Chiefs Host Broncos, Week 15: OPEN THREAD – the big story today is the weather. As of 8:00 PM this Saturday evening, weather.com has snow starting at 6:00 AM over Arrowhead and not letting up until later in the evening. It may possibly start out light but it should cover the ground by game’s end in any event and be a factor for one team or the other, at the very least in the second half.
Weather Report (Saturday Evening, 8:00 PM)
I’ll update that sometime on Sunday morning, probably early on. Here’s another shot from Channel 41 News:
The Broncos Have a New QB in Drew Lock
Lock’s Missouri connection, as well as Lee’s Summit connection, means he’ll have 50 plus local friends and relatives cheering him on. I doubt it will do any good. He has a strong arm and has been able to use Denver’s receivers to air it out in the past two games, both victories, for the young pup.
Denver is tied with the L.A. Chargers for last place in the AFC West right now both with 5-and-8 records. The big feature article at PredominantlyOrange.com, a Fansided website, is called, “Players to be Excited About in 2020” so they’re obviously have given up hope on this season as well they should.
First up on their list of players they are excited about is Drew Lock. We’ll see if they still think that way by year’s end… or even by the end of today. Lock has led the Broncos to two victories since being inserted into the lineup, one over the Chargers and the second over a very good team in the Texans, who, by the way, beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead earlier this year. If Spagnuolo has his DBs play a soft zone and don’t get any pressure on Lock, he can tear you apart. He’s got a very strong arm. Reid has followed Lock’s career because he coached Lock’s father at MU when he coached the OL there from 1989-to-1991. He has stayed in touch with Lock Sr. as Reid does with most all his former players but this game will be as much about the elements as anything.
Since Lock played here in the Kansas City area I will assume he has played in the snow, but no amount of playing in the snow can undo the effect it has on the passing game. As much as it will effect Lock, it will also affect Mahomes.
This game may come down to a battle of the offensive lines blocking for their running backs. Reid will certainly attempt to throw short passes into the mix but depending on how well the back can hold onto the ball will determine how much of that we’ll see.
The Broncos have RB Phillip Lindsay who has 817 yard rushing so far this year and while that doesn’t sound terrific, it’s about twice as much as any of the Chiefs RBs (McCoy has 449). Lock will have Courtland Sutton as his main target and he has 940 years receiving… but we’re all going to be ina wait-and-see mode on the passing game today. Rookie TE Noah Fant fast and athletic and can get separation so the Chiefs LBs will need to do a good job on him today as well. However, he could be out for this game:
Broncos Injury Update: TE Noah Fant (foot) is questionable to return.
— Erich Schubert (@schube13) December 8, 2019
Anything thrown over the middle of the field to tight ends will likely be preferable today, since cutting will be more of a challenge.
Wind will be 9 mph or less during the game so that will not affect the kickers as much as the snowy, slippery conditions.
On defense, the Broncos have a very good Safety in Justin Simmons and he has 3 INTs to match Tyrann Mathieu’s 3. However, Bradley Chubb has a torn ACL and is out for the year. On top of that, Von Miller has not been the Von Miller of old this year which means the Chiefs may be able to make hay in protection as well as downfield blocking.
Frank Clark has been out most of this week with a stomach problem. He’s seen a specialist and was at practice Friday raring to go so we should see him today. When he and Chris Jones are both “ON”… this defense can be lethal. Let’s hope for lethal today.
Chiefs RB Damien Williams is supposed to be out today which leaves the chores to LeSean McCoy, Spencer Ware and little used Darwin Thompson. I’m speculating that Ware will get the lion’s share of carries because he can be used as a straight ahead weapon more than the shifty McCoy or DTrain who both seem to rely upon their moves to get free.
Jet sweeps may be in order today as Mahomes will need to be able to hand the ball off a lot and Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman can round those corners and turn it up field giving the Broncos defense a wide threat to deal with. I would imagine we’ll see the inside pitch to Kelce today as well. It’s a safe pass and it allows Kelce to use his speed to get upfield.
The Broncos have traditionally liked the QB roll out play but if our DEs have done their homework, that could lead to a number of sacks. Chiefs CBs are going to need to play tight because Lock will best be served by throwing a lot of 2-step short slants. The Chiefs DL will best be served by running a number of stunts and blitzes as well as fake blitzes to keep the rookie off guard. We’ll see.
We certainly could have ourselves a good old fashion slugfest football game today. Let’s just hope the Chiefs can come out on the sluggiest… and not the slushiest… end of things.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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