The Game That Could Flip the AFC West 👀 | Broncos vs Chiefs Preview

The Game That Could Flip the AFC West 👀 | Broncos vs Chiefs Preview

Oh, it’s a big one on CBS Sunday. It’s so big that the NFL today is going to be on site in Denver. Chris Hassel with Kyle Long. It’s the Broncos, winners of seven straight, hosting the Kansas City Chiefs, who right now would not be in the playoffs yet are still the favorites to win the Super Bowl, Kyle. And three and a half point favorites to win this game on the road where Denver hasn’t lost in a long time. So, Kansas City is still the favorites to win the Super Bowl. They are. That’s crazy. I try not to pay attention to those like favorites or percentages because as you and I both know, there’s a lot of season remaining, particularly when I think about a matchup like this and what’s at stake. You know, AFC West, I think it’s 10 straight for the Kansas City Chiefs. Trying to make it 10 straight. Trying to make it 10 straight here. So, for the Br and you know, let me preface it with this. Mahomes 13-1 career verse Denver. Uh 19-2 in career in road division games. Unbelievable. 21-5 coming off of a loss. Andy Reid 22 and4 coming off of a by-week. So, you put all those facts together and it tells you that the Kansas City uh Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes should have some success against the Denver Broncos, but then there’s the crowd that’s like, well, hold on, that’s like overall against, you know, Brock Osweiler and the other the other guys that have played for the past, you know what I’m saying? But then we think about some guys that have historically just dominated football teams and it’s like, well, it doesn’t matter who’s playing. It’s, you know, they’re playing against the jersey, right? and they’re just going to win. But then I’m going to argue back and say Josh Allen had the same type of record against the Miami Dolphins. And just last week we watched that happen and that shook up the whole AFC. So if you want to continue the aftershocks of the earthquake that happened on the East Coast this past week, it’ll be the Denver Broncos finding a way and I’ll tell you the way they’re going to do it to get after the Kansas City Chiefs. And it’s going to be taking a page out of the books of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs. and it’s going to be the Philadelphia Eagles playbook, which is win with four guys at the line of scrimmage, dominate the line of scrimmage, the defensive front has to put Patrick in a in a chaos chamber every single play. And in addition to winning their 101-1s, getting to the quarterback, throwing off the rhythm and timing of that offense, they can’t get overzealous in their rush lanes. Because when they get overzealous in the rush lanes and try to win maybe inside when they should have been outside, what happens? Patrick Mahomes can leak out the pocket. There’s nobody in the history of the National Football League better at creating off of schedule outside the pocket. So, those are the two things the Broncos have to do. Collapse the pocket, dominate, win one-on- ones, and when you win, win in the right spot. Win where your guys know you’re going to be because Patrick is always one step ahead. I just think that this combination of the way that the Broncos can run the football, their hoham vanilla style, you know, yawning their way through the first three quarters, that wears down a defense as well. So, let’s talk about the other side. People have been complaining about Bo Knicks. Bo Nicks doesn’t have to go be Patrick Mahomes or Justin Herbert in this offense. Shawn Payeyton has has constructed this team to play bully ball on defense and to run the football effectively on offense. Uh JK Dobbins has been awesome. And you know what? The last guy to be this good in a Denver Broncos jersey went by. He had initials TD. Terrell Davis, remember him? 9798. Five yards a carry. Bro, I brag on this offensive line for the Denver Broncos all the time. And Pete’s always like, “Well, if they’re so good, why isn’t Bo Knicks?” Cuz he doesn’t have to be until he needs to be, which is the fourth quarter. And do you mind pulling up those fourth quarter stats that we were taking a look at earlier for this Denver Broncos team? because this will tell you the story of the Denver Broncos team. First three quarters is swing the hell out of your axe, defensive front and offensive line. Beat the hell out of those guys across from you. It will bust loose like a dam in the fourth quarter and flood that freaking field with Broncos that orange color comes alive in the fourth quarter. I think this matchup will be awesome. And you know, obviously the X- factor is Patrick Mahomes, but the formula for beating the GOAT is to to win with four guys, play coverage on the back end. We haven’t even mentioned the AllPros that are on the back end for this team. And I know that there’s an injury there for the Denver Broncos. Certan still out. It’s going to be a couple more weeks, but this unit is looking forward to step up. Okay, there’s guys that have been sitting behind Certan that have been looking for an opportunity to step into the spotlight. What better way to make a name for yourself than going against Patrick Mahomes in the Kansas City Chiefs who are looking for their 10th straight AFC West. Look, the winner of this game reigns supreme in the AFC West. The loser of this game, if it’s the Kansas City Chiefs, they’re sitting around 50%, I think, for getting into the playoffs. So, this is more than just divisional. This is for the playoffs. This is more than just bragging rights here. It it feels like and it’s it’s weird to say this because the the you know the Broncos haven’t won a division in a long time. It still feels like this game is bigger for the Chiefs because like you said their percentage to get in the playoffs right now is is decent. You know, around 75%. You lose this game though and you’ve got somewhat of an uphill battle just to get into the thing. Who do you think this game is more important for? I think this game is more important obviously when you’re thinking about the playoffs for the Kansas City Chiefs, but when I think when I step back a little bit and go to 30,000 feet and I think about how important this matchup is in this window with our crew, the NFL today crew being there, Tony and Jim, this is the game that everybody’s going to be watching. If the Denver Broncos show up and they handle the business defensively, if they can run the ball effectively, if Bo Nicks can play that game manager style of football, which I’m not saying there’s a problem with Chris, but if he can do that and the Broncos can handle business against the Chiefs, it’ll be wildly important not only for this season, but just turning the page on the dominance, the reign of supremacy for the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. I’m not saying they’re out of it, but it’s not as a as so much of a sure thing as it has been over the last decade. Put yourself in the shoes of a Denver Bronco right now. You’re on this sevengame winning streak. You’re basically unbeatable at home. You’re a home underdog to the Kansas City Chiefs and everyone seems to still be doubting you and saying, “Yeah, but you know, is it sustainable? Can you continue to do that in the fourth quarter? Can you continue to win with Bo Knicks only throwing for six yards per pass attempt? What’s your mindset going into the game? My mindset is nobody knows us good. Nobody respects us. Great. Okay. I think about this football team and it’s a bunch of guys like Bo Knicks that have been doing well enough to win in the National Football League, which by the way, Chris, is very, very freaking hard. So Bo Knicks has won games. I think about this defensive front, particularly a guy like Zack Allen, okay? And there’s some people that don’t even know who Zack Allen is. He’s got 28 quarterback hits on the season that leads the National Football League. He had 40 last year, which is an, you know, an unbelievable clip. He’s at an even bigger clip this year. And it’s not just Zack Allen. It’s a bunch of guys. It’s Nick Bonito. The entire front. They make teams pay when they play him. They’re looking for respect. They’re out for blood against the Kansas City Chiefs. And when they see red, when Patrick Mahomes comes out there, it’s going to be personal for this team. Broncos are winning kind of in a way the Chiefs had been winning in recent years. Remember last year they had that crazy 12-0 record in one score games. Yeah, it’s totally flipped on its head this season with KC. They’re 0 and4 in one score games. How does that happen? It’s been a combination of things. They’ve had guys in and out of the lineup on the offensive line. Obviously, early in the season, they had guys in and out of the lineup at the receiver position, but it’s just the nature of the beast. I mean, I take a look at last year, 10 games, I think it was. The Commanders won by one score. The Bears last year, they lost all their handful of one-score games. This league’s wild, Chris, but it comes down to any given Sunday. And this Sunday, the Broncos get an opportunity to flip the script on the Kansas City Chiefs. Sounds like you’re pretty bullish on the Broncos winning this game. Well, I just think that it’s going to be something worth watching and I think we’re going to glean a lot about this Denver Broncos team who are shrouded with doubt right now for whatever reason for a team that’s sitting at top the standings, you know, with two losses or whatever the hell it is. They’re a damn good football team. Shawn Peyton’s a great football coach. We owe them their respect. Obviously, I have a ton of respect for the team with the arrowhead right there, the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes. I preface this entire conversation with his record. Obviously, I’d be an idiot to think that the Kansas City Chiefs aren’t the favorite, but if you’re the Broncos, you’re going to find a way to bow up. And I think that their style of defense lends itself to getting after this Kansas City Chiefs offense. Broncos win. I’m going to go with my pick on Sunday. Oh, okay. Okay. You’re going to wait. Yeah, I’m going to wait. Okay. I picked I picked teased down the road. I picked against the spread yesterday. So, you can catch our picks with Pete uh on the YouTube channel, but on Sunday, you can tune in to NFL Today Plus at 10 a.m. And uh you reserve the right to change your mind. Yeah, I can change my mind. Sounds like you think it’s going to be a great game, though. And you can’t miss this game. 4:25 Eastern time on CBS and the NFL Today crew will be there with pre and post.

Kyle Long joins CBS Sports HQ to preview the huge AFC West matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos in week 11.

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