Kansas City Chiefs: 10 Likes and 10 Dislikes from Week 7 vs Denver

On Thursday Night Football, against division rival Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs ended their two-game losing streak in dominant fashion with a 30-6 victory. But it came at a cost.

Tthe severity of the injury to Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback, and reigning MVP of the NFL, Patrick Mahomes is out there now, and it’s that he’s expected to miss at least three weeks. While this column won’t go into detail on that injury, it will be touched upon at certain points.

However, as always, I’m starting with the positives. And there were a lot of them. Here are my 10 Likes from the Chiefs victory, which moved them to 5-2 on the season.

10 Likes

1. The Team Never Gave Up

Sure, it’s cliche, but consider:

At the time of Mahomes’ injury, the Chiefs were up only four points, 10-6, while on the verge of again scoring. When back-up quarterback Matt Moore came in, the offense went absolutely nowhere in his first three plays, and the team settled for another field goal. Denver successfully kept the game within one score.

But it didn’t matter. The vibe of the Chiefs was something else after the injury. Instead of folding, the team seemed to pick it up. Instead of allowing big plays, the defense hampered down. Instead of calling conservative run plays, head coach Andy Reid kept continued attacking Denver through the air.

The result after the injury: Chiefs 20, Broncos 0.

2. The Hitchens & Ragland Show

Well, this was delightfully unexpected. Linebackers Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland played incredible games in Week 7, and both were key factors in limiting the Denver offense.

Hitchens, who missed Sunday’s loss against Houston with an injury, looked completely different than he had his first season-and-five games with the Chiefs. He looked liked the player general manager Brett Veach thought he was signing when he pried Hitchens away from Dallas.

Ragland, who was inactive for several games at the start of the season, put in his best performance as a Chief, collecting a couple of tackles, sacking Denver quarterback Joe Flacco once, and scooping-and-returning a fumble for a touchdown; A fumble forced by Hitchens.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1185003208642449408

3. An Assortment of Pass Catchers

Seven Chiefs recorded a reception, and all seven had at least two catches. Travis Kelce led the team with six receptions (on eight targets) while Tyreek Hill led the Chiefs with 74 receiving yards thanks primarily to a 57-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter.

Others collecting receptions: Demarcus Robinson (three for 31 yards), Mecole Hardman (two for 28 yards and one touchdown), LeSean McCoy (two for 12 yards), Darrel Williams (two for six yards), and Damien Williams (two for minus-one yard).

4. Six Attempts, Six Makes

For the first time since Week 1 against the Jaguars, kicker Harrison Butker made every kick he attempted. He went six-for-six by going three-for-three in field goal attempts and three-for-three in points-after-touchdown attempts. With the Mahomes injury, special teams will take on an even bigger role. Glad to see Butker nail down his accuracy, and hope it continues.

5. Joe Flacco and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Overall, the Chiefs defense collected nine sacks with eight of them coming against the formerly elite quarterback known as Joe Flacco (the other came on that fake punt attempt, which: lol). Three guys (Hitchens, Frank Clark, Alex Okafor) each had two sacks a piece, while Ragland, Emmanuel Ogbah, and Armani Watts chipped in the other three.

What’s more: the Chiefs had another two tackles for loss, including one by linebacker Ben Niemann when he absolutely lit up Phillip Lindsay after a dangerous pass by Flacco. You could tell Lindsay was irked with Flacco after this play, and I would be, too, considering Flacco almost got him decapitated.

What’s more: the Broncos rushed the ball 21 times for only 71 yards, which is just 3.4 yards-per-carry. The tide seemed to shift right around when Derrick Nnadi and Ragland stuffed the Broncos’ two-point conversion attempt from the one-yard line.

What’s more: