KC Chiefs will face completely different Broncos team in week 15

By Leigh Oleszczak | Dec 12, 2019

Denver Broncos strong safety Kareem Jackson #22 (Photo by Joe Amon/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /

The KC Chiefs host the Denver Broncos this Sunday afternoon and even though the Chiefs dominated the Broncos in week seven, the week 15 Broncos are a completely different squad.

Obviously the biggest reason for that is that the Broncos switched quarterbacks once again, but this time, it was to their second round rookie draft pick, Drew Lock. Kansas City Chiefs fans know Lock all too well, as he grew up in Lee’s Summit and played college football at the University of Missouri.

Now look, it’s a small sample size with Lock, but the kid has played well in his two starts, and as a result, is 2-0 and has Broncos fans buzzing with excitement about his future potential. Can Lock be the guy to get the Broncos back to relevancy? I’m not sure about that just yet, but he has the Broncos looking like a totally different offense so far.

When the Chiefs and Broncos met earlier this season – week seven, to be exact – the Broncos were led on offense by Joe Flacco. Denver had traded for Flacco prior to the 2019 season and that turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. He was sacked eight times in that game against Kansas City and that was before this Chiefs defense had come to life.

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In fact, it might have been that game that showed this Chiefs defense they could be good. They dared Flacco to throw on them and time and time again, they made him pay.

It won’t be like that with Denver this weekend because Drew Lock will throw on anyone. He has a cannon for an arm and displayed that on his first career touchdown pass two weeks ago.

Lock has thrown five touchdowns and two interceptions while getting sacked just once so far. If the Broncos have shored up that offensive line, then Lock should be able to do some damage against the Chiefs.

He won’t have to do it all though, as Phillip Lindsay continues to have a nice sophomore season. Lindsay didn’t do much damage against the Chiefs last time, but again, the Broncos fell behind and had to throw the ball more, limiting Lindsay’s carries. With a better offensive unit, the Chiefs might have to worry about stopping Lindsay more.

The Broncos don’t necessarily scare me, but it says something about their resurgence when they went into Houston and completely dominated the Houston Texans last week. The Texans are an up and down team, yes, but so are the Chiefs. Clearly the Broncos weren’t intimidated by a playoff team on the road and that’s the same scenario for them this upcoming weekend.

While the Chiefs still deserve to be favorites in this game, it’d be foolish for fans to think that this will be a repeat of that week seven shellacking on Thursday Night Football. No, this time around the Broncos actually have the ability to score points, so this weekend will depend on if the Chiefs offense can get back to what they once were, and if the defense can continue to play well.

Either way, this weekend’s game against Denver won’t be a picnic by any means.

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