Kansas City Chiefs Make Defensive Adjustments, Slow Down Broncos in 10-6 Victory

Every team in the NFL must make adjustments week to week, game to game ans play to play.

The last game between the Broncos and the Chiefs were highlighted by the Broncos victimizing the Chiefs with long pass plays down the middle of the field, inside slants and deep comeback routes.

The Broncos took advantage of injuries in the young and inexperienced Chiefs secondary and Kansas City's inability to get pressure on Quarterback Kyle Orton.

Safety John McGraw, who was inactive for the last contest, played a huge roll in the defensive adjustments for the Chiefs. Denver, recognizing the veteran safety was back for this game, only tested the Chiefs deep down the middle of the field on two occasions.

One of those passes almost resulted in a Kansas City interception early in the first quarter. To his credit, Romeo Crennel brought pressure early and often in this contest compared with the last meeting, where the Chiefs were unable to get to Orton and force him out of his rhythm.

Kansas City employed a nickle package with Javier Arenas for a majority of the game. The Chiefs walked Eric Berry and Javier Arenas down close to the line, as if to blitz, only to have them bail wide underneath to cover the slant routes; this enabled the corners to play aggressively over the top.

The extra defensive back exposed the Chiefs to a big day by Denver running back Knowshon Moreno, who rushed for 167 yards on the day, but otherwise kept the Broncos from making the explosive plays down the field as they did in the last contest.

Kansas City kept pressure on Orton all game, forcing the Denver signal caller into one of his most ineffective passing efforts of the season. Orton was nine of 28 for only 117 yards passing on the day. He was sacked four times by the Kansas City defense. Javier Arenas recorded two sacks and Tamba Hali registered two and a forced fumble that he also recovered.

The added pressure up front allowed Brandon Carr and Brandon Flowers to play a much more physical game with the Broncos wide outs, as they combined for five catches for 59 yards on the day.

Kansas City faces the other side of this equation next week, as they travel to San Diego to face the Chargers.

The Chargers lost in an early season contest against the Chiefs to start the season.

However, Kansas City is a much improved team since the two teams squared off on a rainy Monday Night at Arrowhead.

San Diego, your move.