ENGLEWOOD – Easy now.
Yes, the Broncos were impressive while thoroughly dominating the now 1-6 Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night.
But the next game against the 5-1 Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium is a different challenge altogether. The difference between playing the Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes duo and the Mike McCoy-Josh Rosen combination is about as different as an NBA team playing the Cavaliers with LeBron and the Cavs without him.
Broncos head coach Vance Joseph said it won’t be a problem for his team to refocus for the Chiefs.
“I think our team is focused, I really do,’’ Broncos head coach Vance Joseph said Friday in his day-after-game press conference at the team’s UCHealth Training Center headquarters. “We’re 3-4. We’re not a team that’s rolling right now. We’ve won one game and we (had) lost four in a row.
“I think our guys like that feeling of winning. We played that team (the Chiefs) really well last time and came away with an emotional loss. Guys want to get back at it and see if we can rectify that last loss versus KC.’’
Joseph not for clearing bench
The game was over at halftime, with the Broncos up 35-3. And it was 42-10 to start the fourth quarter. Yet, Joseph stuck with his starters and stars till the end.
Quarterback Case Keenum, all five members of the offensive line and safety Justin Simmons played every snap. Cornerback Chris Harris Jr. played 64 of the 66 defensive snaps, linebacker Brandon Marshall played 62 or 94 percent of the snaps, and even Von Miller’s playing time went back up to 85 percent.
Phillip Lindsay got the final 9 carries after fellow rookie Ryan Freeman went down with a high ankle sprain, while Devontae Booker got only six snaps all game.
Joseph explained why he didn’t give playing time to some of his reserves in the fourth quarter.
“We’re trying to finish the game,’’ he said. “We didn’t want to go out and go sloppy. We had our guys in the game, we had a good plan going and we were playing well so we didn’t want to finish the game sloppy. We played Isaac (Yiadom) a little bit in the back end there because (Tramaine) Brock being nicked a little bit and Chris (Harris) got a little tired but as far as that, I’m not a believer in putting in a bunch of backups late in the game to finish the game. I want to finish the game right.’’
Stewart with stinger issue
The most serious sounding injury from the game Thursday was the neck issue suffered by starting safety Darian Stewart in the first quarter.
“Darian’s had his third stinger in three weeks, so we’ll see about that,’’ Joseph said.
Joseph also said running back Royce Freeman is day-to-day with high ankle sprain. “Hopefully, he makes it to K.C.’’
Rookie receiver DaeSean Hamilton is also day-to-day with an MCL sprain.
Joseph said cornerback/returner Adam Jones would play at Kansas City after missing the previous two games, and three of the past five with a hamstring strain.
Outside linebacker Shane Ray (high ankle sprain) and right tackle Jared Veldheer (knee bruise) will “be close” to playing against Kansas City.
Stat check
They have a game up on everybody but Arizona, and two games on some, but the Broncos' pass-rushing duo of Miller and Bradley Chubb are atop the league's sack leaders. Miller is No. 1 with 7.5 sacks and Chubb is tied for fourth with 6.5 sacks. Chubb is competing with defensive backs Denzel Ward and Donte Jackson, who each have 3 interceptions, for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He leads all rookies in sacks and has 2.5 more than runner-up Darius Leonard. ...
Emmanuel is fourth in the league with 46 catches and 603 receiving yards. ...
With five takeaways Thursday, the Broncos moved from a tie for 24th to a 9th place with 11.
