ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Get over yourself, Andy Reid.
Take your bow, Leo Chenal, but was it necessary to rub it in with words?
The Kansas City Chiefs were puffing their chests after Chenal bulldozed Broncos’ offensive lineman Alex Forsyth and moved in to block a short field goal try by Wil Lutz. It was the final play of the game Sunday – the snap was made with 1 second remaining – and the Chiefs held on for a 16-14 victory.
The Chiefs stayed unbeaten at 9-0 while the Broncos dropped to 5-5.
Afterwards, Reid, the Chiefs’ head coach, and Chenal, the special teams hero, said they detected a weakness in the Broncos’ field-goal protection prior to the kick.
“We did,’’ Reid said.
“It wasn’t so much on film it was more like a feel in the game,” Chenal told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio after the game. “You get so many reps — like we were getting a lot of reps on field-goal block, extra point. Enough reps where you kind of get a feel like they’re light here, they’re reaching here, so you get a better and better chance as the game goes on and I kind of knew the guy who I was rushing (Forsyth), he was kind of light on his toes a little bit and I was kind of getting a bit bull rush in so it was just trying to take advantage of it.”
During his day-after-game media conference call Monday, Broncos head coach Sean Payton was asked if there was a concern among his own staff about their vulnerability up front.
“We’re constantly each week making corrections,’’ Payton said. “Not just with the field goal unit -- with the offense, with a certain protection, with a certain coverage. And when something like that happens, and it could be a trick play, it’s pretty common for the team that had success with it to say, ‘Hey, we saw …’ And credit them for that. They exploited an area we obviously felt was fixed and stronger and yet not fixed enough.
“I read all the comments afterwards and I think, look, it’s tough to lose a game that way and … this isn’t on the player. This is on all of us. This is on us as coaches. We’ve got to continue to look at, ‘Hey, are we big enough stature-wise for that,’ and understand how the rush was coming. It’s disappointing and yet it’s not something that’s new when a big play is made at the end of the game.”
Asked later about Chenal saying Forsyth “was light on his toes,’’ Payton said: “When we see a corner who we feel is jumping on an out-and-up, we feel like he’s back on his heels. They felt like they had an indication relative to how his weight was balanced. All of that is game planning, scouting, and then us coaching and looking at the self-scout, but again it’s nothing new.”
Other topics Payton discussed Monday – even if it can be argued there were no other topics worth discussing other than the blocked field goal:
*Lose two in a row in the NFL and a sky-is-falling mood tends to permeate the team’s fan base.
“The sky’s not falling,’’ Payton said.
It shouldn’t. Despite two of the worst possible extreme defeats during their recent two-game road trip – getting blown out 41-10 at Baltimore and blowing a game they should have won in Kansas City – the Broncos hold the No. 7 and final AFC playoff seed, a full game ahead of the Colts and Bengals. And the Broncos have games against both of those opponents included in their final seven regular-season games.
The trick, then, is to drop the Agony in Arrowhead and refocus on what’s ahead, starting with a home game this Sunday against the 6-4, NFC North-leading Atlanta Falcons at Empower Field at Mile High.
“This team has been resilient,’’ Payton said. “The sky isn’t falling relative to our season, the schedule. We’re sitting here 5-5. Obviously we’d love to have been 6-4 with a win yesterday. But the focus shifts quickly to the next game. I like the leadership on this team. It’s an entirely different team than a year ago. It’s tough. It’s tough mentally and physically. We’ve got to have a good week of practice coming up for Atlanta.
“But overcoming a tough loss, when you talk to the players about that you tell them, ‘Hey, that’s going to happen periodically in your career. You hope that you have a few of those games that you didn’t deserve to win that you did win.’ And you’ve got to bounce back either way.”
Audric Estime
The rookie running back didn’t enter the game until the third series, but it was his game after that. Estime finished with 53 yards on 14 carries and had another big run called back by penalty.
“I thought he ran well yesterday,’’ Payton said. “He gave us some juice as well. Just trying to find different roles, different ways to utilize these players. But I was encouraged and he’ll continue to get more reps.”
Bo Nix
Payton has always been complimentary of his rookie quarterback but Monday the head coach was critical of a key play.
“We had chance for points at end of the half,’’ Payton said. “We missed an open read, a real open read at midfield to put us in field goal range, that was disappointing. And then the third quarter we didn’t have the time of possession we were looking for, the rally drive at the end was good.
“So you know you’re playing a good team. We felt third down was going to be important in that game if all things were even. And what I mean by that, assuming there were no turnovers – and that was the case yesterday – and then you look at the third down numbers we were good in that area. We played that team better than we’ve had in the past offensively. We had some scoring opportunities, certainly at the end of half that we didn’t take good enough advantage of.”
Nik Bonitto
The third-year outside linebacker was unblockable once Chiefs’ starting left tackle Wanya Morris left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury. Bonitto abused replacement left tackle Kingsley Suamataia to the point Reid had to put Morris back in during the fourth quarter.
“He certainly has made the leap,’’ Payton said of Bonitto. “He’s getting more snaps, he’s getting more pass-rush snaps. I think the key for Nik was playing the run – run at him. He’s at the right weight right now. He’s a guy that plays with real good bend and he can bend, torque his body. He’s got a lot in the tank relative to his pass rush and what he wants to do, how to set somebody up. He’s really helped, helped us.’’