Broncos must up their game to take on improved Kansas City Chiefs

Jay Asser 11:19 17/09/2015
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  • Standout: Travis Kelce.

    The Denver Broncos withstood a subpar offensive effort in their opener, but will have less room for error against a revamped Kansas City Chiefs attack in the Week 2 AFC West showdown.

    Denver’s offence managed just 219 total yards against the Baltimore Ravens in their first game, but the other side of the ball shut down the opposition to grind out a 19-13 win in a defensive battle.

    Kansas City, however, displayed an improved passing game in their opener that should give the Broncos more of a challenge than Baltimore’s did.

    The Chiefs scored at will with all their points coming in the first half of the 27-20 victory over the Houston Texans. New wide receiver Jeremy Maclin added another facet on the outside, reeling in five passes from quarterback Alex Smith for 52 yards, while tight end and breakout candidate Travis Kelce was unstoppable with 102 yards and two touchdowns.

    Smith was efficient with 243 yards on 22-of-33 completions with three scores, while the ground game was limited to 97 yards on 32 carries.

    Good running: Smith.

    The addition of Maclin, plus the emergence of Kelce whose workload was steadily ramped up in 2014 and the receiving threat of running back Jamaal Charles out of the backfield gives Smith a trio of weapons to potentially make Kansas City as dangerous through the air as they’ve been on the ground.

    After ranking top-10 in rushing yards and bottom-five in passing yards last season, Kansas City’s early returns suggest a more multidimensional offence.

    “We’re more balanced,” said Smith, in his 11th season. “I think we have a lot of weapons, a lot of guys who can do multiple things so I think that presents a lot of different problems for defences.”

    While Denver’s defence – one of the top units in the league – should offer plenty of resistance, the more concerning aspect of facing the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium will be protecting Peyton Manning.

    Kansas City racked up five sacks in Week 1 and had the fifth-most sacks in the league last year, fuelled by Justin Houston’s 22.0. Manning was sacked four times by Baltimore, his most since October 2013, behind an offensive line that has four new starters this year.

    The Broncos offence has yet to find its rhythm under new coach Gary Kubiak, but Manning’s struggles date back to the second half of last season as he’s now thrown for fewer than 200 yards in three of his past six outings.

    Kansas City won’t take Thursday’s matchup (UAE 04:25 +1) with the future Hall of Famer for granted though, having lost all six divisional contests against Manning since he joined Denver in 2012.

    “We’re not going into this game saying ‘Oh, man, this is our chance. Peyton is not the same,’” Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said. “Peyton is the man. If we’re not on our stuff, he can blow our socks off.”

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