Our Week Eight of NFL shenanigans wraps up as it always does with Monday Night Football. This game looked a lot better a month ago, but we’re watching it anyway as the Denver Broncos (3-3) take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
MNF will be presented to you by none other than the World Wide Leader, ESPN, at 8:30 p.m. EST. I’ll be live blogging this one here at GetMoreSports.com and ride with you the whole way.
The Game: Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs (-7)
O/U: 42.0
The History
The Raiders and Broncos have played 114 games since 1960 with Kansas City holding a 59-55 advantage in the all time series.
Last year the Chiefs swept Denver, winning 30-27 in overtime at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on November 27, 2016 and 33-10 at Arrowhead on Christmas Day.
DENVER BRONCOS (3-3)
After what looked like a solid 2-0 start, the Broncos have fallen back to earth with a Tunguska sized crater. They’ve lost three of their last four to the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers. Their only win was over the Oakland Raiders with E.J. Manuel at quarterback.
Trevor Siemian continued his meandering journey back to the Broncos’ bench with a 25 of 35 for 207 yards and a pick performance against the Chargers. Denver managed just 69 yards on the ground, with C.J. Anderson contributing the most with 10 carries and 44 yards.
Siemian’s favorite target recently has been tight end A.J. Derby. Last week he caught six passes for 66 yards. Meanwhile Demaryius Thomas only caught two passes for nine yards. That’s a recipe for a loss right there.
The defense is still good. They sacked Philip Rivers three times and got six stops in the backfield. Denver forced exactly zero turnovers and with Siemian and the offense plodding, that too is a how to set up a defeat.
The good news for Denver is they’ll have options at QB in this game. Brock Osweiler, of course, has been holding a Surface tablet all season, but this is the first week Paxton Lynch will be available. He was a full participant in practice and if this game gets out of hand, don’t be surprised to see him on the field in the second half.
Donald Stephenson is officially out and Emmanuel Sanders is questionable, but did not practice.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (5-2)
Kansas City will try to rediscover its dominance after dropping two close games against legit opponents. Two weeks ago they fell 19-13 to the Pittsburgh Steelers and last week it was a final second touchdown pass from Derek Carr that doomed them against the Oakland Raiders, 31-30.
This was a defensive breakdown in the second half, one the Chiefs probably won’t have to worry about against Siemian and the Broncos. The offense was still sharp, with Alex Smith going 25 of 36 for 342 yards and three touchdowns. Kareem Hunt rushed 18 times for 87 yards and caught four passes for 30 yards. Tyreek Hill got back into the offense after a few weeks off with six catches for 125 yards and a touchdown.
The defense had no answer for Amari Cooper other than hoping Cooper would drop the ball, which to be fair, he still did. Thomas is a better wideout that Cooper, but Carr won’t be throwing him the ball this week. The Chiefs will need to load up on the run and pressure Siemian. He’ll wilt fast.
With the exception of the guys they’ve already lost for the year, Kansas City is healthy heading into this game and everybody that could practice did practice.
The Pick
I don’t care what their record is. I think this Broncos team is done for the season. That doesn’t mean they’ll not win another game, but they won’t be a serious factor from here on out. Kansas City is at home and has lost two in a row. It’s time to get back to business against a team they owned in 2016. Chiefs 24, Broncos 13
This week
Straight up: 0-1
Against the spread: 0-1
Last week
Straight up: 12-3
Against the spread: 7-8
Season
Straight up: 60-46
Against the spread: 50-56
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