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| ATL at NO | CIN at IND | CLE at TEN | DAL at PIT | HOU at GB | JAX at CHI | KC at DEN | MIA at BUF |
| MIN at DET | NE at SEA | NYJ at SF | OAK at SD | PHI at NYG | STL at ARI | TB at CAR | WAS at BAL |
Week 14 Game Recap: Kansas City Chiefs 17, Denver Broncos 24
What you need to know
| Kansas City Chiefs |
The Chiefs battled all game on the road, but came up just short against the division leading Broncos, falling to 2-11. Tyler Thigpen completed 17 of 32 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions on the afternoon, which wasn't enough against a Broncos secondary susceptible to the pass this season. Dwayne Bowe led all receivers with seven receptions for 96 yards, though was kept out of the end zone. Tight end Tony Gonzalez did catch a touchdown to go with five catches for 73 yards. With Mark Bradley out with calf problems on both legs, Jeff Webb was the only other receiver to catch a pass, with eight yards on a single grab. Out of the backfield, Jamaal Charles added three receptions for twelve yards and Jackie Battle lost two yards on his only catch.
Though the Chiefs led for much of the first half and parts of the second half, the Chiefs didn't focus on running the ball against the Broncos. Larry Johnson carried the ball just eleven times for 36 yards, while Jamaal Charles received one carry for thirteen yards. Tyler Thigpen had six official carries for 34 yards, including a four yard draw where he was stuffed at the end of the game from the five yard line on fourth and goal.
| Denver Broncos |
Though the Broncos entered with a gameplan to run the ball against the Chiefs, a strained right hamstring sidelined rookie Peyton Hillis in the second quarter, and forced the Broncos to the air game to get their eighth win of the season. The home win gives them a three game division lead with three games to go over the San Diego Chargers.
After having an interception returned for a touchdown early, Jay Cutler rebounded to lead the Broncos to victory by completing 32 of 40 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns to go with the one interception. Cutler looked the way of Brandon Marshall frequently, who came up big and caught eleven passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Eddie Royal sprinkled in six catches for 42 yards throughout the game and did a good job of keeping the chains moving. The tight ends played a big role in this game, with five receptions and 61 yards from Tony Scheffler and three catches for 32 yards from Daniel Graham. Before exiting with an ankle injury, receiver Brandon Stokley caught two passes for 19 yards, and was spelled by Darrell Jackson, who came up with fourteen yards on a pair of receptions. Filling in for Peyton Hillis after he was injured, Tatum Bell recorded two catches for sixteen yards to add to the eleven yards Hillis picked up on a single grab.
Before exiting with a strained right hamstring, Peyton Hillis was on his way to a very good game, with eight carries for 58 yards and a touchdown, and was the focus of the Broncos offense. Tatum Bell was the only other tailback on the gameday roster, and came in to pick up 52 yards on eleven carries. The Broncos used wide receiver Eddie Royal on three end arounds, which he picked up thirteen yards on. Jay Cutler scrambled for sixteen yards on eight official attempts.
What you ought to know
| QB Tyler Thigpen, Pass: 17 - 32 - 187 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 6 - 34 - 0 |
Thigpen completed just 53 percent of his passes for an average gain of 5.8 yards per attempt, but with no interceptions earned a passer rating on the day of 70.7. Unfortunately he struggled in the red zone, and was unable to tie the game up late with multiple opportunities to do so from the five yard line. In addition to missing Dwayne Bowe through the air, he also came up just short on a draw play as he was stuffed at the one yard line on fourth and goal.
| RB Larry Johnson, Rush: 11 - 36 - 0 |
Johnson was hardly given a chance to get going in this game, and only averaged 3.3 yards with his eleven carries. His long on the day was eleven yards, but his lack of activity in a close game played a bigger role in his poor stats. Johnson was given just three carries in the second half of a close game.
| WR Dwayne Bowe, Rec: 7 - 96 - 0 (12 targets) |
Bowe led the team in receptions, but was kept out of the end zone against the Broncos secondary that did not have Champ Bailey. Bowe was targeted twice late in the game in the end zone, though at least one ball was not really catchable. Bowe was targeted frequently in the two minute offense in the first half as well.
| WR Jeff Webb, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (3 targets) |
With Mark Bradley out, Jeff Webb lined up in many formations, but finished with just a single grab. All three targets came on a single series in the second quarter of this game.
| TE Tony Gonzalez, Rec: 5 - 73 - 1 (11 targets) |
Gonzalez proved again to be the best playmaker on the Chiefs, catching their only offensive touchdown, and averaging 14.6 yards per reception.
| PK Connor Barth 1 - 1 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Barth connected on his only field goal attempt from 26 yards, and made both extra point attempts.
| KC Rush Defense |
The Chiefs gave up 110 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries to the Broncos traditional tailbacks, but also allowed Jay Cutler and Eddie Royal to add 29 additional yards.
| KC Pass Defense |
Though they came up with an interception that they returned for a touchdown early, they were unable to shutdown Brandon Marshall as the game went on, and gave up 286 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air.
| QB Jay Cutler, Pass: 32 - 40 - 286 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 8 - 16 - 0 |
Cutler rebounded from an early interception to complete 80 percent of his passes for an average gain of 7.2 yards per attempt on his way to an 86.0 passer rating. Cutler put the game on his shoulders and looked for Brandon Marshall in key situations to lead the Broncos to their division leading eighth win of the season.
| RB Tatum Bell, Rush: 11 - 52 - 0, Rec: 2 - 16 - 0 (2 targets) |
Bell entered the game and was used sparingly after the Broncos had featured the running game extensively early, perhaps a telling sign. Bell did average 4.7 yards per attempt, though more than half of his yardage came on a 28 yard carry in the second half. Depending upon the injury status of Peyton Hillis and Selvin Young, Tatum Bell could be the sixth different featured running back for the Broncos this season, joining the aforementioned plus Michael Pittman, Ryan Torain and Andre Hall.
| RB Peyton Hillis, Rush: 8 - 58 - 1, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (1 targets) |
Hillis was averaging 7.3 yards per rush, but a nice catch on a eleven yard reception ended with his leg coming down straight against the ground, and caused him to exit with a strained hamstring. The extent of this injury will be evaluated further, though Mike Shanahan did not sound optimistic in his post game conference, suggesting it was a bad strain which could cause him to miss some games.
| WR Brandon Marshall, Rec: 11 - 91 - 2 (12 targets) |
Marshall averaged just 8.3 yards per reception in this game, but came up with two very big catches in the end zone amongst eleven on the day to help lead the Broncos to victory, and caught almost everything in site. With his big day, Marshall passed the 80 reception and 1000 yard receiving mark on the season in twelve games played.
| WR Eddie Royal, Rush: 3 - 13 - 0, Rec: 6 - 42 - 0 (7 targets) |
Royal only averaged 7.0 yards per reception in this game, but including three rushing attempts and two kickoff returns, touched the ball eleven times for 95 all purpose yards against the Chiefs. The lone target which Royal did not record a catch was initially ruled an eleven yard catch, but overturned on a challenge.
| TE Tony Scheffler, Rec: 5 - 61 - 0 (6 targets) |
Scheffler followed up a big game against the Jets with another good performance, average 12.2 yards per reception. Fellow tight end Daniel Graham added three receptions as the Broncos lined up in a number of two tight end sets with Peyton Hillis and Brandon Stokley both sidelined during this game.
| PK Matt Prater 1 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Prater made a 33 yard field goal, but missed a 48 yard field goal in the first half. Prater connected on all three extra point attempts.
| DEN Rush Defense |
The Broncos shutdown the Chiefs running game, allowing just 49 yards from their tailbacks, though the linebackers struggled to contain an elusive Tyler Thigpen, who finished with 34 yards on the afternoon.
| DEN Pass Defense |
Though they were playing without Champ Bailey, the Broncos held Tyler Thigpen and the Chiefs to just 187 yards and one touchdown despite the Chiefs game plan to try to beat them through the air.
