Bad calls, no-calls give Broncos a 14-point first-half swing against Chiefs

The Broncos had a lot of assistance in putting up a 10-9 halftime lead over the Chiefs.

When the Chiefs are playing their best, you need everything going you way in order to beat them. At the half of the Broncos’ Sunday night game against Andy Reid’s team, Denver has had everything going their way, and then some. They had a 10-9 lead after the game’s first 30 minutes, but the results could have been very different had Alex Kemp’s crew been on top of things.

First, there was this throw from Patrick Mahomes to Tyreek Hill with 10:51 left in the second quarter that was so spectacular, even Hill didn’t know he caught it. But he did, the Chiefs punted on the next play from the Denver 40-yard line. Head coach Andy Reid was seen asking Hill why he didn’t tell his coach to challenge it, but it was apparent that Hill thought the ball hit the ground. There’s somebody in the Chiefs’ booth who’s responsible for picking this stuff up, and that person is probably not going to have a pleasant Sunday evening.

Then, there was Drew Lock’s five-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tim Patrick with 6:26 left in the first half. As David DeChant of The Athletic points out, since the play was an RPO, the offensive linemen can only move one yards ahead of the line of scrimmage before a pass is thrown. As you can see here, multiple Broncos offensive linemen have stretched that rule far beyond its breaking point.

Not that the Broncos wouldn’t have scored anyway, but hypothetically, we have two plays in which the swing for the Broncos is anywhere from seven to 14 points more than it should be.

It could be that the Broncos are breaking the NFL’s rule regarding offensive linemen downfield because they’ve been vocal about Kansas City breaking the rule in the past.

“What’s that cutoff point for an offensive lineman to be legally down the field in pass pro?” former Broncos and current Ravens defensive lineman Derek Wolfe asked rhetorically in 2018. “When is a guy offsides and when is he not? Is it 12 yards now?”

Good question, and it appears that very few officials know the answer.