Digital Sports Desk

Online Destination for the Best in Boston Sports

NFL Thursday

NFL Thursday: KC Streaking vs. Denver

by

DENVER – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The last time the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Denver Broncos, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes was a sophomore at Texas Tech. Kansas City began its dominance prior to Mahomes’ arrival and now looks to post its 16th straight victory over the visiting Broncos when the teams meet on Thursday night.

Embed from Getty Images

Mahomes, a two-time MVP, is 11-0 as a starter against AFC West rival Denver. However, he said the streak doesn’t matter on game night.

“When you play a team like the Broncos, same with any division opponent, there’s just another level of intensity,” Mahomes said Tuesday. “I’m not worried about necessarily a streak or anything like that. I’m worried about winning against a division opponent. … It doesn’t matter what the records are. It’s gonna be a close game.”

The Chiefs (4-1) enter Thursday with a four-game winning streak while the Broncos (1-4) have been one of the worst teams in the NFL in Sean Payton’s first season as coach. Still, Denver quarterback Russell Wilson points to last season’s two meetings as evidence of his team being able to stick with Kansas City. The Chiefs won 34-28 at Denver and 27-24 at home in 2022.

“We had good battles against them last year, both of them came down to the wire,” Wilson said Tuesday. “It’s a great football team on their side and we have to play great football, we have to play clean. We’re going into a tough environment.”

The Broncos have been abysmal on defense this season and rank last in scoring defense (36.2 points per game), total defense (450.6 yards allowed per game) and rushing defense (187.6 yards allowed per game). Denver is the lone team to allow over 2,000 yards so far this season (2,253).

The Broncos have allowed a staggering 877 yards on the ground over the past four games. The New York Jets rushed for 234 yards — 177 by Breece Hall — in a 31-21 road win over Denver on Sunday.

“It’s going to be tough to win games if we can’t stop the run defensively, and we have to get it cleaned up,” Payton said.

Perhaps Kansas City’s hard-running Isiah Pacheco (325 rushing yards, three touchdowns) is in line for a big game.

Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce is aiming to play on Thursday. He sprained his right ankle on Sunday in Kansas City’s 27-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. He missed practice Monday and was limited Tuesday.

Kelce caught 10 passes against the Vikings — five before he hurt the ankle late in the first half and five during a single third-quarter drive after returning to action. He caught a touchdown pass to end that excursion.

Mahomes expects Kelce to answer the bell on Thursday night.

“That’s a legendary type game,” Mahomes said of Kelce’s performance at Minnesota. “I mean, to be able to battle through that. I didn’t see the injury live, so I didn’t know how bad it was, but looking back at it now and seeing how the ankle rolled and then being able to come back out there and play at a high level and score a touchdown that we needed to win the game — it speaks to not only the talent that he has, but the toughness that he has.”

The Broncos began the 21-day window to activate tight end Greg Dulcich from injured reserve on Tuesday. Payton said Dulcich, who injured his hamstring in the season opener, is “close” to being ready for activation. Dulcich was limited during Tuesday’s practice.

Denver defensive tackle D.J. Jones (knee) and outside linebacker Frank Clark (illness) missed practice on Tuesday. Among the five Broncos who joined Dulcich as limited were safety Justin Simmons (hip) and center Lloyd Cushenberry III (quadriceps).

Joining Kelce as limited during the Chiefs’ Tuesday practice were linebacker Nick Bolton (ankle) and defensive end George Karlaftis (hamstring).

–Field Level Media

NFL Desk: Pack Hopes Offense a Go

by

GREEN BAY – (Staff and Wire Service/Field Level Media Report) – Stopping a five-game losing streak by any means possible beats the alternative.

Embed from Getty Images

Still, the Green Bay Packers felt they might also have relocated their groove, to boot, after snapping a lengthy midseason skid with a 31-28 overtime victory against Dallas last week.

Will rookie wide receiver Christian Watson remain the revelation he was in catching three touchdown passes against the Cowboys? The Packers are eager to find out whether or not their offense can keep rolling when they host the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night.

Green Bay has won two of the past three meetings in the series, including a 40-14 home romp over Tennessee during Week 16 of the 2020 season.

The winning team has scored 40 points or more in four of the past five meetings, a run that dates back to 2004.

Maintaining the trend Thursday might take some doing. Tennessee (6-3) has scored no more than 24 points in a game this season, while 31 points is the high-water mark for Green Bay (4-6).

The Packers, though, are confident they found a spark last week. Trailing 28-14 in the fourth quarter, Green Bay responded with two scoring passes from quarterback Aaron Rodgers to Watson before Rodgers steered the game-winning drive in overtime that culminated with Mason Crosby’s 28-yard field goal.

With Aaron Jones (24 carries, 138 yards, one touchdown) leading the way, the Packers topped 200 yards rushing for the third time in 2022. Green Bay started the same offensive line in consecutive games for the first time this season.

“That’s going to be an important part of our success moving forward if we can keep those guys healthy,” Rodgers said. “We’ve protected well. We’ve communicated really well, and we gave just little gaps for those backs, and man they had a big day.”

Tennessee is averaging 18.4 points per game. The Titans, who lead the AFC South by two games, are aiming to be unconventional, as only two teams of the 140 since 2002 to average 18.4 points or fewer have made the playoffs.

The Titans rebounded from an overtime loss at Kansas City in Week 9 with a 17-10 victory against Denver last week. With the Broncos geared toward stopping running back Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill connected with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on a pair of scores after missing the previous two games with a sprained ankle.

Henry rushed for 53 yards on 19 carries to end a streak of five straight games with 100 yards or more on the ground. But that was against a Broncos ‘D’ that has allowed the ninth-fewest rushing yards (1,044) in the NFL.

As the second-leading rusher in the league, Henry hopes to come untracked against the Packers, who allow 4.8 yards per carry, tied for 28th in the league.

“I think the more carries you get him in a drive, the stronger he gets, and so that’s why it’s even more important that we pick up those third downs (when) we have the opportunity to, and get him (more) opportunities within the drive,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Todd Downing said. “Obviously that’s the mission, that’s the goal. We just didn’t do that well enough in the last game.”

–Field Level Media