Offense — B
The Broncos set out to run the football and did it well enough early in the game. Russell Wilson didn’t throw for a ton of yards and continued to hold onto the ball too long, but he made a few plays with his legs and threw first-half touchdowns to Javonte Williams and Jerry Jeudy. Then he made the biggest play of the day when he stepped up in the pocket and found Courtland Sutton in the back corner of the end zone for a 21-9 lead early in the fourth quarter. Denver finished with 153 rushing yards on 40 attempts and had the ball for nearly 34 minutes of game time. Not much of it was spectacular, but outside of one fumble the Broncos did exactly what they needed to do.
Defense — A+
You really can’t ask for any more out of Vance Joseph’s unit. They turned Kansas City over three times in the first half. They allowed just a pair of field goals on the Chiefs’ first three trips into the red zone. Go back to these teams’ first matchup Week 6, and Denver allowed one touchdown to the vaunted Chiefs offense and quarterback Patrick Mahomes. On this day? Just three field goals. Denver’s coverage group did a really good job down the field and the pass-rush group got just enough heat at times to make Mahomes move around and play off-script. When Justin Simmons intercepted Mahomes one last time late in the fourth quarter, it capped a dominating afternoon for a defense that started the season historically bad and has since rebounded in a major way.
Special teams — B
The Broncos capitalized on a boneheaded Kansas City mistake when Denver punted from the plus-36, but Mecole Hardman tried to field it and instead muffed the ball. Rookie linebacker Drew Sanders recovered it, and the Broncos punched in a touchdown. Wil Lutz had a field goal blocked off the edge midway through the third quarter. Tough to fully blame the protection, as it appeared Justin Reid came across early, but it was still a big play and Lutz’s first miss since the season opener. Rookie Marvin Mims Jr. generated a 31-yard punt return on his first try of the day and also had a 28-yard kick return.
Coaching — B
For the second time in as many outings against Kansas City this year, the Broncos botched the end of the first half. This time, they turned possession of the ball, first-and-10 with 48 seconds left into a Chiefs field goal at the buzzer. Almost identical to Week 6. Denver burned two timeouts late in the play clock on offense and got called for illegal formation twice. And yet the Broncos took what they learned in a short-week loss and turned it into a convincing win at home to snap a 16-game losing streak to Kansas City. Denver’s won two straight going into the bye week. The defense is playing well. The team seems to believe it can make a run. So for all the nit-picking and self-scouting to be done over the next week-plus, this was a hell of a job.
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.
