The sky isn't falling . . .

The Sky Isn’t Falling or How the Broncos Game Confirmed my Opinion the Chiefs Will Win the West.

Anger, denial… acceptance! Skip to acceptance about the Chiefs loss to the Broncos, it makes life easier. Once you take the emotion out of the loss, you can see some trends that should gladden the hearts of Chiefs, and send a cold dagger of fear into Denver fans everywhere. I can confidently predict that we will win the West after watching this game, and that should be the final thought on this game.

The Broncos are in trouble. While Manning is not dead yet ( while Generalissimo Franco still is), he has clearly declined. The Chiefs probably left 3-4 interceptions on the table, and that won’t continue to happen. Their run game is totally uninspiring both in this game as well as their first game against the Ravens. So with an aging quarterback that will continue to decline faster than the Greek economy, and no offset with the run game, they will be suffering. They have escaped the first two games, but their luck will soon run out.

With that said, their defense is for real. They are a fast, swarming, talented defense that will keep them in games. But if Manning keeps throwing ducks, interceptions, strong field position, and defensive exhaustion, will eventually lead to the other side scoring.

The Chiefs are ascending on the other hand. Their defense looks like it is going to be awesome this year. Whether it Bailey, Howard or Poe getting the push in the middle, and Houston and Hali crashing from the outside, the front seems to swarm the backfield within a second of the snap.

Neither the Texans nor the Broncs put up a consistent run game. They may get in one or two misdirection 10 yarders, but it is vastly improved from last year. In the NFL, if you can stop the run, and force teams to become one dimensional, you have created an enormous advantage.

That advantage will be more fully realized with the return of Sean Smith, and the continued rapid improvement by Marcus Peters. When Gaines drops from being our number 2 cornerback to being our number 3, look out!

Our offense, on the other hand, is still a work in progress. But I doubt I will ever see another game where we turn the ball over 5 times. The odds of winning when you lose the ball 5 times, is ridiculously low. Assuming that was a one time, freak of nature, then we were at least solid.

I have to assume that Fish and Allen returning to the lineup will bring some strength to the line. The run game has been solid so credit Jah Reid and LDT for stepping up, but the pass blocking has been atrocious. There have not been many clean pockets for Smith to step up into, and that has hurt our downfield game. Expect that to improve, and our offense to be able to consistently score points.

Remember, we weren’t as good as we looked in the first half of the Texans game, and we certainly aren’t as bad as we looked in the last 5 minutes of the Broncos game. That was a tough loss, but the sky isn’t falling, and actually, the future is bright. So let’s put this game behind us, and savor a terrific season! We will win the West. I am more confident of this now than I was before the Denver game.