In their first five games, the Broncos’ defense missed two tackles on the same play only three times and never missed three tackles on a play.
That changed on Kansas City’s first drive Sunday.
Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire took the handoff and ran left. Safety Kareem Jackson missed a tackle at the 9-yard line and inside linebacker Alexander Johnson and cornerback Michael Ojemudia missed tackles at the 5. Edwards-Helaire scored the touchdown, giving the Chiefs a lead they wouldn’t give up in a 43-16 win.
The Broncos’ seven missed tackles Sunday were tied for the most this season with Week 2 at Pittsburgh. Booked were Jackson, Johnson (two), Ojemudia, outside linebacker Bradley Chubb (two) and safety Justin Simmons.
Simmons couldn’t corral receiver Tyreek Hill on a pass to the right flat, resulting in a 10-yard touchdown.
Missed tackles and chunk plays were the story for the Broncos’ defense. Kansas City ran only 51 plays (it entered averaging 80.8 plays per game) and 15 of those snaps gained at least 10 yards.
Here is a review of the Broncos’ loss to Kansas City:
OFFENSE
Pressuring Lock. Kansas City rushed five or more players on nine of quarterback Drew Lock’s 44 drop-backs (20.5%) and had three sacks, two knockdowns and five pressures (10 disruptions).
The Chiefs’ sacks came in 5.95, 2.04 and 2.00 seconds. Defensive tackle Chris Jones got the second sack by using a swim move against center Lloyd Cushenberry and cornerback Charvarius Ward got the third sack when he blitzed unblocked — right tackle Demar Dotson might have thought running back Royce Freeman had edge responsibilities, but Freeman blocked a blitzing interior player.
Well-designed TD. The Broncos’ first touchdown was good deception by play-caller Pat Shurmur. On third-and-goal from the 2, receiver Jerry Jeudy went in a jet sweep-like motion. At the snap, Jeudy sold the fake handoff, Lock faked a handoff to running back Melvin Gordon and then scooted in for the touchdown.
Forcing to Fant. The Broncos got tight end Noah Fant back from an ankle injury and he played 54 of 77 snaps and had three catches for 38 yards. Fant was the intended target on Lock’s first three non-throwaway passes — a three-yard gain and two incompletions (four and 19 yards downfield).
Meanwhile, it took too long to have tight end Albert Okwuegbunam challenge the Chiefs’ defense. He had seven catches (for 60 yards) on seven targets, but his first reception wasn’t until late in the second quarter (around the six-minute mark).
Lindsay’s great half. Running back Phillip Lindsay’s bad luck season continued when he left in the first half with a concussion. He rushed nine times for 79 yards in 14 snaps of work.
Rushes that stood out: Fourteen yards (left guard Dalton Risner pulled to take out linebacker Damien Wilson and fullback Jeremy Cox’s lead block accounted for West), 20 yards (everybody blocked left and Lindsay cut back right) and 19 yards (Risner pulled to block defensive end Frank Clark and Fant blocked Wilson).
Lock’s day. Lock was 1-of-5 passing for 27 yards (great catch by receiver Tim Patrick) on attempts that traveled at least 16 air yards. Twenty-eight of Lock’s 40 attempts didn’t go at least six air yards downfield. He was 4-of-7 passing from 6-15 air yards.
In all, we booked Lock with seven poor throws including his two interceptions. Another poor “throw” came at the end of the first half. From the Chiefs’ 40, West sacked Lock for a nine-yard loss.
OK, the Broncos had two downs to get about 9-12 yards for a Brandon McManus field goal. Instead, Lock was penalized for intentional grounding (nine-yard penalty), moving the offense back to the 42. No field goal.
DEFENSE
Dialing it back. After rushing at least five players on 36.4% and 44.0% of the Jets’ and Patriots’ drop-backs, respectively, coach Vic Fangio opted for a coverage plan against Patrick Mahomes.
The Broncos rushed five players on nine of Mahomes’ 32 drop-backs (28.1%) and didn’t rush six or seven players on any drop-back. The Broncos totaled eight disruptions — four sacks, three knockdowns and one pressure.
The sacks came in 2.09 (outside linebacker Bradley Chubb), 2.94 (defensive end Dre’Mont Jones) and 2.96 and 4.64 seconds (outside linebacker Malik Reed.) Chubb was unblocked after left tackle Eric Fisher looked inside at blitzing linebacker Alexander Johnson.
Third down effectiveness. The Chiefs went 0 for 8 on third down and needed an average of 9.1 yards per attempt including the end-of-game kneel-down.
It marked the sixth time since 1991 the Broncos have not allowed a third-down conversion — they are 4-2 in those games. New Orleans went 0 for 12 in 1994 but won 30-28.
Bouye’s return. Cornerback A.J. Bouye returned after missing four games with a shoulder injury and made two tackles on the first drive.
Bouye was targeted only one time in man coverage. On second-and-8 during the Chiefs’ opening possession, he gave Hill eight yards of cushion – Mahomes threw five yards to Hill, who gained six post-catch.
Working out of the slot, cornerback Bryce Callahan was targeted four times (two completions for 26 yards).
SPECIAL TEAMS
McManus’ miss. McManus was wide left on his first point-after attempt, allowing the Chiefs to lead 7-6. It was only the fourth miss out of 208 point-after attempts in McManus’ regular-season career. He has never missed two in a season.
Martin’s day. Punter Sam Martin averaged 46.7 yards net on three kicks and had an average hang time of 3.91 seconds.
Hamler’s decision. In place of Diontae Spencer (shoulder), KJ Hamler was one of the punt returners. Tommy Townsend’s second-quarter punt landed at the 4-yard line, bounced forward and then took a right-hand turn (downed at the 1-yard line). Hamler made the right call in not catching it; he later muffed a fair catch that was recovered by teammate Essang Bassey.
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