The Denver Broncos had a shortened practice Thursday to allow players and coaches extra time with their families and friends on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday, they’ll be putting in extra time in meetings (as they did on Wednesday) to make up for the lost time.
Denver can leapfrog Kansas City in the playoff race with a win at home Sunday.
On Thursday, head coach Gary Kubiak and linebacker Shane Ray spoke with the media about what they’ve seen from Kansas City so far this season, and what they’ll continue to look for as this critical AFC West matchup approaches.
Gary Kubiak
On the Chiefs ability to force turnovers
“It’s amazing. They have big strengths as a team and that’s one of them. They win the field position [battle]. You watch the field position battle and they’re really excellent in the league. [Their] red zone scoring is excellent in the league; keeping people from scoring. Those big key factors of winning in this league on a week-to-week basis, they’ve been exceptional. Anytime that you win 17-out-of-20 games in this league, you’re doing something very consistent. They’re a very good football team and they don’t beat themselves.”
On how the Chiefs are able to consistently force turnovers
“They do a very good job of stripping the ball. If you watch them, they’re really ball conscious. The first guy is making a tackle and the next guy is all over the ball. That’s something that they do really well. On the back end they get—the difference between good secondaries and great secondaries [is that] great secondaries, when they get their hands on the ball, they make you pay. Good secondaries knock balls down and you go to the next play. Well, this team makes you pay. They have a lot of great hands on the back end.”
On Chiefs TE Travis Kelce
“They play him everywhere. He’s a very bright player. He plays wide receiver basically outside and he comes inside and plays. He’s sliding in the boot-game and those types of things. I think it’s a credit to him and everything that [Chiefs Head Coach] Andy [Reid] does with him. When it’s time, that’s where they are looking. That is where [Chiefs QB] Alex [Smith] is looking. He’s a really good player.”
Shane Ray
On what Chiefs QB Alex Smith does successfully
“Alex is a good quarterback. He makes some good passes. If you look at their completion rate, they’re one of the best in the league. I think that’s because they utilize their guys really well in underneath and short passes and that’s what gets their offense going. We just have to do a great job of trying to keep pressure on, keeping guys on their receivers and taking away the short game. He hasn’t been running this year a lot, but I’ve been watching Alex Smith for a while now. He still has a knack for getting out of the pocket and making plays with his legs. We just have to be conscious of that and do what we have to do to stop him from breaching contain.”
On the Kansas City offense picking up ‘hidden yardage’
“It’s kind of like what we have dealt with all year. Quarterbacks started running on us early in the season. [Colts QB] Andrew Luck, [Panthers QB] Cam [Newton] and [Bengals Andy] Dalton, the list goes on. It’s just another game like that with a quarterback that uses his legs. We just have to be prepared for it. it’s not something that’s going to stop the way that we rush or take our aggressiveness away, but we just have to be conscious.”
On the key to stopping the run
“The way [Defensive Coordinator Wade] Phillips described it was that we just have to deny people. It’s a mentality. We can’t allow people to run the ball on us. We’re not going to let guys run the ball on us. That’s our mentality. We’re going to correct that and handle our business.”
