The Kansas City Chiefs continued their recent dominance over the Denver Broncos, winning their 10th straight game against the franchise in a 43-16 rout during the first snow game of the NFL season.
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Story of the game
When the Chiefs put up 40-plus points, it is usually because Patrick Mahomes is playing out of his mind. Today was a different story, though. The Chiefs had help from every other phase of the game, with Byron Pringle returning a kickoff 102 yards — the longest play of the season — and Daniel Sorensen returning a Drew Lock interception for six. Mahomes added a touchdown through the air to Tyreek Hill — the signal-caller's 17th straight game with a passing touchdown and Hill’s sixth game this season with a touchdown.
The duo of Le’Veon Bell and Clyde Edwards-Helaire made its debut against the Broncos. Edwards-Helaire saw a slight edge in carries, with eight to Bell’s six, and the duo combined to average 6.1 yards per carry on those 14 rushes. Edwards-Helaire ran in the lone rushing score for the Chiefs, his first since Week 1.
Lock and the Broncos' offense could not get much going thanks to some solid play from the Chiefs' defense. Chris Jones led the way for the Chiefs with six pressures and a sack on Lock. Tyrann Mathieu was all over the field, intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble.
Meanwhile, Malik Reed and Bradley Chubb combined for three sacks and four pressures on the day for the Broncos. Reed, an undrafted second-year edge defender, has stepped up in the absence of Von Miller and his performance in Week 7 was his second straight game with multiple sacks.
Rookie watch
Broncos rookie receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler saw seven combined targets for 44 yards. Jeudy had an average depth of target of 14 yards but struggled to turn that into actual production on the field, catching only two passes.
Albert Okwuegbunam put together a solid game, though, hauling in all seven of his targets for 60 yards — game-highs among both teams. And 41 of Okwuegbunam’s 60 yards came after the catch.
Lloyd Cushenberry III had his hands full with Jones and allowed two pressures and one sack from the center position.
On the other side of the ball, Tershawn Wharton saw the field on 46 defensive snaps, pressured the quarterback three times and forced one fumble. Willie Gay Jr. broke up two passes from the linebacker spot while also picking up three tackles.
For the Broncos, Michael Ojemudia had to deal with the Chiefs' speedsters at wide receiver. He was targeted four times and allowed a completion on each for 54 yards — over 25% of Mahomes passing yardage came when targeting Ojemudia.
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