Teicher: Chiefs beat Broncos but fail to make statement

[Tribal Warfare]

Chiefs beat Broncos but fail to make statement
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

The biggest game in years looms for the Chiefs, and they wanted to head into it with plenty of momentum.

They’ll have to settle for something less next Sunday when they meet the Chargers in San Diego. They managed to hold off the hapless Broncos 10-6 on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium but otherwise failed to make the statement that would resound around the AFC West.

“It wasn’t the way we planned it,” Chiefs guard Brian Waters said.

Of more immediate importance to the Chiefs is that at 8-4, they lead the division by two games over the Raiders and Chargers. They can basically eliminate the Chargers by winning in San Diego.

The Chiefs would feel better about their chances if they had more securely handled the 3-9 Broncos, losers of three straight games and seven of their last eight. But the Chiefs needed to go to the game’s final play to finish off Denver, and might have lost for next week’s game starting cornerback Brandon Flowers, who was carried to the locker room but said he had nothing more than severe cramps.

The Chiefs had their lowest scoring game of the season. They failed to get the ball to Dwayne Bowe and had one regrettable sequence when they could have put the game away with a touchdown early in the third period.

Instead, despite four snaps inside the Denver 10, they came away with nothing by committing two penalties and taking a sack on fourth down.

“That’s not the type of football team we want to be,” Waters said. “That’s not the type of football team we need to be in order to go farther, if we truly think of ourselves as a playoff football team. Those are the types of things that will keep us from having success.”

The Chiefs weren’t dreadful offensively, rushing for 185 yards. Quarterback Matt Cassel, despite not completing any of his three passes to Bowe, still found a way to throw for 196 yards and a 2-yard touchdown pass to Leonard Pope.

Cassel dismissed it as merely one bad day.

“Sometimes, offensively, you don’t have the greatest day at the office,” he said.

But maybe the Broncos found the recipe for shutting down the Chiefs, who entered the game as the league’s fourth-highest scoring team. Denver put its shutdown cornerback, Champ Bailey, on Bowe and allowed him nothing except for an 8-yard pass that upon video review was overturned as being out of bounds and a 22-yard gain that was called back by a pass interference penalty on Bowe.

Will the Chiefs struggle to score if they can’t get the ball to Bowe, who before Sunday was one of the league’s hottest receivers.

“I don’t think that was the case,” Cassel said. “I think we had some penalties in the red zone and we struggled to get into a rhythm because of that.

“Champ is one of the premier corners in the league. I’m sure they targeted him and said, “We’re not going to let Dwayne Bowe beat us.’ ”

The Chiefs were beaten badly by the Broncos three weeks ago in Denver, losing 49-29. But at least they were able to damage the Broncos with the passing game. Cassel threw for a career-high 469 yards, and Bowe caught 13 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

Not every Chiefs opponent will have a cornerback the caliber of Bailey. But the Broncos entered the game with the NFL’s worst scoring defense, one reason the Chiefs were troubled by their inability to score more than 10 points.

“Champ, he’s the best defender I ever went against,” Bowe said. “He told me I’m one of the greatest he ever went against and we battled it out. I’ve got his vote and he’s got my vote. He said our game plan was to not let you get nothing and they pulled it off.

“They had a nice little game plan. But they couldn’t stop the run the majority of the game and that’s what we went to to win it.

“It’s disappointing, but at the end of the day, we won.”

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

Denver is not as bad as their record. This is one of the better teams we've beaten.

It isn't.

Did you see them play the Raiders in Denver?

They are what their record says they are. They just get up for KC.

[the Talking Can]

our defense gave up 49 pts last time

6 this time


yeah I guess we could discuss how terrible the D was yesterday....

and Berry lead the team in tackles.....again, and was flawless in coverage

hilarious to me how much love Lewis, Arenas, and McCluster get while Berry is having the best rookie season out of our class by a mile...he's locked down his position and is making big plays on a weekly basis in the pass and run...


And Albert had a great game yesterday....so **** Okung...

[Earthling]

Traditionally AFC matchups are very close. Blowouts like the Donks laid on us last meeting are not the norm. Good win for the Chiefs and glad the decision not to take the easy fieldgoal didn't bite us in the ass.

[Demonpenz]

I would shudder if our recievers were Brandon Loyd and Gaffney. I know Loyd has put up some numbers, but I am not a huge fan of him being your #1.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by Saccopoo

Didn't you have me on ignore? It was so nice not having to respond to your inanity.

And to address idiocy, you don't let anyone beat you. If Neckbeard could have managed to throw a pass that didn't bump on the turf like a kid throwing a flat rock across a calm lake we would have been ****ed. Our defensive line was getting manhandled all day. Dorsey looked like a ****ing ragdoll the way Beadles was throwing him around.

I mean, seriously. You are a former All-American, top five NFL draft pick in his third season in the NFL and you let a rookie own you for the second time?

Don't be too surprised if the Chiefs spend yet another high draft pick on a defensive end in order to fix the obvious problems that we currently have at that position.

On channel three...

Moreno, courtesy of their interior offensive line, managed to rack up a career day. Fortunately for Chiefs fans, Orton sucked dog nuts.

Even more so as multiple Chiefs defenders dropped sure interceptions that would have put the game away much earlier.



Don't be redundant. I already stated Carr had a great game. However, one game does not a season make. He's sucked pretty bad up to this point. He got hammered last week. He doesn't have the speed to stay with most guys in this league and gets lost a lot in trying to stay with most guys. Lloyd isn't fast, and as such, Carr was able to stay with him. However, he does have fantastic hands (his one handed catch that was fortunately out of bounds was simply amazing - I wish we had a guy on our roster capable of that type of concentration and effort). If Carr can stay with a guy, he's okay. Unfortunately, on most Sundays, he can't.

Wow. you are a dumbass, and have no clue.
We were playing a 2-4-5 nickel defense. It's hard to stop the running game with two D-linemen. We were allowing the run, and shutting off the pass, and it worked to perfection. You would know that if..............nevermind.

[bobbything]

Anyone complaining about the defensive effort yesterday can lick my anus.

I bet we lined up in a nickel package 3/4ths of the time. Our goal was to shut down the passing attack. And we did, for the most part. We dared them to beat us on the ground. You just knew that no matter how well they ran the ball, McDaniels would eventually let his passing attack try and win it for him. And it played right into our hands.

Aside from the phantom holding call, and the mental mistakes inside the 5, the offense was good. They pretty much moved the ball with ease. 180 rushing yards, nearly 200 passing yards. I'll take that every day. That means we have the ball over half the time.

[threebag]

"Bitch Fight"

[bobbything]

Originally Posted by Saccopoo

Fortunately for Chiefs fans, Orton sucked dog nuts.

Do you have any idea why Orton sucked? I do...

We played press coverage often. They tried to run a bunch of timing routes to the sideline. Our corners shut that down. They stayed with the receivers all day. When they tried to go long, our corners were right there as well.

The only times they dried to dump it off down the middle, the receiver either dropped it, or we broke up the play with a big hit.

Our defense was the main reason Orton sucked. He wasn't simply "off" today. We gameplanned to shut down the passing attack. And it worked.

[vailpass]

AFC Worst.

[OctoberFart]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

Denver is not as bad as their record. This is one of the better teams we've beaten.

I'd bet 59 points on it that they are terrible. Your right though KC has beat up on the garbage teams.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by AutumnWind

I'd bet 59 points on it that they are terrible. Your right though KC has beat up on the garbage teams.

And if the Raiders had beaten The 49ers and Cardinals we'd be tied for the division lead. those 59 points were an abberation. It happens in the nfl sometimes.

It's You're BTW. Silly Raiduhr fans.

[BigMeatballDave]

@ Saccapoo. What a douchenozzle.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

Denver is not as bad as their record. This is one of the better teams we've beaten.

Denver is as bad as their record.
Denver is one of the better teams KC has beaten.

[keg in kc]

It was the first meaningful december game the Chiefs have played in half a decade. It's not about making statements, it's about winning games that count, and they did.

[T-post Tom]

Eeyore loves pooh.