The Denver Broncos lost 29-13 to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday and it was with an offensive effort that has not been seen around Denver in several seasons.
The Chiefs, who had lost their previous seven games against their division rival, came into town and made the now 7-2 team look like a shell of itself.
There is not a shortage of disappointing aspects of the game Sunday but here are just a few:
Worst quote
Head coach Gary Kubiak on the loss and playing Peyton Manning
“Let me just say this. I am obviously very disappointed in the NFL game. Give Kansas City credit. They played a great football game. Andy [Reid] had them ready to go. I’m disappointed in myself. This one is on me. I probably should have made a decision not play him [Manning] in the game and the reason, I need to make that, probably, a tough decision there.”
Offensive LVP
Peyton Manning looked about as old as a 39-year-old quarterback can look Sunday. He entered the game with a foot injury and Saturday the injury report suddenly listed his ribs as an additional injury. His first throw of the game was a deep post route to Vernon Davis and fell from the sky several feet short of the new Broncos tight end and into the hands of Chiefs cornerback, Marcus Peters.
His day would not get any better. After a brief and awkward celebration for surpassing Brett Favre for the NFL all-time passing yards record he went on to throw for only 31 more yards and landed three more throws in Chiefs defenders arms.
“I didn’t play well, I had a bad game and I’m not sure what else you can say about that. Whether it was because of my injuries or my poor decision making, I tend to lean on the poor decision making and some bad throws. I had some under throws to some guys, so I wish I would have played better,” a sullen Manning said after the game.
With 6:34 remaining in the third quarter Manning, future hall of famer, was benched for Brock Osweiler. Head coach, Gary Kubiak stated it was a decision based on “protecting him” but the results of two and half quarters was all anyone needed to know that it wasn’t Manning’s day.
He finished his day with a 0.0 passer rating, completing only five of 20 throws for 35 yards and four interceptions.
Defensive LVP
After an entire week, and frankly several weeks of addressing stupid personal fouls and late hits by the aggressive Broncos defense, another player jeopardized his playing status for next week with an ugly play.
In the fourth quarter, the Kansas City Chiefs completed a pass to Charcandrick West and he took off for an 80-yard touchdown run. At the end of the play, receiver Jeremy Maclin attempted to block T.J. Ward, although West was already by him and entering the end zone. Ward took exception to the move, pushed Maclin to the ground and appeared to have swung his fist at the back of Maclin’s head as he went to the ground. Ward was ejected for the move and will likely face disciplinary action from the NFL.
“I got emotional. I didn’t really punch him. I don’t even think that I punched him, if you see it, but it looked like a windup. You can take it how it is. It was an emotional game. A hard fought [game] for us, defensively with a lot of things going on that you guys weren’t able to see. I lost control.”
Kubiak called the penalty and ejection “disappointing;” it just adds to a team that has the highest amount of personal foul calls in the NFL this season. Ward has also been fined several times this season for various offenses and was suspended to start the season for an off-the-field altercation. The league will surely consider suspending and fining him once again.
Worst statistic
The Broncos offense was held to only 13 points and did not score until 5:31 left in the game. Prior to their two scoring drives, the Broncos were held to only nine first downs and 113 net yards.
Their inability to move the ball was obviously most directly linked to the five interceptions but they also only ran the ball 16 times to 44 pass attempts. Additionally, they only managed to convert 3-of-14 third down attempts.
“We have just got to play better as a whole. It was probably our worst performance since one-eight (Manning) has been here. We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do better. It’s not going to be easy because they (opposing defenses) are throwing a lot of different things at us,” Demaryius Thomas said after the loss.
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