With the Denver Broncos facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs, we went behind enemy lines to chat with Matt Conner from Arrowhead Addict.
At some point, the Denver Broncos should end this losing streak against the Kansas City Chiefs. Not having won a game against them since 2015 is tough to swallow. Kansas City currently has a 64-55 series lead against the Broncos.
Funny thing about that is how close the Denver Broncos were in Peyton Manning’s final season from tying the series. And this AFC West rivalry is all about streaks. I cannot even tell you how many times this series has seen one team go on a long streak.
Perhaps the Denver Broncos are due in for a long streak soon then? Only time will tell. This will be the final time the Denver Broncos face off against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019. It will not be an easy win going into Arrowhead in December to get the win. But on Any Given Sunday a team can end the losing streak. Hopefully it is this week.
With the Broncos facing the Chiefs, I decided to chat with Matt Conner over at Arrowhead Addict to get his takes on how the Kansas City Chiefs have done since the last meeting in October.
The Kansas City Chiefs have won their fourth straight AFC West title. What have they done over the last half decade that has made them so successful?
I think it all comes down to organizational communication. Few front offices have been better at knowing intimately what their coaching staff needs and then going out and finding those very players.
The Chiefs were already winning consecutive divisions before Patrick Mahomes arrived, so it’s clear that Andy Reid knows best how to put players in position to succeed and then they do it. Even this year’s draft class featured six players with no first round pick, but five of them have been nice contributors with four of them playing major roles—and that’s on a Super Bowl contender.
Any franchise with excellent communication between the staff and front office is likely going to be among your yearly playoff contenders.
Patrick Mahomes has been dealing with a bit of injuries this season. Do you believe his health will play a factor in the postseason?
Mahomes injuries have, thankfully, all been of the short-term variety, although those things certainly pile up. Mahomes has yet to orchestrate 60 mins of football like we know he can, which I believe to be a scarier proposition for others than the Chiefs. If his hand heals up in the next few weeks without complication, Mahomes should be just fine.
The Chiefs defense has been pretty solid the last few weeks. What has surprised you the most with their play?
Steve Spagnuolo and his assistants have been much, much better at not only making adjustments week after week but also coaching players up to their full potential. I already mentioned the fact that some rookies are immediate contributors (Juan Thornhill, Rashad Fenton, and Khalen Saunders all look great on defense), which has helped in the face of so many injuries.
The Chiefs welcome the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Tell us from your perspective how Denver has looked since Drew Lock has taken over.
It’s hard not to be swayed by his confidence and on-field command. It makes you scratch your head why Lock wasn’t installed earlier or, at the very least, after Flacco was benched. In that way it looks like the Broncos own ineptitude or inability to correctly scout their own roster might have led to their demise in 2019.
This will be the first time Patrick Mahomes and Drew Lock will face off. Do you see these two quarterbacks battling each other for years to come?
Two games is a small sample size and the Broncos have nothing to play for, which in a way gives Drew Lock nothing but house money to play with. Let teams get some experience or game tape. Let him get hit a few times at the pro level. Let his confidence get shaken a time or two.
That said, even those two games showed just how much a difference can be made by a positive quarterback change and Lock is the best-looking Broncos quarterback since Peyton Manning, to be sure. Even through two games, that much is clear, although that says more about the state of the position since ’16 than Lock’s talent. Still this could become a fun divisional rivalry.
Thank You Matt for taking the time out to chat with me. If you want to see the interview I had with Matt, you can check it out here.