Kansas City Chiefs Rewatch: 2010 Week 13 vs Broncos

The Kansas City Chiefs were blown out by Denver in week 10 and hoped to correct things in their rematch taking place three weeks later.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos had very different seasons in 2010. The Chiefs had turned things around after a lackluster 2009 campaign where they only won four games and had matched that four-win total after just six games.

The Broncos, on the other hand, were competitive in 2009 and the Chiefs helped crush their chances of making the playoffs. In 2010, the Broncos had only won three games to this point with one of those coming in a blowout win over Kansas City just three weeks prior.

How did the rematch between the Chiefs and Broncos go?

WEEK 13 VS DENVER BRONCOS: DECEMBER 5TH, 2010

Tamba Hali notched his ninth sack of the year on the Broncos’ first drive, which helped stall what had been a promising Denver drive. The Chiefs got the ball deep in their own territory, but three nice runs from Jamaal Charles, Thomas Jones, and Dexter McCluster got them out of dangerous territory.

KC ended up having to punt, but they were able to get things going at the end of the first quarter, making it a 7-0 ball game. After the two teams traded field goals leading to a 10-3 Chiefs advantage at the half, the game slowed down significantly.

This was a huge improvement over the last meeting between these two when the Broncos were leading 21-0 in the first quarter. In that game, it felt like Chiefs fans blinked and all of a sudden they were down three touchdowns and were not going to be able to overcome it due to mostly relying on their run game.

The Chiefs were held scoreless in the second half while Denver was only able to add a field goal. The Broncos’ best chance to tie things up came with roughly ten minutes remaining in the ball game, but Hali was able to sack Kyle Orton, which forced a fumble that Hali was able to recover. Did I mention just how spectacular Hali was in 2010?

The Chiefs couldn’t create separation on the scoreboard, but luckily for them, Denver wasn’t doing much offensively either. Their next possession was a quick three and out, their second possession went for just four plays, and they didn’t get the ball back until the end of the game where Orton attempted a Hail Mary, but it was incomplete.

Kansas City might not have been explosive in this one, but their defense came to play. If only the two units could have clicked at the same time when it mattered most; That would have made the 2010 squad one of the better Chiefs teams, but they were just so inconsistent.

Nevertheless, the KC Chiefs moved to 8-4 with the win while the Denver Broncos dropped to 3-9 and their playoff hopes were completely gone. The Broncos won just one more game in 2010 and ended up with the second overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft where they took Von Miller, so don’t feel too bad for them (no Chiefs fans are, especially considering what a jerk Miller can be).

After a great game against Denver in Mile High Stadium, Matt Cassel wasn’t nearly as impressive in this one, but he didn’t have to be since the run game carried the load (literally). Cassel threw for just 196 and a touchdown while his adversary Kyle Orton completed just nine passes for 117 yards and was sacked four times.

REMEMBER THAT GUY?

• Tight end Leonard Pope had the game’s only touchdown, a two-yard pass from Matt Cassel.
• Both run games were electric with Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno rushing for 161 yards off of 23 carries.
• Javier Arenas had two sacks while Hali had the other two.
• Champ Bailey and Mario Haggan had the two sacks on Cassel.
• It was the battle of the Colquitt brothers in this game with Dustin Colquitt punting for the Chiefs (which he’s still doing to this day) and Britton Colquitt punting for Denver. Britton was on the Broncos Super Bowl winning team, but he’s with the Vikings now.

This game wasn’t very exciting to watch other than that it was the Chiefs beating the Broncos. Neither offense could really do much, but the run games both dominated. I noted in the previous section how Moreno did in this one, but Charles also had a big game, carrying the ball 21 times for 116 yards while Jones had 11 carries for 53 yards.

When the 2010 season began, Jones was getting the bulk of the carries, but Charles had become more of the workhorse in the back half of the season. That was because Jones was in his 30s and Charles was only in year three of what would become a historic career in Kansas City.

After seven straight games with a touchdown pass, Dwayne Bowe was held to zero catches off of three targets. While Bowe having a down game was bound to happen, not having a single catch was baffling. Bailey was still in his prime, however, and he was assigned to Bowe in this game, so there you go.

Even though this game wasn’t the most exciting, a win is a win and any victory was critical for the KC Chiefs in 2010 as they continued to lead their division. Next week’s game was a key match-up against another AFC West rival, but the Chiefs would be without a key member of their offense in that one.

Oh boy.

Next up: Week 14 vs Chargers (6-6)