Denver Broncos: Week Two is Huge
The Denver Broncos have a lot of huge moments on the schedule, but nothing looms larger right now than Week Two of the regular season. That’s the week they have to go to Arrowhead and take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s obviously early, but the Chiefs look like the main threat for the division this year. They got Eric Berry, Mike DeVito and Derrick Johnson back. The defense was quite good last year and is stacked this year. The only weakness is at corner, since Sean Smith will still be suspended—he got three games—and Marcus Peters is a rookie.
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Still, it’s a stalwart defense, playing in a loud stadium that’s always difficult to win in. It’s going to be a huge test for Gary Kubiak’s offense.
The defense will also be tested. The Chiefs still have Jamaal Charles at RB, and he’s a handful in every game. They added Jeremy Maclin on the outside, though, so the Broncos now have to respect the pass. Last year, they could ignore the passing game and key in on Charles; not so in 2015.
The best way to win that battle is to have Chris Harris just man up on Jeremy Maclin. Harris did not surrender a single TD last year. He’s the best corner the Denver Broncos have had since Champ. He can take Maclin out of the game and make the Chiefs one-dimensional again. That way, the rest of this attacking defense can focus on Charles.
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Offensively, though, the Broncos are probably going to struggle. The last time they got a new coach, even with Peyton Manning, they weren’t that great at the beginning of the year. They made some dumb mistakes and lost games they should have won. Kubiak’s offensive system is tremendous, but it’s not going to fall crisply into place by the second week.
Especially not on the road.
The Broncos should still be favored, as they’ve owned the Chiefs lately, but this is a huge test and coming out of it with a win would be great for the beginning of the season. It could also make a huge difference down the stretch if the Broncos and Chiefs actually are racing for the divisional title. Having the head-to-head wins is the best way to win the tiebreaker, and stealing the one in Arrowhead takes a lot of pressure off of the Broncos later in the season.
This is a can’t miss game if there ever was one, and we’ll learn just how good Denver is.