The Broncos defense played better, but KC did them a lot of favors

The Denver Broncos lost in front of a national audience, this time to the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. The score wasn’t as bad as some thought, but they lost 19-8 to go to 1-5 on the season.

Things are about to change for the Broncos. I’d imagine by the next time the Broncos play the Chiefs in just a little over two weeks, this roster is going to look much different than it did on Thursday night.

After the game, Payton had a surprising opening statement.

“I told our players I was disappointed. But honestly – I said this to them just five minutes ago – I’m not discouraged. I thought they played hard. Defensively, particularly, we did a great job. Our red zone defense was outstanding. Obviously, offensively, we struggled throwing the ball and our third-down numbers were poor. The turnovers, against a team like this, it’s going to be tough to win yet we were still in it going into the fourth quarter. Sometimes you don’t know how a game is going to unfold. I was happy it was unfolding the way it was relative to time and scoring. Tonight was a game where we certainly played well enough defensively. Offensively, the running game worked. I thought we blocked them well. From a third-down perspective, keeping drives going, we struggled to get anything until really late in the game.” Payton said.

Here are three observations from the Broncos loss to the Chiefs in Week 6.

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Defense Improved But…

The Broncos defense held the high-powered Chiefs offense to just one touchdown in Week 6. Some are going on and on about how great this performance is, especially given the opponent. Still others are praising DC Vance Joseph for his improved scheme.

I say that’s all bunk.

The Broncos played better. This is true. The Broncos had a better plan to stop the run. This is also true. However, the Chiefs tried multiple trick plays with varying results, and they seemed to get “too cute” offensively on many occasions. As much as Denver played better defense, the Chiefs shot themselves in the foot on offense.

The Broncos slowed down the Chiefs on the ground, but they did not have a good plan for TE Travis Kelce. The superstar had over 100 yards receiving in the first half, and the zone concepts used by Joseph’s defense were not good. Had the Chiefs connected on some of those trick plays with guys like WR Kadarius Toney, then the score could’ve gotten out of hand.

Payton liked some, but not all, of what he saw from the team’s defense.

“We played an imperfect game, but I thought we had great effort and energy tonight on a short week. A tough loss, I thought we played hard. That’s not always good enough if you turn the ball over. But it gives you a chance to win and I was encouraged with how we were ready to play physically and mentally.” Payton said.

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Too Many Disrupted Dropbacks

Broncos QB Russell Wilson didn’t have much time to throw, and when he did decide to throw quickly, he had too many passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. Overall, the Chiefs had nine passes defensed on Thursday night, and three of those were at the line of scrimmage.

Wilson not only had passes batted down at the line too often, but he had pressure in his face for most of the night. It’s the reason why Wilson had to take off and run as much as he did. To his credit, Wilson felt the rush and made them pay with four carries for 30 yards. However, it would’ve been better had he been able to work the passing game instead.

The Broncos have not been a big-play offense over the last two games, and I think a guy like WR Marvin Mims Jr. needs more playing time. Of the five wide receivers active for the game against the Chiefs, Mims played the least number of snaps on offense (12). If you want to make more plays downfield, give Wilson time and use the explosive players you have more often.

After the game, Payton talked about the lack of big plays from the passing game.

“Yeah, a little bit more coverage looks. We had some balls batted, we had some pressure. We have to continue to find ways to get guys open in bunch and stack looks. We came in and knew third- down was going to be a bit of a challenge with what they do defensively, but we wanted to get to the line with the some plays spontaneously and quickly. Overall, it wasn’t good enough. There are a handful of plays that I called that I look back on and was anticipating one thing and got something else. We have to be better there. To win in our league, you have to be better throwing the ball – I don’t think the wind was that big of a factor, but we knew it was going to be somewhat of a factor in the kicking game. That’s my first (thought) coming off the game – third down, we were even in some short-yardage situations where we had to punt.” Payton said.

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Bending is Breaking

Many look at the Broncos ‘bend but don’t break’ defense as a positive. Against a team like the Chiefs, who can move the ball at will, that is breaking – and that’s a negative. It doesn’t matter if you let the team move into scoring position because the Chiefs will score. Then, they’ll be back for more.

People may point to the red zone defense and how they stiffened up against the Chiefs on Thursday night. This team has had a better red zone defense almost all season long (the Dolphins game was abysmal). If the offense is not moving the ball, as they struggled to against the Chiefs, an opponent getting scores – even field goals – is a bad thing.

Like the offense, the Broncos defense does not put together a full game. In order to get on the winning track, both sides need to be better. Allowing field goals isn’t some sort of “win” to be celebrated. Shutting down an opponent, getting turnovers, perhaps even scoring on defense, are the things we should be looking for from the Broncos defense.

Simmons had a great perspective after the game.

“Yeah, there was definitely a lot of improvement, but ultimately, it was not good enough. Towards the end of the game, we scored to make it a one-possession game. There was a critical third and two or third and three, I think it was. That was a big down for us. And after that, they got into field goal range, and we were able to hold them to a field goal and that made it a two-possession game. I’m not going to say it negates the rest of the game, it’s just tough. We got to put a full game together, defensively.” Simmons said.

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