‘Keep the ball out of Patrick’s hands’

Broncos’ defense has big task vs. KC

In the moments after his defense surrendered a 91-yard game-winning touchdown drive and his team lost a game it led for more than 48 minutes, Broncos safety Justin Simmons already had an answer ready when asked about turning his attention to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

“The first thing is, you watch the film (Monday) and we always preach the 24-hour rule,” he said after a 10-9 loss to Baltimore. “You go in there and watch the film. It’s going to suck, it’s going to hurt, but you’ve got to be able to watch it and learn from our mistakes there at the end… You can’t let this roll over into next week.”

Next up, of course, is divisionleading Kansas City, 9-3 this season, winners of 13 consecutive games against the Broncos and an early two-score favorite to get the job done again at Empower Field on Sunday.

“Obviously, we know we’re going up against a very good offense in the Chiefs and so for us defensively, it’s once again generating takeaways and creating a short field for our offense,” Simmons said.

“Give them opportunities to score the football. They’re similar to (the Ravens), different in some ways, but you have to be able to plaster in the back end, recognize who their explosive players are and try to limit the big play ability that Mahomes has. So, for us defensively, watch the film, regroup and then focus on finding ways to just go close out and win football games.”

Certainly Denver’s defense could help its offense by forcing turnovers or creating good field position, but the opposite is also true and likely more important on Sunday. In order for the Broncos to pull an upset — or, for that matter, keep the NFL’S top-scoring offense from piling up points — the offense has to help the defense, as well.

Denver’s only averaged 11.3 points per game in a four-game losing streak since its bye week, but the past two weeks it compounded matters by also not giving its defense much of a break. The Broncos tied their season low Sunday against Baltimore by generating only 12 first downs after just 14 in a 23-10 loss at Carolina the week previous.

Against the Panthers, the Broncos possessed the ball for a season-low 22 minutes, 27 seconds and they followed that up with 27:31 against the Ravens.

“You want to do everything you can to keep the ball out of Patrick’s hands,” Broncos head