‘They’ve improved every week’: Andy Reid says these aren’t the Broncos KC beat in Week 1

Mahomes is coming off his roughest game of the season, and he says the defense waiting for him in Denver looks a lot like the one that caused it

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Oct 28, 2026, 1:57 PM

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Watch: How do the Broncos BEAT the Chiefs and get into first place in the AFC West? | Freshly Grated | 22 mins

Kansas City beat the Broncos 31-10 in Week 1 — Andy Reid said Wednesday that he’s not preparing for that team.

“We turn the tape on and we look at what’s real, and you can see how they’ve improved every week,” the Chiefs coach said. “When you play a good team in their home, you better be prepared and ready to go.”

The Chiefs have reason to take Sunday seriously. Denver comes into the 2:25 p.m. kickoff at Empower Field at Mile High with one of the best defenses in the league. Kansas City is coming off a Sunday Night Football loss in Seattle that Patrick Mahomes spent much of Wednesday picking apart. Bigger, first place in the AFC West is on the line.

Asked how the Broncos defense has changed since September, Reid started with a player who wasn’t on the field for the opener.

“They added Cooper back into the mix. He looks like he’s full go,” Reid said of edge rusher Jonathan Cooper. “They’ve got good players, good front, good defense, play well together, fast. You know, they’re talented.”

The Broncos, who led the league in sacks each of the last two years were not their normal selfs at getting after the quarterback early in the season, is now back to leading the league in sacks. The defense has held three straight opponents under 18 points. The team has now won back-to-back games, including one against the same Seattle team that just beat Kansas City.

When Denver met KC in September, Kenneth Walker ran through the Broncos. Seven weeks later, this defense is holding up a mostly scuffling Broncos offense and Vance Jospeh’s unit is the reason they’re 5-2 and in position to take the AFC West lead.

Mahomes, meanwhile, is coming off the worst game of his season. Seattle pressured him all night, held him to 165 passing yards and intercepted him once. On Wednesday, he blamed himself.

“I feel like in the first half, especially, I didn’t play well,” Mahomes said. “My feet weren’t in the right spots, or they were rushed, and I wasn’t given chances in the pocket to kind of make those plays happen. And that kind of spiraled into the rest of the game. And you can’t let a defense like that kind of get that momentum going.”

Then he compared Seattle to the defense he faces next.

“That’s something I have to be better at, especially with the team that we’re going up against this week,” he said. “Kind of very similar. Great defense. Great D-line, linebackers and secondary.”

After watching the film, Mahomes said he caused much of the pressure himself.

“I moved sometimes when I didn’t necessarily have to move and kind of move myself into pressure,” he said, “and so I created some of those pressures.”

He said his job this week is “having my feet in the right spot and not get into old habits.”

Reid also blamed the protection. “They did a good job with their pressure package,” he said, “and we’ve got to do better protecting.”

Seattle beat Kansas City by loading up against Walker and keeping safeties deep. Mahomes expects Denver to do the same, and he explained how the Chiefs plan to respond.

“If they’re going to put so many resources into stopping him and playing a shell on the top, we have to be able to hit them in that intermediate area,” he said. “Then guys have to be able to run after the catch and break tackles, and that’ll put defenses in the bind where they have to decide kind of what they want to take away.”

That’s the test for Denver. The Broncos have to stop Walker this time without leaving the middle of the field open, and get to Mahomes before his feet settle down.

The Chiefs have other problems this week. They signed veteran kicker with a bunch of off the field issues in Justin Tucker to the practice squad after Harrison Butker missed two field goals in Seattle. Reid said Butker will “probably go” Sunday. Mahomes said he’s focused on fixing the offense.

“For me, it was about the Denver Broncos and moving on and continue to get better,” he said. “We have a lot of stuff that we have to clean up.”

Denver is 5-2 and Kansas City is 5-1. A Broncos win would put Denver at 6-2 and the Chiefs at 5-2, a half-game lead for the Broncos in the AFC West. It’s in the Broncos hands to take the division and prove they’re better than they were in Week 1.