Thursday, October 17, 2019

BQB Red Thursday Preview: Chiefs @ Broncos


Who: Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
When: Thursday, October 17, 2019, at 7:20 PM.
Where: Empower Field at Mile High Stadium

It’s Donkey Week, baby!

Andy Reid is 22-3 in the division. All 3 of those losses come on Thursday night football, but your BQB predicts that that streak will end tonight.

To be totally frank, I am not a fan of Thursday night football. I believe that football is an extremely physical sport, and playing a game on Sunday, then another a mere 96 hours later, gives a team very little turn around and time to rest, let alone a banged up team like the Chiefs, but in the wise words of Mitch Holthus, “The NFL waits for no one.” And neither does your BQB.

Chiefs:

Alright, let’s just say what we’ve all been thinking. We are banged up - most notably on the offensive line. This is a problem when it comes to keeping our QB upright and mobile. We have key injuries on both sides of the ball, but thankfully we have regained the Cheetah last week. He made his presence known almost immediately, so you can count on him prowling the mountain tops of Denver. I don’t care what people say about the Broncos. I know their record. I know they haven’t looked great this season. But I am here to tell you, this is divisional football. We are playing the Broncos on their home turf and you can count on them playing the Chiefs hard. If this game is to be won, it will be won in the trenches, by setting up a good running game.

I’m not sure if it’s Reid’s lack of trust for his patched together offensive line, but the running game has been almost nonexistent the last couple of weeks and we need to get those guys going. I know everyone wants to see Mahomes launch some missiles (I do too), but the best way to set up that passing game, is to ground pound the rock and punch the Donkey defense in the mouth. Then while they’re reeling, the Chiefs can throw it over their collective Donkey heads. I want to see McCoy get involved (and hug that ball to his chest like a new born) and see the dangerous duo of Damian and Darrel Williams. And once that threat has been established, Mahomes, Kelce and Hill can have some fun in the passing game. But let’s hope the Chiefs don’t sleep on Broncos’ defensive end Von Miller or he will give them a rude awakening.

Broncos:

OK, Chiefs defense is… um… shall we say… questionable - to put it mildly. But they will have to figure it out tonight, for the Donkeys like to play old school football. Let’s face it, Flacco is in his twilight years and not what he used to be as far as passing. You can look for him to be handing the ball off a lot to his two running backs, Philip Lindsay and Royce Freemen.

Last week, Carlos Hyde rushed for 117 yards against the Chiefs defense, and let’s be honest, Hyde is an above average (at best) running back, but he is no world beater. If the Chiefs can’t find a way to clog up the run and corral Lindsay and Freeman, it will be another long night. Not to mention if Flacco is able to get his running game going, this is almost a triple edged sword (if there is such a thing) for the Chiefs given that they have been gashed this season for 5.2 yards per carry on average. It wins the battle of possession time and keeps Mahomes on the bench and it opens up the passing game to wide outs like Emmanuel Sanders.

BQB Final Prediction:

Regardless of how the Broncos might look so far this season, be ready for them to come out and play with their hair on fire to hand the Chiefs another loss. But if the Chiefs’ D can hold the run at least a little  and make an aging Flacco uncomfortable, then I believe that Mahomes and the boys should be able to make enough offensive sparks fly to sneak out with a win.

If the Chiefs win this game, then they have 10 days before their next game to regroup, rest and get healthy.

I predict the Chiefs squeak out a win in a tough physical football game, and leave Denver with a final score of 24-21.

Sound off in the comments with your predictions.

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