Broncos vs Chiefs: The No Bull Review

Kansas City Chiefs v Denver Broncos — Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

The Denver Broncos pitched a shut-out against the Kansas City Chiefs backups. Here are my No Bull thoughts, analysis, and opinions on the game.

The drought is over! 8 long years since our last postseason game, Broncos Country gets to enjoy once again being in the NFL’s big dance.

Let’s start off by saying that no one should put too much meaning into this particular game. Without their key players, the Kansas City Chiefs team that we saw in Week 18 was more like a preseason warmup opponent.

But the Denver Broncos can only come to work and play the team in front of them. I’m happy to see them do exactly what a good team should do in the last game of the season with their backs against the wall against an inferior opponent resting its stars: dominate from start to finish.

Official request for the Broncos’ front office: please make this version of the uniforms our new main uniform. They kick ass more than any other mix of color and helmet we’ve seen this year. I absolutely love them and they help us stand out in a way that the other designs don’t.

Offense

One thing that encouraged me about the playcalling in this game was that they were mostly running basic concepts from our playbook. I’m not saying Sean Payton didn’t toss some wrinkles out there (he did), but we weren’t trying to be too fancy.

The run game was effective enough. The line did everything pretty darn well. The passing game was absolute fire.

The offense is as good as it could be at the end of a long season training up our young roster. Any time you eclipse 35 points in a game is a pretty impressive offensive outing in my books regardless of the competition on the other side of the field.

Quarterbacks

I loved seeing Bo Nix get to cap off his rookie regular season with a bang. He’s worked his tail off and it showed in what he did on the field. He threw the ball to all levels of the field and looked great doing it. He was nails on 3rd down as well using his legs to create and keep this offense churning down the field.

I loved seeing Nix try to lateral to Williams for more yards, but he has to throw it behind not to the side. Part of that is on Williams for not being far enough back. It is going to be a great learning opportunity for the offense though I doubt it is a play that Payton will encourage.

My favorite pass of the game was his 3rd and 11 to Vele in the 2nd half. He threw an immaculate pass that any starting quarterback in this league would be proud of.

Line

DENVER BRONCOS VS KANSAS CITY CHIEFS, NFL

We’re pretty tough on our offensive line here in Broncos Country. They should all get taken out to dinner for this game. I was especially impressed with Quinn Meinerz’s play in this one as he was absolutely obliterating his defender over and over throughout the game. It is a crying shame he didn’t get voted to the Pro Bowl because he absolutely is one of the top 5 guards playing the game right now.

Running Backs

Javonte Williams played like his career depended on this game. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry on 5 runs and added 3 catches for 50 yards. I don’t know how much this moves the needle on his overall season, but he looked good in this game.

Jaleel McLaughlin put in some really good work for the team in this game. Few will notice that he was killing it until his drive in the 3rd quarter. The Chiefs knew we were running and that one drive had him get 5 carries for 6 yards. It looks bad on the stat sheet at the end of the day (2.4 ypc), but when you blow out an opponent, those running lanes get clogged in the 2nd half. McLaughlin isn’t the type of back who is going to win often in those situations.

Audric Estime put in some decent work in this game as well with 12 runs for 34 yards and a touchdown. I liked his power later in the game more than handing the ball off to McLaughlin. He just has the physicality to still churn out yardage against stacked boxes.

Receivers

Marvin Mims Jr. had a superb touchdown run after the catch. He’s a player that has special athletic ability that makes these kinds of trick plays work. I’ll also point out that I was very impressed with his effort getting the touchdown past the pylon in the 3rd quarter on 3rd and goal to goal. He ran it perfectly and manipulated the defender with a subtle slowing-down juke that gave him the space to reach the ball into the end zone as he was going out of bounds.

Cortland Sutton actually got separation on a deep route which is something we’ve not seen much of in recent years from him that gave us a 47-yard gain. On the very next play, he makes a big boy catch in the end zone to secure another touchdown for the Broncos. He deserved every penny of the incentive he earned. As I said earlier this year: I don’t know where this offense would have been this season without him.

Devaughn Vele made such a heads-up football play to get the 3rd touchdown of the game. As the ball bounced off two Chiefs defenders, he snagged it before it hit the ground with his knee down in the endzone to get 6 on the board for the good guys. Vele has a big future in this league. He’s not what I would call a #2 WR yet, but I think he’s got the potential to be a real playmaker as he keeps learning and growing.

Defense

Vance Joseph had this defense ready to play and they dominated the Chiefs to get a shutout secured. His defense was healthy and they were back to their smothering style of play that helped secure so many wins for our team earlier this season.

Having a healthy secondary was key as it really let the defense get back to its roots with a mix of coverages but a healthy dose of man-to-man allowing the blitz game to come into play and be disruptive.

Front 7

Nik Bonitto was a Tasmanian devil in this game. He got 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 quarterback hit. He’s a playmaker at edge and it showed in this game.

Jonathan Cooper pitched in a sack, tackle for loss, and a quarterback hit as well. What impressed me most about his sack was just the relentless pursuit of the play. Wentz was scrambling for an eternity and Cooper just kept coming until he got the tackle secured.

Let’s also give a big shout-out to Jonathan Franklin-Myers for pitching in a sack, tackle for loss, and two quarterback hits as well. Like Sutton, he also earned an incentive for his season by getting that sack secured (in the broadcast they talked about him sharing it with Cooper, but it went in the books as his sack).

Jordan Jackson, we see you! Jackson isn’t a player Broncos Country is very familiar with, but he got 9 snaps in the 4th quarter and made the most of his time getting a sack (with a forced fumble), a tackle for loss, and a quarterback hit in his few opportunities. I’m looking forward to seeing more from this young player in the future.

Secondary

I love our secondary and they played great, but let’s be real for a second: this Chiefs offense didn’t really challenge them. As a matter of fact, many of the plays that the defense stopped were bad throws or drops.

The one note I had during the game was a pass defense by Ja’Quan McMillian. It was text-book coverage and I believe was a 3rd down attempt as well that killed a drive.

Special Teams

One thing I saw once again in this game was a problem I’ve noticed a handful of times this year. Mims called for a fair catch that he had a clear return opportunity on. It is something that I think could use some attention and work next offseason as he’s the kind of player that can take any return to the house. When he calls for a fair catch that has such a cushion to work with, it goes down in my books as a negative play (though I’ll gladly admit the return game isn’t something I’ve geeked out on quite as much as other facets of the game…I’m happy to hear in the comments if any of you have thoughts that differ on this one).

Final Thoughts

I’m so proud of this team for the work they’ve put in this season to get this franchise back into the postseason. I’ve seen from my viewpoint a young, hungry team working alongside an excellent coaching staff that has squeezed damn near every ounce of winning they could muster this season.

This team deserves nothing but thanks from its fanbase for the product they’ve put on the field for us.

For those of you who’ve been with me for a long time, you may remember my measure of a NFL team: it wasn’t a good season if you don’t make the playoffs.

I think I may have softened a bit on that given what we’ve seen over the past 8 years, but this team rose to the occasion anyway.

We’re getting to go to Buffalo with a chip and a chair. That’s all any fanbase can ask for. We just want a chance to see our team play meaningful football in the post season. Thank you, Denver Broncos!