Kansas City Chiefs 6 Denver Broncos 9 (September 17, 2006)
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0 commentsby Estebistec
The Broncos received the opening kick-off and their offense started where they left off the previous week against the Rams, punting away their first possession. The Chiefs, on the other hand, had experienced serious protection problems the previous week against the Bengals and so on their first possession they showed a lot of two and even three-tight-end sets. It worked, at first, as they took their opening possession 60 yards and eating 7:15 on the clock. On 3rd-and-5 on the Denver 6, Larry Johnson is running off right-tackle when Al Wilson puts his helmet hard on the ball and forces Johnson to fumble. John Lynch recovers and as he starts down the field the ball squirts from his hands, but he gets on top of it before Brian Waters or Kevin Sampson, who are both nearby, can get at it.
Offense continued to be limited for the Broncos and now the Chiefs too as a three-and-out drive for each team nearly uses up the rest of the first quarter. The Broncos punted away their first possession in the second quarter, but on their next they would start to see some movement down the field. On first down Jake Plummer drops back into his own end-zone to pass, and feeling pressure, makes a risky throw just out of the reach of Derrick Johnson to fullback Kyle Johnson. Because Johnson had gambled for the interception, the Broncos’ fullback makes it 20 yards up field before being tackled by Jarrad Page. The coverage by the Chiefs’ secondary is generally very good on this drive, but two key completions, very tightly thrown to Javon Walker for 20 yards and Rod Smith for 15 yards, bring the Broncos down to the Kansas City 22. Over the next three plays the Broncos see a lost of 4 yards and Jason Elam misses the first field-goal attempt.
The Chiefs begin the next drive on their own 34, and with continuous use of the extra blockers Huard completes five-of-six passes moving down to the Denver 11 with 9 seconds remaining in the half. His only incomplete of the drive, and his first of the game, was a throw to Tony Gonzalez that is dropped. Herman Edwards elects to try the field goal, and Lawrence Tynes makes the 29-yarder for the first score of the game. The Broncos get the ball back with one second remaining and kneel to end the half.
The Chiefs begin the second half with three-and-out and a Colquitt punt that rolls out of bounds at the Denver 2. Starting deep Plummer completes one pass for 7 yards on 2nd down. On 3rd he throws intermediate to the sideline for Rod Smith and Greg Wesley, drifting from the middle of the field to make a play, intercepts the ball. After the recovery the Chiefs fail to make it into the end-zone so they settle for another Tynes field goal, this time from 45 yards, and the Chiefs are up in this defensive struggle 6-0. It would be their last points of the game.
The Broncos punt away on their next drive. Huard’s first throw after the Chiefs get the ball back completes to Eddie Kennison for 37 yards and into Denver territory. On the second Huard’s pass is deflected up into the air, which he himself catches but then fumbles. The Broncos recover to get the ball at their own 37. Jake Plummer completes 2 of 3 while they call mostly runs to reach the KC 5. As the Chiefs defense continues to remain somewhat stiff in the red-zone they send in Elam who puts up a 23 yard field goal, the Broncos’ first points.
The Chiefs next drive takes the game into the fourth quarter but doesn’t last long as they punt away. For the Broncos, Plummer starts to get sharp as he takes 12-, 13-, and 15-yard chunks away from the Chiefs’ defense. Mixed with effective Mike Bell running they again reach the red-zone to come away with their second field goal, evening the score at 6-6. The Chiefs and Broncos each then go three-and-out failing to claim the lead and the Chiefs get the ball on their own 31 with 3:07 remaining in regulation. They only make it to midfield before they have to punt, leaving only 13 seconds on the clock. Plummer kneels and overtime begins.
The Broncos win the coin toss and elect to receive. Cedric Cobbs muffs the kickoff, barely recovering at the Denver 16 and eliminating any chance of a return. Plummer and Tatum Bell pick away until they get close enough, and a Chiefs third-down stop is to-little, to-late to stop the game-winning field-goal. Jason Elam scores from 39 yards to win the game.
Player Performances: Kansas City Chiefs
Dustin Colquitt contributed big to field position, including a punt to the Denver 1 and another to the 2 yard line.
Damon Huard was sharp passing, particularly early in the game. Just as with the previous week, he managed the offense and avoided costly mistakes and turnovers through the air. He was aided greatly by Larry Johnson for some check-downs that were broken for bigger gains. Johnson was the meat of the offense in this game, getting back on track with a hundred-yard rushing performance after his streak was snapped. He was also the leading receiver with 5 catches for 41 yards.
The Kansas City receivers continue to lack in performance. Even with extra blockers held back and fewer receivers running routes, more was expected of veteran Eddie Kennison and Samie Parker, who is supposed to break out at any time.
The Chiefs' defense continues to grow, with coordinator Gunther Cunningham timing blitzes seemingly better than last year, and only one noticeable over-pursuit in this game.
Player Performances: Denver Broncos
Jake Plummer has been rough in the previous game and in this one, and of course some of the fans are calling for Jay Cutler. There are rumors bubbling about that he may have an injured finger on his throwing hand, which would explain a lot of his inaccuracy of late.
The "Bells", RBs Mike Bell and Tatum Bell barely cleared 100 yards rushing combined. The Broncos' receivers came up big at key points, fighting for the ball in tight coverage for drive-sustaining plays. Javon Walker caught 5 balls for 79 yards. After that the ball was spread around between Rod Smith, FB Kyle Johnson, David Kircus, and the running backs (to very little effect).
The Denver defense had no problem bottling up the Chiefs receivers, including TE Tony Gonzalez, whose performance was all but muted. The pressure up front was not consistently getting into the backfield, but the Chiefs were basically using extra blockers all day, and they did force the key fumble on Huard after the deflected pass.
Conclusions
Both defenses played very well on the whole, but the game came down to the Broncos' defense doing a better job of getting the Chiefs offense off the field, than the Chiefs' defense did of getting Plummer and Co. to the sidelines. This was especially true late in the game, and when the Chiefs were losing the time-of-possession battle, it showed. The Chiefs secondary started to lose steps on Denver receivers and Jake Plummer got into something of a rhythm near the end of the game as he started to find them open. For Denver, it was a close call, as fans are used to more offense from the Gary Kubiak era. For the Chiefs, there was a moral victory for the defense, although hard to appreciate, and with the offense ailing as it is they did a good job of keeping it close by not letting the Denver offense break any plays to the end-zone.
Will Herman Edwards be judged for calling the field-goal on 2nd down with 9 seconds left in the first half? Would he have had time for one more shot into the end-zone? Will Mike Shanahan be judged for the offensive performance since the departure of Gary Kubiak? It seems that both of these teams are going to be big on defense in 2006.
Date
September 17, 2006
