KC Chiefs: What we learned about each team in AFC West after week 7
The KC Chiefs were helped out in the AFC West standings this weekend and still sit top the division with a 5-2 record. How did the other three divisional teams fare in week seven?
With the Kansas City Chiefs playing against the Denver Broncos on Thursday night and no AFC West teams being a part of Monday Night Football, I figured there was no harm in bumping up my weekly “What did we learn about the AFC West” article to Monday rather than saving it for Tuesday.
The Chiefs and Broncos squared off on Thursday, the Raiders faced the Packers on Sunday in the early window of games, and the Chargers traveled to Nashville for a date with the Titans in the later slate. How did all of the teams fare and what did we learn?
Let’s take a look, starting with the the first loser of week seven.
WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT THE BRONCOS?
After two straight victories, it was tough to figure out what kind of team the Denver Broncos were this season. They lost two of their first four games because of a last second field goal and that could have left them at 4-2 heading into their Thursday night game with the Chiefs.
In Denver’s game prior to playing the Chiefs, they shut out the Tennessee Titans and sacked their two quarterbacks a total of seven times. The Broncos were hyped going into this one, but they looked like they wanted zero part of being out there, losing 30-6.
The defense didn’t play poorly until the end, but the offense was atrocious. Take away that first offensive drive by Denver, where they were assisted by two bad Chiefs penalties, and KC might have ended up shutting the Broncos out on Thursday.
The run game was invisible, totaling just 71 yards off of 21 carries. Royce Freeman had the touchdown, but Phillip Lindsay had one more carry and one more yard on the evening. In these guys’ defense, the Broncos had to abandon the run after awhile due to trailing by quite a bit.
Joe Flacco was atrocious and while yes, that did have to do with his poor offensive line (he was sacked eight times and the Chiefs had nine sacks total on the Broncos), when he did make throws, they were bad. He finished the night with just 213 yards. Garett Bolles needs to finance Flacco’s next massage because that guy was atrocious against what’s been a pretty bad Chiefs pass rush.
The Broncos are 2-5 on the year now and while their playoff hopes aren’t completely sunken, it’ll be an uphill battle for them considering they still have to play the Colts, Texans, and Vikings, as well as the Chiefs again. They’ll look to get back in the win column next week against the Colts in the early window of games.