KC Chiefs: What we learned about the AFC West after week 1 of 2020

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 10: Members of the Kansas City Chiefs take the field with a giant Vince Lombardi trophy at mid field before the start of a game against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium on September 10, 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

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Corey Davis #84 of the Tennessee Titans makes a contested catch as Justin Simmons #31 and Bryce Callahan #29 of the Denver Broncos cover the play (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

What did we learn about the Denver Broncos?

Everyone in the AFC West secured a victory in week 1 except for the Denver Broncos, who played in the late game on Monday night and lost in one of the biggest snooze fests of the weekend.

After listening all offseason to how much of an offensive juggernaut the Broncos were going to be this year, the Denver offense put up just 14 points on the evening. They were playing against a good Titans defense though and also in Denver’s defense, they’re a young team who didn’t have a preseason to work out some of the kinks and it showed big time in their week 1 loss, as they had 2 costly turnovers.

What we learned about the Broncos is that they’re not quite ready to be grouped in with the contenders just yet. Playoff teams win games like these.

Drew Lock went 22 of 33 for 216 yards and a touchdown and missed pretty badly on some throws. While not everything can be blamed on the second year quarterback, he went 0 for 5 on throws 20 yards or deeper. For a guy who supposedly has one of the biggest arms in the league, he didn’t live up to that mantra in the first game of the 2020 season.

The biggest takeaway from this game, however, was that it really shouldn’t have even been that close. Stephen Gostkowski missed 3 field goals and an extra point, costing Tennessee 10 points. He made the field goal at the end of the game when it mattered most, handing the Broncos their first loss of the season.

For all of the hype the Broncos received this offseason, this game looked just like last year’s team. They have potential and they’re likely going to improve, but the only reason this game was close was because of the missed field goals. Also, what was Vic Fangio’s reasoning for not using a single timeout? They had all 3 with a chance to win the game. It felt like it was right out of the book of Andy Reid‘s time management.

Denver is in the basement of the division and they showed they had a long way to go before they’ll be anywhere close to Kansas City’s level.

Next up: The Broncos hit the road for the first time in 2020 and will face the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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