Kansas City Chiefs have contender's D, but something's missing

[Denver Native (Carol)]

DENVER -- Perhaps when they meet again in two weeks in the cacophony of Kansas City, it will be different. Maybe Alex Smith will be able to squeeze more out of the Chiefs' moribund offense. Maybe the Chiefs' defense will be able to use the crowd noise to help get a sack or force a mistake. Maybe it won't be the Denver Broncos' defense -- really -- that makes the two biggest plays of the game.

But when the AFC's best teams faced each other Sunday night, with the AFC West lead (and the inside track on home-field advantage in the playoffs) in the offing, the Broncos and Chiefs played strikingly true to form, and that was bad news for the Chiefs. They entered the game undefeated and disrespected, seeking to make a statement to the NFL that they should not be overlooked. But the only statement they made here came out like a whimper: Their offense isn't explosive enough to stay with the league's best teams, wasting a defense that is more than capable of keeping games close.

rest - http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000283777/article/kansas-city-chiefs-have-contenders-d-but-somethings-missing

[Joel]

21/45 for 230 yds and 2 TDs, w/ 3 sacks for 30 yds. Yet the guys in the booth (correctly) thought Smith had a good night by his standards. Even at just 5.1 yds/attempt (counting sacks, Smiths 4.4<Charles' 4.9 RUSHING average.) THAT'S what's missing. Some of it was drops, yes, and our D deserves more credit than it's gotten, but if we aren't running well now, KC's NEVER passed well, all year. Just like we we couldn't get to the SB without facing a team that hung with us and forced us to play D, KC couldn't get there without facing one that took a huge lead and forced them to come back or lose. Yesterday they did the latter.

Coming into this game, if you'd told me we'd have 11 more runs and 5 less passes than KC I'd have said we'd spank them. It wasn't always pretty or stress free, but in the end that's basically what happened.