Denver Broncos: 5 players who must step up vs. Chiefs

Royce Freeman, RB

The Kansas City Chiefs’ primary weakness defensively is in the run defense department.

In six games, the Chiefs have allowed 971 yards on the ground (161.8 yards per game), good for third-worst in the NFL. They also rank sixth-worst in the NFL with eight rushing touchdowns allowed.

Over the past couple of games the Chiefs have lost, the primary factor has been ball control by their opposing team. Kansas City is capable of scoring quickly and frequently, so playing keep-away from Patrick Mahomes seems like a no-brainer idea on paper.

This means the contributions of Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman will be absolutely critical in this game. In my opinion, Freeman especially has to have a big game.

Freeman is averaging 4.3 yards per carry this season, but one of his specialties coming out of Oregon was gaining big chunks of yardage on first down. That’s one area the Broncos absolutely have to be better.

Freeman is capable of absolutely taking over a game like this against a lower quality run defense if the Broncos can find balance in their offensive attack.