The Denver Broncos travel east on the second leg of a two game road trip for their first seasonal matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. Denver is 3-5 and coming off of a much needed victory over the Oakland Raiders. They remain in last place in the AFC West division, but remarkably only one game out of 1st place at the halfway mark. The Chiefs are 4-4 and one of the 3 teams ahead of the Broncos in the division. Last week, the Miami Dolphins walked all over the Chiefs to claim their 1st win this season, 31-3. Denver usually has a hard time in Kansas City, but it seems like the Chiefs are in a funk right now and the timing couldn't be much better for a visit to the Sea of Red.
The game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011 @ 11 a.m. MST. It will be broadcast nationally on CBS. You can check the Regional Telecast map for the games in your area. Bill Macatee will do the play by play and Steve Tasker will add the color commentary. Arrowhead Stadium is an open air venue that has a natural grass surface and seats 79,451 fans.
Here is the weather forecast for the game:
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The Chiefs lost starters TE Tony Moeaki, S Eric Berry, RB Jamaal Charles, LB Brandon Siler, OT Ryan O’Callaghan and this year's 5th round pick LB Gabe Miller to Injured Reserve. It looks like S Jon McGraw will play this week, which shores up the Defensive backfield. DB Javier Arenas will probably be a game time decision because of a bad ankle. LB Demorrio Williams (Groin) will not play.
The Broncos will be without leading tackler LB Wesley Woodyard and CB Cassius Vaughn may not play either, but other than that, these two teams are healthy.
Chiefs | Broncos | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Offense | Rank | Category | Rank | Defense | Last Week |
16.4 | 26th | Points For | 31st | 28 | 31st |
312.8 | 24th | Total Yds | 22nd | 373.5 | 20th |
189.5 | 27th | Pass Yds | 23rd | 258 | 19th |
123.2 | 10th | Rush Yds | 15th | 115.5 | 17th |
18 | 14th | Sacks | T-11th | 20 | T-12th |
11 | T-15th | Forced Fumbles | T-18th | 6 | N/A |
9 | 19th | Interceptions | T-21st | 6 | T-28th |
40.40% | 12th | 3rd Downs | 16th | 39.30% | 18th |
-14.20% | 29th | Overall DVOA | 17th | 8.20% | 22nd |
-1 | T-17th | Turnover Margin | T-23rd | -5 | T-30th |
33 | 26th | QB Hits Allowed | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Matt Cassell leads the Chiefs. He is 147/241 for 1620 yds, a 61.0% Completion rate, 9 TD's, 9 INT's and a 77.8 QB Rating this season. The Running Backs are Jackie Battle (78 carries, 342 yds, a 4.4 avg and 1 TD), Thomas Jones (66, 200 yds, 3.0 ypc), Dexter McCluster (55, 246 yds, 4.5 ypc and 23 Catches for 95 yds), and Fullback Le'Ron McClain (16 yds, 1 TD and 7-44 yds Receiving).
The starters on the Kansas City Offensive Line are LT Branden Albert (4 False Start, 1 Hold, 4 Sacks Allowed), LG Ryan Lilja (1 Sack Allowed), C Casey Wiegmann (1 Hold, 0.5 SA), RG Jon Asamoah (2 FS, 1 Hold, 1 SA) and RT Barry Richardson (2 FS, 1.5 SA).
The Chiefs have been hot and cold in the scoring department. When they score 21 points, they win. The problem is, they have been either scoring 3 touchdowns or 3 points. They run the ball well and their O-Line has been good, only allowing 13 Sacks up until last week. The Dolphins Sacked Matt Cassel 5 times and forced him out of the pocket on nine other occasions on Sunday. The Broncos Defense has been trending upward while the Chiefs Offense is suspect.
Chiefs | Broncos | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Defense | Rank | Category | Rank | Offense | Last Week |
25.1 | 26th | Points Against | 21st | 21.4 | 23rd |
370.8 | 21st | Total Yds | 20th | 318.8 | 27th |
250.5 | 21st | Pass Yds | 31st | 171.2 | 30th |
120.3 | 19th | Rush Yds | 5th | 147.5 | 8th |
9 | 32nd | Sacks | 26th | 24 | 24th |
6 | T-18th | Forced Fumbles | T-7th | 14 | N/A |
13 | T-3rd | Interceptions | T-15th | 8 | T-11th |
39.60% | 18th | 3rd Downs | 24th | 33.30% | 21st |
8.70% | 19th | Overall DVOA | 24th | -7.80% | 28th |
54/455 | T-15th | Penalties | 27th | 46/416 | T-30th |
N/A | N/A | QB Hits Allowed | 10th | 41 | 18th |
In the Defensive backfield LCB Brandon Flowers (37 TKL, 15 PBU's, 4 INT, 1 TD) and RCB Brandon Carr (27 TKL, 5 PBU's, 2 INT's) man the corners. Javier Arenas (13 TKL, 1 PBU) is coming off an Ankle injury and and Travis Daniels (5 TKL, 1 PBU, 1 INT) is a seasoned backup.
The Chiefs Defense, outside of Tamba Hali, doesn't get many Sacks. What they do get is Interceptions. That should be okay though, since the 5th ranked rushing Offense plans a double dose of the Read Option that was successful last week in the Black Hole. You can expect a few wrinkles, but until someone stops the Tebow-McGahee Express, the Broncos will continue to employ it.
Chiefs | Special Teams | Broncos | Last Week | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
46.7 | Punt-Avg(Gross) | 49.8 | |||
41.3 | Punt-Avg (Net) | 43.1 | |||
14.5 | Punt Ret-Avg | 17.1 | |||
10.4 | PR-Avg Allowed | 9.5 | |||
23 | Kick Ret-Avg | 25.6 | |||
20 | KR-Avg Allowed | 23.6 | |||
13/14 | FG Made/Att | 8/12 | |||
1.50% | 10th | Overall DVOA | 8th | 2.20% | 11th |
Kansas City Kicker Ryan Succop is 11/14 (78.6%) on his Field Goals this year. His longest this year was 54 yards. Ryan is 14/14 on Extra Points. He has Kicked off 32 times this season with 23 touchbacks. Opponents have ran back 9 kickoffs for a 20 yard average.
Thomas Gafford has been the Chiefs Long snapper for the last 2 1/2 seasons. He has appeared in 41 career games and has 10 Tackles and a Fumble Recovery on Special Teams.
Javier Arenas and Dexter McCluster have both been used as return men for the Chiefs. Arenas has 13 punt returns with a 15.1 yard average, while McCluster has returned 3 punts for a 12.0 average. On Kick returns, Dexter has 16 run backs for a 23.8 average and Javier has returned 9 Kickoffs an average of 23 yards.
These two Special Teams Units are matched pretty evenly. Matt Prater has a greater range than Succop and right now, Britton Colquitt edges out his brother Dustin for family bragging rights, especially since he is leading the AFC with a 43.1-yd. net punt average that is on pace to rank as 4th-best mark in NFL in 35 years. The coverage and return units are close enough to be a wash. The Chiefs have historically played well on Special Teams.
The Chiefs lead this series 46-55-0. The last time these teams met was on December 5, 2010 in Kansas City. The Chiefs won that game 10-6. They have split the series in each of the last 3 seasons since Denver swept in 2007. The Broncos last win in Kansas City was on December 6, 2009 with a score of 44-13.
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