Broncos Welcome in Chiefs Sunday; Trying to Get Back on Track
By Brad James
Sunday, of course, was the low point thus far on the season for the Denver Broncos. In a 27-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, who lead the AFC South at 4-5, which is the same thing as winning a beauty pageant rife with ugly contestants, the Broncos gave up points in the first quarter for the first time all season.
What is most disconcerting, other than the eye gouge committed by Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib against Colts tight end Dwayne Allen, (resulting in a one-game suspension for Talib) is the vaunted defense giving up a 60 percent success ratio (12 of 20) on 3rd down to the Colts who have had their fair share of problems offensively this season.
Nevertheless, throughout the course of a season, it’s virtually impossible to be on your A game all the time and as Vic Lombardi of CBS 4 in Denver tweeted Monday, <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>That’s as bad as the Broncos defense can play and they still almost won the game. They were down 17-0 and still almost won the game. Eh.</p>— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) <a href=”https://twitter.com/VicLombardi/status/663766766611369984″>November 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>, it’s apparent that the Broncos are still in good shape moving forward, albeit without Talib for one game.
In any event, the Broncos first and foremost, need to take care of their division and with a win over Kansas City, they will not only sweep the season series but be tied with the Chiefs 56-56 all-time in the series.
The Broncos have won 11 of their last 14 games against Kansas City and seven in a row in the series while maintaining their strangle hold on the AFC West in the Peyton Manning era. While Manning threw two interceptions at Indianapolis, giving him an NFL-high 13 picks on the season, he still, for the most part, made many wise decisions Sunday and is poised to make history against Kansas City, surpassing the legendary Brett Favre in both all-time league passing yards and career victories.
Incidentally, the Broncos’ defense is still tops in the league in points allowed (17.4), yards surrendered (274.1) and passing yards given up (181.0) per game. Thus, it’s presumptuous to say that, even without the services of Talib, the defense will return to form.
In any event, writing the Broncos off right now is presumptuous. I trust they’ll be back to themselves and should be 8-1 around 5:45 pm MDT Sunday evening.