Week 16 AFC West Roundup
By Justin Smith
Denver Broncos
3rd Place – AFC West
Record: 8-7
Last Game: lost to Kansas City Chiefs (11-4) 33-20 in Kansas City
Next Game: home to Oakland Raiders (12-3) Sun, Jan 2, 4:25 EST
If the Chargers look disinterested in football right now the Broncos aren’t far behind. Needing a victory to keep their playoff hopes alive in Kansas City, the Broncos roared out to a 21-7 deficit with very uninspired first quarter play.
The normally stout and swag-filled Denver D couldn’t tackle a thing and allowed the Chiefs to run and pass at will all over their “stellar” defense. You could see shoulders slump in the second quarter and basically all effort went away. It was pretty sad, actually.
Without a running game — this was the fifth straight game the Broncos failed to average 4 yards per carry — Trevor Siemian isn’t good enough to win games on his own. With a run game he isn’t. Against the Chiefs he definitely isn’t. Next year he isn’t starting, bank that.
The Broncos can get some salvation this weekend by beating the Raiders at home. That would give the Chiefs the division. So the Broncos can directly impact who wins the division. They win, Chiefs are division champions. They lose, Raiders are champions.
Would this be a consideration? In professional sport you would think not – but humans play these sports. The Broncos generally hate the Raiders more by wrote. But this season Kansas City seems to be the most hated team in the AFC West.
So will the Broncos pack it in a bit when the Raiders come to town? Doubtful, but they seemed to against the Chiefs. With nothing to play for other than effecting the seeding of other teams, will the Broncos really bring fire and brimstone to this one or just show up?