Coming off the bye week, the Kansas City Chiefs are looking to add to their lead in the division by beating the Broncos on Sunday Night, but will the Chiefs offense stand up to the tough Broncos secondary?
The Denver Broncos defense is coming off an impressive performance against the Los Angeles Chargers, where Patrick Surtain had two interceptions and a huge pick-six to seal the game.
The Broncos are riding high off of this performance and a couple of really solid performances in the past two weeks, should the Chiefs be worried?
Kind of. The Chiefs are coming off of their bye week and have four straight wins going into Sunday Night in Arrowhead, they should be confident but they are not overlooking the upstart Denver defense. There are a lot of weaknesses in this defense which the Chiefs will look to exploit and I am here to tell you what the game plan will probably be.
1. Run the Ball
I feel like it goes without saying. The Chiefs’ offensive line can move people. They really thrive in run blocking on most plays. Trey Smith, Creed Humphrey, and Joe Thuney all really like to run the ball down the throat of every opponent and they are willing to destroy anybody in their wake. The Chiefs need to establish the run against the Broncos so they can get over the top of the defense for big plays.
The Chiefs have been able to run the ball pretty efficiently with Darrell Williams and Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the past couple of games and with CEH getting fully healthy after another week of rest he should be getting more touches. If the Chiefs can run the ball for consistent gains, it helps to get the secondary to bite on play-action passes which should make Mahomes’ life easier against a pretty solid secondary.
2. Let Kelce loose
Travis Kelce is still the best tight end in football and he just has been sort of banged up with some small nagging injuries, but he has been consistent over the past month. He is the best safety valve in the game and he has to be the first option the entire game because who’s going to guard him the entire game, no safety or linebacker has been able to control him and the Chiefs should utilize him the entire game.
There are rumors the Broncos are going to put Patrick Surtain II on Kelce the entire game which seems to be a huge mistake. Surtain is a very physical corner but he is no match for the physical prowess of Travis Kelce, Kelce has destroyed slot corners in the past and will beat Surtain all day.
Mahomes will look to get Kelce going for most of the game so the Broncos think of doubling Kelce so the other targets can get open. I think if Kelce has a big game the Chiefs offense has a big game as well.
3. Mahomes needs to be mistake-free
I know this seems like a no-duh type of situation but Mahomes has been a little turnover crazy this season, not totally his fault, but he knows that he needs to be better. The Broncos thrive off of getting turnovers, the offense usually can turn them into points. The turnovers for the Chiefs have been the bane of every Chiefs fan and player, it seems like there hasn’t been a game where there hasn’t been a careless turnover or a mistake where the ball ends up in the hands of the other team.
Mahomes is still having an incredible season, but he needs to get the ball out quickly with confidence because that is where he has been great all year. He even has been great under pressure this season like he always does, but it seems like he has been skittish or uncertain in some spots and he cannot be uncertain against the Broncos.
The good news is the Chiefs had a week off and Mahomes has had time to look over what his mistakes have been in the past and will look to have a turnover-free game against the Broncos on Sunday Night.
