ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) \u2014 The Denver Broncos might be catching a break in their opener Monday night against the Kansas City Chiefs by getting Patrick Mahomes in his first game back from a torn ACL last December.<\/p>\n
They certainly don’t see it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Patrick\u2019s gonna be Patrick,” Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. \u201cIn my opinion, he wouldn\u2019t play if he couldn\u2019t be himself. He\u2019s had a good summer and spring to kind of rehab, and from what I hear and what I read, he\u2019s feeling great. … So, we’ll get his best shot.”<\/p>\n
The Broncos open defense of their AFC West crown Monday night at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs are aiming to bounce back from their first losing season in coach Andy Reid\u2019s tenure that goes back to 2013.<\/p>\n
Mahomes got hurt in mid-December in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n
Broncos QB Bo Nix is coming back from his own season-ending injury, a broken right ankle that sidelined him in the AFC championship game loss to New England.<\/p>\n
Unlike Mahomes, Nix made a cameo in the preseason, driving Denver to scores on both of his possessions against Green Bay last month.<\/p>\n
Broncos coach Sean Payton said his preparation for Mahomes is no different than it’s always been.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to probably say the same for Bo, you\u2019ve seen enough things where he\u2019s going to be 100% and we\u2019re preparing for him at his best,\u201d Payton said. “We know how talented he is and I\u2019m sure he\u2019s attacked the rehab the way Bo has \u2014 with completely different injuries. That\u2019s kind of our approach to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahomes won’t have left tackle Josh Simmons (back) protecting his blindside, but the Broncos are without edge rusher Jonathon Cooper, who’s on the commissioner’s exempt list.<\/p>\n
Jonah Elliss will start in Cooper’s place and rotate with Que Robinson and Dondrea Tillman.<\/p>\n
Although the Chiefs are expected to try some quick-hitting throws to keep Denver’s vaunted pass rush at bay \u2014 the Broncos have had an NFL-high 131 sacks over the past two seasons \u2014 All-Pro pass rusher Nik Bonitto said he’s expecting vintage Mahomes, the mobile QB who has never lost to Denver at Arrowhead (7-0).<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the toughest thing is his presence in the pocket,\u201d Bonitto said. \u201cHe knows where guys are coming from, where to step up, where to back out, if he\u2019s going to spin \u2014 while he\u2019s able to do that, he\u2019s also able to navigate his receivers downfield and get them open or throw them open. He\u2019s a huge challenge, and obviously that\u2019s what makes him great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expected to take pressure off Mahomes is new Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker, who joined K.C. in free agency after his Super Bowl MVP performance with the Seattle Seahawks, along with rookie running back Emmett Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kind of hear their commitment to running the ball more,\u201d Payton said. \u201cThey selected one early who we thought was a real good player and then they signed a pretty highly regarded free agent, so you pay attention to that. Their commitment to running the ball I think is evident in the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) \u2014 The Denver Broncos might be catching a break in their opener Monday night against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":999137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[501,232,231,258,130902,2426,9916,28343,7,1729,3901,1488,9294,6,1625,27878,499,27876,122421,90975,90976,129202,122423,130903,7140,1813,2832],"class_list":["post-999136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-andy-reid","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-broncos-kansas-city-chiefs-patrick-mahomes","tag-denverbroncos","tag-dondrea-tillman","tag-emmett-johnson","tag-football","tag-jonah-elliss","tag-jonathon-cooper","tag-josh-simmons","tag-kenneth-walker","tag-nfl","tag-nik-bonitto","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-40777-ap-colorado-sports-only","tag-product-40787-ap-kansas-sports-only","tag-product-40795-ap-missouri-sports-only","tag-product-40801-ap-new-mexico-sports-only","tag-product-40816-ap-utah-sports-only","tag-product-40823-ap-wyoming-sports-only","tag-que-robinson","tag-sean-payton","tag-vance-joseph"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=999136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/999137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}