Nobody’s second-guessing Kubiak at Broncos HQ

Team general manager John Elway made that clear in a tweet posted Monday.

It’s clear the Chiefs will need better quarterback play as the season goes on if they want to win the division and advance in the playoffs. The Broncos could have taken a fourth-down gamble.

He might have scored a few more times had the Broncos (7-4) not made shoestring tackles on the blazing game-changer.

During a timeout, he chose to go for the gusto.

“It’s a tough kick but it’s something he’s done and it’s me showing confidence in him and confidence in our defense if it doesn’t happen, ” Kubiak said. “I worked and I had faith and I believed”.

Just look at the forensics at play in their victory over the Broncos, which required infinite developments to fall right … that did.

“At that point I wasn’t sure”, Reid said. Colquitt angled a 53-yard kick away from Broncos returner Jordan Norwood midway through the second quarter.

Gaines was beat deep multiple times, two of which ended in back-breaking touchdowns, but did have three impressive pass deflections, two occurring in the end zone, which kept the Chiefs’ hopes alive. The Chiefs picked up two first downs and Cairo Santos banked in the winning field goal.

“It’s on me. I just gave him a chance, thought we could do it, but we didn’t get it done”. Punt the ball and the Broncos would have had – again according to my own logic – 10 percent chance to win (must give some odds for a turnover), 70 percent chance for a tie and 20 percent chance the Chiefs would have drove against the Broncos’ soft coverage into field goal range.

At plus-1 were the Lions against the Vikings, the Ravens vs. the Bengals, the Saints vs. the Rams, the Buccaneers over the Seahawks, and the Chiefs against the Broncos in the only overtime game of the week. “We haven’t been here before”, outside linebacker Von Miller said.

The first half saw the Broncos not moving the ball effectively.

If the Kansas City Chiefs wind up making the playoffs, they will be carried there by a most unlikely source. And lesson learned. We had a lot of mistakes, a lot of penalties, a lot of busts in coverage. “We didn’t have any doubt that he could get the ball there”.

But let’s fast forward through a Tyreek Hill 3-yard touchdown run and a 35-yard score for Emmanuel Sanders. Even without great quarterback play and without Jeremy Maclin, Jamaal Charles, Dee Ford, Dontari Poe, Jaye Howard and Allen Bailey, the Chiefs still left Denver victorious. Play harder than the other team. “I wouldn’t just play for the tie, either”.

We can’t talk about hapless teams without bringing up the winless Cleveland Browns.

The truth is that the Broncos could have avoided this situation entirely with better decisions leading up to this point. “I made that decision and it just didn’t work out”. But we’re gonna try to win, and I’ve seen Brandon do that many times in practice. Kubiak could have gotten a little closer for McManus with positive yardage on the ground and forced the Chiefs to use their final timeout if he called a running play on third down. The Denver offense got bogged down time and time again with a lack of a consistent short-yardage offense, and Ty Sambrailo was manhandled on almost every play by Justin Houston, who totaled three sacks in the first half alone. In lieu of taking the extra point and stretching the margin to eight, Carroll opted to go for two, delivering what would have been a two-score death blow.

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin (89) loses the football as he is hit by Tampa Bay Buccaneers free safety Bradley McDougald (30) during the second quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016, in Tampa, Fla.