still is not enough when playing against the top third of NFL teams, which the defense is forced to make up for. In 13 starts, Smith has only thrown for 12 touchdowns.
In addition, the Chiefs have also been battling constant injuries. Key players such as Tamba Hali and Justin Houston have only recently become healthy, but the team is still missing players such as Derrick Johnson. In a game 2 weeks ago against the Oakland Raiders, Johnson ruptured his left achilles, and has been placed on injury reserve. Not only was Johnson a key player on the field, but he has also been responsible for uniting the Chiefs team since his rookie year. The Chiefs defense has lost their momentum due to it, and that was evident in last week’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.
What the Chiefs will have to do to be able to win
In order for the Chiefs to win, Alex Smith must step up and start taking more risks. While he does not want interceptions hurting the team, he is also hurting the team by not switching up plays. Opponents can easily guess what plays he will call, which is an increasing disadvantage to the offense. His strategy of playing conservatively can only work for so long, and he cannot rely on the defense to score this game when a spot in the playoffs is on the line.
Broncos strengths
Similarly to the Chiefs, the Broncos are the strongest on defense, which makes up for their offense. Von Miller has been vital to the defense with 13.5 sacks, 3 of which occurred in the last game against the Chiefs, and 2 fumble recoveries for the season. Another key player has been T.J. Ward, who has 3 fumble recoveries on the year out of the team’s 11. The Broncos’ defense is 4th in the league, and has been largely responsible for helping the team gain wins.
Broncos weaknesses
The Broncos’ biggest weakness is their offense, specifically Trevor Siemian. Siemian replaced Peyton Manning after his retirement, and he had never even thrown a football in a professional game before this season. While he played much better than expected, he still slows down the team. He has a high interception rate, and still goes through the struggle that any quarterback entering the league would go through, but none of them are replacing Peyton Manning. While Siemian proved to be what the Broncos needed, a decent quarterback to replace Manning, he is very inconsistent. He has the ability to be a great quarterback, but he is still young and learning, which is not desirable when guiding a very experienced offense.
The Broncos also struggle in keeping their defense’s energy up throughout the entire game. While their defense is one of the strongest in the league, they often slack off when they believe that they have the win. In the last game against the Chiefs, the Broncos scored a touchdown to put them up by 8 with less than 2 minutes left in the 4th. The Chiefs got the ball back, but the defense was not on top of their game since the Chiefs had been struggling offensively and there was not much time left in the quarter. But the Chiefs were able to make it into their endzone with literally one second left in regulation, and then completed the 2 point conversion, pushing the game into overtime, which the Chiefs won in the end. If the defense had been more aggressive, even within the minutes winding down, the Broncos would have most likely walked away with the win.
What the Broncos will have to do to win
In order for the Broncos to win the game, they actually have to do the opposite as Kansas City and play conservatively on offense. Siemian has been throwing a very high number of interceptions in recent games, and has been becoming sloppy. If the Broncos do not make mistakes offensively, and their defense can stop Alex Smith (which should not be difficult to do), the Broncos will walk away with the win. They also have to keep in mind how important this game is to them, not only are they playing against their division rival, but they are playing for a spot in the playoffs. The team is used to securing the division by this time in the season, yet they are fighting for a wild card. The Broncos have much more at stake than the Chiefs, and can use that energy to propel themselves into a wild card slot.
Prediction
Both teams have the same strengths and weaknesses, and are relatively evenly matched coming into the game. But there are other factors that impact the result of the game. Between the playing at Arrowhead and trying to regain home field advantage from the Oakland Raiders, the Chiefs will ultimately come out with the win. Playing at home is a huge advantage for the team since Arrowhead is the loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL. Plus the Chiefs have been able to gain back key defensive players such as Justin Houston and Tamba Hali that have been injured recently. Also their special teams players such as Tyreek Hill and Marcus Peters are healthy and have been performing the best they have all season. It comes down to which defense is stronger, and despite the Broncos’ defense being ranked higher, any team with Justin Houston will always come out on top. Regardless of the outcome, keep an eye out for the recap of the Christmas day NFL games.
