KC Chiefs: Winners and losers from week seven victory vs Broncos

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 17: Martinas Rankin (74) of the Kansas City Chiefs and Stefen Wisniewski (61) of the Kansas City Chiefs prepare to take the field before the first quarter against the Denver Broncos on Thursday, October 17, 2019. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /

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Denver Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco (5) gets sacked by Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark (55) (Photo by Eric Lutzens/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images /

WINNER: PASS RUSH

I talked a lot of smack on the Chiefs pass rush through the first six weeks of the season – which was well-deserved by the way – but I’m willing to admit that they played great on Thursday night. Now yes, the Broncos offensive line is an absolute dumpster fire, but the Chiefs pass rush took what was given to them and ran with it.

The unit finished the evening with nine sacks (eight on Joe Flacco and one on Colby Wadman) and smothered Flacco all night long, adding ten quarterback hits to their resumé as well. Three different Chiefs had two sacks a piece (Frank Clark, Anthony Hitchens, and Alex Okafor) and while Garett Bolles clearly has no business being a left tackle in the NFL, it was good to finally see the pass rush get their moment.

WINNER: RUN DEFENSE

Wait, what? The pass rush and the run defense both had good games? Why, yes! Yes, they did!

The run defense had been atrocious through five games, but they stepped it up in this Thursday night match-up, holding the Broncos run game to 71 yards. It helped that the Chiefs took a commanding lead, which meant Denver couldn’t run it as much, but fans had to feel a little bit better about the run defense after this game.

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