Three things the Broncos must do in order to beat the Chiefs on Sunday
Dec 4, 2020, 6:35 AM
The Denver Broncos did not look good against the New Orleans Saints in Week 12. They were beaten easily and largely because they didn’t have a quarterback on the roster due to COVID violations. Practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton is back to his normal role, and Drew Lock is back as the starting quarterback for the Broncos.
Lock has five games left in this season to prove whether or not he can be the future franchise quarterback for the Broncos. So far after another injury-shortened season, the answer is trending towards “no,” but we’ll have to see what he can do in the final games of 2020.
He travels home to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs – a team the Broncos haven’t beaten since 2015 and a team that Lock has not thrown a touchdown against in two contests against them. Is the third time the charm? How will Lock and the rest of the team bounce back in Week 13?
Broncos head coach Vic Fangio admits this is a big game for his young quarterback.
“Every game is a big game and really it wouldn’t matter who we’re playing this week. It’s the next game and for Drew it’s a big game for him personally and for this team. Just like the following week, just like the previous 11 were. It’s a big game,” Fangio said.
From the outside, it looks impossible to come out victorious against this team. That’s not how the NFL works, and upsets do happen from time to time. So, what is the best plan for the Broncos? Here are three things the Broncos must do to beat the Chiefs.
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Don’t Play Hero Ball
Lock is from Kansas City. Get ready to hear that about 10 times during the broadcast on Sunday night. He grew up a Chiefs fan, which is understandable, but now he’s trying to prove that he can keep battling against them moving forward. The Chiefs have a superstar quarterback in Patrick Mahomes that Lock – and almost every quarterback in the league – wishes they could be more like.
Lock needs to make sure that he doesn’t play “hero ball” against Mahomes and the Chiefs. Mahomes is going to make a spectacular play (or 10) and he can do things that other quarterbacks can only dream of. If/when Mahomes does that, Lock needs to make sure to not try and match his opponent.
Lock isn’t ready to go toe-to-toe with Mahomes in an offensive shootout. Instead, Lock needs to make sure to run the offense and gameplan as designed. He needs to take what the defense gives him and try to win with quality and consistent play.
The young quarterback also knows he must be better on third down in order to beat the Chiefs on Sunday.
“We get into trouble when we’re in those third-and-longs and that starts on first and second down — being better and being more efficient. We can do a better job on those downs to make it easier for us on third down. It’s just making the extra play when it comes to you on those third downs. We all know it’s crunch time when it gets to third down, it’s either we get to play a couple more downs or we’re off the field. It has to be high intensity, high focus going into those plays. It needs to be high focus, high intensity starting this week on our third down periods. That’s something that I’m going to reiterate to the guys and keep this thing rolling in a positive way,” Lock said.
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Stop The Run
The Broncos rush defense has been getting gashed regularly since nose tackle Mike Purcell was lost for the season – in the last game against the Chiefs. In the game against the Saints, the Broncos once again gave up more than 200 yards rushing. In two of the last three games (Raiders and Saints), they have also surrendered four rushing touchdowns in a single contest. They are weak against the run, and I expect teams to take advantage of that problem.
Yes, the rush defense would be better if the offense was better and didn’t go three-and-out as much, but the fact of the matter is that teams will run on Denver because they can. The Chiefs have a high-powered offense, but most of the focus is on Mahomes and that passing attack. If they want to, we could see rookie first-round running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and perhaps even veteran Le’Veon Bell could get plenty of work – and find success on the ground.
Safety Justin Simmons is a leader on that defense, and he’ll have to help the rush defense on Sunday. After the last game against the Chiefs earlier this year, Simmons came away impressed with the first-round pick.
“He’s a good back. We watched film on him all week and we saw him consistently break tackles in every defense they’ve played against. Obviously, that was one of the things we were really focused on coming into this game and those are some of the things I’m talking about defensively. He’s a great back. He runs really hard, obviously really short so he’s low to the ground and can break a lot of the tackles. We could have done a better job tackling him as well,” Simmons said.
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Lean on the Backfield
The best way the Broncos can beat the Chiefs – or at least put up a fight – is to lean on the rushing attack. Not only is it the best part of their offense, but running the ball essentially plays defense against the Chiefs. Running the ball effectively eats up the time of possession and keeps Mahomes and the high-powered Chiefs offense on the sideline.
Broncos co-starting running back Melvin Gordon may have to carry most of the workload on Sunday against the Chiefs. Co-starter Phillip Lindsay is banged up with a knee injury and has been missing practice time. The team expects him to go after he tweaked his knee against the Saints but the small back could see a small role.
The last game the Broncos won, at home against the Dolphins a couple of weeks ago, Gordon was good to go. He knows that controlling the line of scrimmage helped them run the ball with great success and get that victory.
“When you’re able to run the ball and pass the ball effectively, it makes the game a lot more fun. We can go out there and have some fun, and that’s what the game is about — it’s about being balanced. I think we did a good job as a team executing on third down conversions, being able to keep Phil and I on the field to make explosive plays,” Gordon said.
