Denver Broncos vs Kansas City Chiefs 2nd Game Drive Stats and Game Recap

 The Broncos on Sunday night had the Chiefs on the ropes.  The defense had played well and had shut down the Chiefs in the redzone, and had flustered them into missing several big play opportunities.  The offense actually played pretty well, gaining 50% of their potential yards for the night.  The Broncos played the game they wanted to, each team only getting 9 drives for the night, and the offense actually had more time of possession than the Chiefs.  So what went wrong?  Well, while the defense didn't break, they bent a lot.  The Chiefs picked up 65.7% of their potential yards, and gained nearly 50 yards per drive, outpacing Denver by about 12 yards per drive.  Drew Lock had a bad interception to start the game on what was a promising drive, and the second to last drive Denver punted back to KC despite having only 2 timeouts and having only forced 2 punts in the game.  This was the most competitive Denver has been against KC since the infamous Case Keenum overthrow game in Denver, showing at least some idea that this team has an idea of how to play against the Chiefs.

There continue to be issues with Drew Lock, but the gameplan by Shurmur the last two outings has been much better.  Its doing things that are Drew's strengths, and actually generating open receivers instead of continuously asking them to work themselves open all the time and have him find them at that moment.  The biggest issue for Drew right now is the continued attempts to make a big play every play.  The interception as Drew rolled out to try and hit Fumagalli is a perfect example.  If he hits it its a huge play.  But it doesnt, and Denver might have missed a chance to have had a 10 point swing from that (20 seconds off the clock keeps the Chiefs from getting that field goal at the end of the half.)  This give and take of big play vs safe plays is something that needs to continue to be worked on and its been better as time has gone on this season.  Lock is a gunslinger, so there will be times that you get these push plays, but if he can get it to a better ratio of risk and reward, Lock can be a very good QB.  It shouldn't be understated that the offense is also working with a majority of young talent at the skill positions, who have had limited time together thanks to Covid and injuries.  The timing and knowing where a guy will be against a certain coverage just aren't there yet.  There is still growth to come, and I want to see it from Drew for the rest of the year.  But honestly QB development isn't linear, and things have been trending up lately as everyone seems to be getting onto the same page. 

 

Offense	Defense	Start Line	Quarter	Result	Yards Gained	Potential Gained	Play Count
DEN	KC	75	1	Turnover	41	54.7	5
KC	DEN	90	1	Punt	26	28.9	5
DEN	KC	77	1	Field goal	42	54.5	11
KC	DEN	75	1	Field goal	58	77.3	6
DEN	KC	79	1	Punt	19	24.1	4
KC	DEN	79	2	Punt	39	49.4	8
DEN	KC	90	2	Touchdown	90	100.0	9
KC	DEN	75	2	Field goal	69	92.0	6
DEN	KC	65	2	Missed field goal	26	40.0	12
KC	DEN	53	2	Field goal	48	90.6	4
KC	DEN	75	3	Field goal	62	82.7	9
DEN	KC	72	3	Touchdown	72	100.0	14
KC	DEN	75	3	Touchdown	75	100.0	7
DEN	KC	75	3	Punt	14	18.7	5
KC	DEN	74	4	Punt	16	21.6	9
DEN	KC	92	4	Punt	41	44.6	8
KC	DEN	85	4	Field goal	55	64.7	12
DEN	KC	75	4	Turnover	5	6.7	4