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Many Kansas City Chiefs fans are already marking down the team’s Week 13 matchup as a win given their recent hot streak and relatively weak opponent. They haven’t lost to the Denver Broncos since 2015, and have the benefit of playing off their late-season bye week which is one of Andy Reid’s most successful scenarios over the course of his 23-year career as a head coach.
Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy isn’t writing Denver off, though. He told reporters ahead of practice on Thursday that this week’s opponent has been playing well all season, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Asked about the Broncos’ budding defense that seems to have turned a corner since they traded pass-rush guru Von Miller to Los Angeles, he said that they were a threat even before the slight change in identity.
“I don’t know if it’s just been the past month,” Bieniemy explained of Denver’s defensive prowess this season. “I think these young guys have been playing pretty damn good every week. I know they’ve had their setbacks, but that’s a part of when you’re trying to build a team with a lot of different young players. These guys are playing hard. They’re doing a great job upfront. Obviously, they’ve got some guys in the secondary that are doing a heck of a job.
“Then, they’ve got some guys that are playing at the linebacker position that are playing pretty damn good. So, when we look at them, we know we’ve got our hands full. Our job is to make sure that we’re doing everything necessary to give us the benefit of the doubt by taking care of the little things and having a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose in everything that we do.”
One Broncos defender caught the eye of Bieniemy after securing two interceptions in Week 12 against the Los Angeles Chargers. That’s none other than rookie CB Pat Surtain II, son of former Chiefs CB Patrick Surtain. Bieniemy had nothing but praise for the young cornerback and surely has QB Patrick Mahomes aware of his recent spree of opportunistic play.
“I know I’m getting old because I’m watching his son play,” Bieniemy told reporters. “But I will say this, he’s a very, very talented kid. He does a heck of a job. He’s a long kid. Everybody wants to talk about that he’s not very fast, but what I do see is a very skilled athlete who does a great job of reading and keying and diagnosing routes. And if he gets his hands on that ball, he’s going to take it and he’s going to make the very most of it. But we understand the challenge that’s up in front of us. The thing that we need to do is just making sure that we’re consistent and disciplined with what we’re doing on the perimeter.”
The Broncos could take the division lead away from Kansas City with a win this week, and Bieniemy is wise to take the threat they pose seriously. Though they lack the firepower to keep up with the Chiefs on paper, matchups between AFC West teams are always intensely competitive affairs, and Denver is likely to have had this game circled on their schedule since its release as they look to end Kansas City’s stranglehold on the series.
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