Fourth-quarter notes from Arrowhead Stadium …
9:29 P.M. CST: Denver’s red-zone defense is now three-for-four in keeping the Chiefs out of the end zone, and only an Ebenezer Ekuban penalty has kept the Broncos from perfection inside their 20-yard-line. The question as the Broncos begin their first drive of the final quarter is this — can the offense capitalize off of the second chances the defense has provided it?
9:30 P.M. CST: Not a good first answer to that question, as Mike Bell drops the potential reception on first-and-10 from the Denver 29. Stephen Alexander gets 11 yards one play later, however, and the Broncos are starting to move.
9:33 P.M. CST: Rod Smith’s catch on the drive is his first catch of at least 20 yards this season, as media-relations graduate assistant Denver Parler quickly pointed out before Smith got back up from the tackle. Denver, though, now has third-and-12 from the Kansas City 39, and the crowd is noisier than a day-care center.
9:34 P.M. CST: Third-and-12 … incomplete, and the Broncos punt.
9:44 P.M. CST: If you saw the Broncos’ first interception of the night from a distance, you’d have thought Champ Bailey made the pickoff … it just looked like the kind of play that the All-Pro makes with gusto. This interception, though, belonged to Darrent Williams, who persistently battled upfield for a return to the Kansas City 36.
9:46 P.M. CST: Just like that, a three-and-out and an opportunity lost.
9:47 P.M. CST: Kyle Johnson might have saved the Broncos about 25 yards of field position. Paul Ernster’s 52-yard punt was a low line-drive, but Johnson sprinted downfield and managed to contort his body to where he could tackle Dante Hall as the returner fell to the ground at the Kansas City 10.
9:51 P.M. CST: Twenty-six yards to Samie Parker on third-and-6. That play will likely cost the Broncos at least two minutes of clock time, let alone the damage from the yardage.
9:54 P.M. CST: Michael Bennett, spelling Larry Johnson, gains an extra 30 yards after Curome Cox can’t come up with the diving tackle. Another red-zone stop for a field goal will still put the Broncos two scores behind with under three minutes to play.
9:56 P.M. CST: With an ankle tackle of Larry Johnson, Champ Bailey just saved a touchdown.
9:58 P.M. CST: But Lawrence Tynes cleans up with a 21-yard field goal, putting the Broncos behind two scores with 2:42 to play and one timeout.
9:59 P.M. CST: Brian Clark arises slowly after his kickoff return, but is able to walk off the field and put weight on both of his legs.
10:04 P.M. CST: One hundred seconds to go, and the Broncos offense is going backwards … a sack and a 5-yard penalty.
10:05 P.M. CST: Three plays later, and that’s game.
Tags: Kansas City Chiefs
All I have to say is that is arrival of Jay Cutler will be very exciting, because Jake’s carrrer with denver is over.
Bring on Jay – we’re done with Jake the Snake. A steady, reliable running back (where are you, Mike Anderson) would do a world of good as well!
Enough is enough, Plummer has to go. Our offense is pathetic and our defense is not to far behind. From first place to now third place. If this continues we are gonna play ourselves right out of the playoffs. Bring on Cuttler goodbye snake!!!
Jake is so bad. I understand that he didn’t have a running game tonight but the thing that bothers me the most is how horrible he is when the defense knows he is going to throw. The good QB’s in the NFL get it done on 3rd and 6 with the defense playing the pass. If we’re gonna lose, let’s lose with at least a glimpse of what our future holds with Cutler. Looks like Shanahan’s own arrogance of letting go of Mike Anderson is hurting right now. Maybe he now realizes that not just ANYONE can put up big numbers in the Broncos backfield.
What is going on with the offense? Ever since we lost Kub we have done horrible with the ball. No Offense is not a good defense. It isn’t all Jake’s fault, in fact I see it as Coach Shanahan’s responsibility to get the offense going, even if it means that he takes over the play calling. Jake does need to throw the ball more crisply to the receivers or he’ll always be throwing behind them or setting the receiver up for big hits or interception.
What happen to the running game? Against the Chargers, Bell was averaging around 4 or 5 yards per carry and then we dropped the running game to pass the ball? I don’t understand the play calling by our new offense coordinator. Mike, maybe you should take over the play calling. We certainly miss Kubiak.