This Sunday’s regular-season finale between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos pits two division rivals against each other for the second time this season as they ring in the new year.
In any season, that’s enough to get the blood flowing and adrenaline pumping as the players gear up for the contest throughout the week.
Except this time, it means much more.
Not only are the Broncos going against the Chiefs for the 103rd time in the regular season — only the Chargers have played more regular season games against the Broncos with 104 — but they’ll be going against their former starting quarterback from the first half of this season with a playoff spot on the line.
“At the end of the day it comes down to beating the man across from you and us executing well,” Defensive end Robert Ayers said. “That’s about it. He [QB Kyle Orton] does know us, but we feel like we know the Chiefs, too. It’s a division team, and with all the scouting reports and all the stuff that helps us know the other team, that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
But Ayers was quick to play down the hype regarding his former teammate.
“It’s going to be fun as it always is, but I’m not going to think too much into this whole Kyle Orton thing,” Ayers said. “We’re fighting for something that’s big, and we want to go to the playoffs. That’s all I’m focusing on.”
Ayers’ current teammates have also downplayed any notion that Orton and the Chiefs have an advantage because of his time in Denver and familiarity with the offense playbook and defensive players. A lot has changed since the Broncos waived the veteran quarterback, and any insights Orton can give the Chiefs will be negated by the fact the Broncos defense went against him — in practice every day — more than anybody this year.
“(Orton’s possible advantage) is about as equal as it will be for our defense having practiced against Kyle.,” Head Coach John Fox said.
In the end, the game will be played by more than just one person. As Fox and the players have been saying all week, it’ll come down to the Denver Broncos against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Several Broncos players might catch up with their former teammate on the field before the game, but once the clock starts, the Broncos will be focused on winning and making the playoffs.
“You can know everybody all you want, but once you get hit in the mouth on the first play, all that goes out the window,” Elvis Dumervil said.
CHAMP BAILEY NAMED RECIPIENT OF GOOD GUY AWARD
One day after being named to the Pro Bowl, cornerback Champ Bailey received another honor, as he was named the fifth-annual Darrent Williams Good Guy Award recipient.
The award is named after Williams, a former Bronco, who passed away on Jan. 1, 2007 after completing his second year with the team. The recipient is chosen by members of the local media, who give the award to the person that best exemplifies Williams’ enthusiasm, cooperation and honesty while dealing with members of the press.
Bailey will receive the award after Thursday’s practice. Previous award winners are: Mario Haggan (2010), Elvis Dumervil (2009), Ebenezer Ekuban (2008) and John Lynch (2007).
STATISTICAL CHANGE FROM SUNDAY’S GAME
The NFL announced a statistical change on quarterback Tim Tebow’s second interception that was returned for a touchdown Sunday by Bills defensive end Spencer Johnson.
At the time, the play that occurred with 7:55 left in the fourth quarter was ruled as an interception. However, it has now been changed to a sack-fumble.
INJURY REPORT
Here is Wednesday’s injury report.
For the Broncos:
DID NOT PRACTICE: Safety Brian Dawkins (neck).
LIMITED: Safety David Bruton (Achilles), cornerback Chris Harris (neck).
FULL: Safety Quinton Carter (hip), linebacker Von Miller (thumb).
For the Chiefs:
DID NOT PRACTICE: Running back Jackie Battle (foot).
LIMITED: Safety John McGraw (ankle).
Below are some photos from Wednesday’s practice.
-Kenny Legan
Tags: Kansas City Chiefs, Kyle Orton, Week 17
Bay – for a second I thought we were picking us to win 31-6.. LOL!
Why the gov’t question? U work with one?
Agreed, it’s silly, but they do it to try and make him, look bad.. I’d rather have people say they’d rather have him as a neighbor than not.. Maybe just me..
The government is so inefficient only people working for it can blog all day long on this blog while working, it was all just a joke, an attempt at a sarcastic sense of humor. Our government is screwed, 15 trillion screwed, LMAO. And no, never worked for them mainly ran my own businesses, retired now.
lets gets this W n go to the playoffs
To the guy who mentioned Phillip Payne … that man is pretty good. Slow (40 time wise) and extremely skinny but he does remind u of randy moss with his frame and the way he goes up for the ball. And he is not even projected in any rounds which is interesting …. He could be a shocker in the NFL … curious to see how he pans out no matter who he joins. I was big on Danario Alexander but he hasn’t shown what he did in college yet. Plus he is a bit on the injury prone side. TRB
If I had picked the Broncos to win this one 31-6, somebody better check me into a hospital pronto, haha.
Now Bay, you know that is a feasable prediction. Not mine, but feasable just the same.
Not feasable for me obviously.
Lol.. You mean to say the post office isn’t a well oiled machine?? Or the DMV is not pleasurable experience?? I have a pretty flexible schedule with my job, but I’m taking a promotion next year, so i may not be on here quite as much..
Good for you, the promotion.
I’m really interested in the individual match-ups in this upcoming game. Who is going to be the threat on the ground for the Chiefs? Thomas Jones or McCluster? Can DJ Williams, Joe Mays and Von Miller keep the runs under 3 yards average? Can the front four hold their ground and maybe push Kyle Orton around a little bit? I really feel this game is all about our Denver Defense stepping up.
The safety position is concern for us; but if we don’t give Orton time, their woeful coverage wont be a factor. Just as long as they wrap up and tackle.
Bottom line the game will go as the defense goes. Chris Harris has been a real bright spot on the defense this year…. I truly hope he can recover in time for this weekend.
I noticed that Franklin was not listed on the injury report. Must not of beren much to his getting injured last week. Maybe he will be good to go this week.
To me all areas of the team need to step it up this week and show us that they WANT to be in the playoffs. Their play the last 2 weeks has been horrible to say the least.
Thx, we’ll see.. A lot more work, and while there’s a potential for increased compensation, it’s mostly tied to performance..
TRB – when u said “goes up to get the ball” when referring to that WR, that’s something I don’t think our guys do enough of.. Hopefully they will get better at that
007 – agreed that our D needs to step up, if their RB’s get to the second level, it could be a long day with Dawkins not there to clean up the mess…
To put an inane slant on this game, there are three QBs that can get us into the playoffs this sunday. Rivers, Orton, Tebow.
Who is the best, with the most stellar record in Dec? Who is the worst?
OT. I can’t agree with that enough. Not one time all year have I seen one of our guys go up and take a ball away from the defender. They make a minor attempt at the ball. They don’t fully extend. They don’t consistently catch it away from their bodies and bring it in. They don’t lay out for it. They don’t consistently catch it at the highest point.
new blog
For me, I think the key to this game will be rushing, in every sense of the word. Pass rush, rushing offense, rushing defense.
If orton has enough time to where it feels like 7 on 7′s, then he easily has the talent to pick us apart to the tune of 30+ points. But we all know that even with a little bit of pressure, Orton folds. Quite literally.
KC led the league in rushing last year. They are 12th in the league this year thanks to a few of their RBs being on IR. But our D will still have to contend with a talented run blocking O-line, and a good rushing scheme.
We need to have solid production in the run game for 4 quarters. I believe that in order to achieve this we need to have a balanced attack. We should be evenly mixing in 35-45 percent pass plays depending on situation and what the D is doing.
So Goals for Victory: 1. Pressure. get in Orton’s face. 2. hold KC to their season average of about 120 yards rushing. 3. Rush for no less than 40 yards in any quarter, and throw no less than 6 passes in any quarter.
It’s a young group, with both DT and ED coming off foot injuries, so I’ll give them a pass, but come next year, they better show improvement there.. Can’t just wait for the ball to fall in there, gotta be proactive and go get it!