Kansas City offense vs. Denver defense

	CHIEFS OFFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	Run	13
	Pass	20
	Tot. Yds.	16
	Scoring	7
	Int's allowed	11
	Sacks allowed	14
	BRONCOS DEFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	vs. Run	13
	vs. Pass	9
	Total yds. allowed	7
	# of Ints.	12
	# of Sacks	38
	Turnover differential	-2

The Chiefs have shown an ability to move the ball this season, especially in their comeback win last week over the Raiders, but consistency has been the biggest problem. The running back position has been a carousel of personnel throughout the year, but Kansas City has been getting it done with mostly a running back-by-committee system.

Now, the Chiefs will head into Denver with two healthy backs, Bam Morris and rookie Mike Cloud, and feel confident about their situation. Morris is back in shape and below 255 pounds, but did not give the offense much production in the first half at Oakland. Cloud emerged last week as the team's new speed back, carrying the ball 11 times for 58 yards.

Denver's run defense got out to a horrific start this season, but the team has rallied around the play of its linebacking corps and now finds itself allowing just 96.3-yards on the ground per game. DT's Keith Traylor and Trevor Pryce have been clogging the middle, allowing linebackers to make plays on the move without having to fight through traffic. Bill Romanowski and Al Wilson are big-hitting linebackers who have created a presence in the middle of the field, while weakside linebacker Glenn plays very conservative and always seems to be in position to make plays.

The key to the Chiefs offensive attack is to run the ball to set up the pass, but against the Broncos it will be no easy task. If Denver keeps up its production up front, it will force the Chiefs to throw the ball to win, which plays into the hands of the Bronco defense.

Elvis Grbac is not an effective drop-back passer, but his ability to work off the play action fake is what makes him a formidable quarterback in this league. Look for the Chiefs to learn a lesson from last weeks win over the Raiders, as they spread the field more in catchup-mode and gave their receiving corps more looks down the field.

Kansas City will still look to establish the run game, but with a more spread out attack, it will put the offense in better position to take chances down field, while simultaneously opening up more room underneath for the running game to work.

The Broncos are confident in their cornerbacks -- Ray Crockett and Dale Carter -- ability to take away Kansas City's receivers on the outside. FS Eric Brown plays a critical role in Denver's pass defense, because he will be assigned to cover TE Tony Gonzalez off the line of scrimmage.

When Gonzalez is productive as a receiver in the middle of the field, it opens up a lot of room on the outside for his receivers to work. He has all the tools and is capable of stretching the defense down the seams. Brown will be forced into a lot of single-coverage situations on the tight end because of his potential as a receiver, which means that the Denver corners will get little help in the deep third.

The game is going to be won or lost in the interior line, where the Broncos are going to have to clear some lanes for the Denver backs. The key to the Chiefs defense up front is McGlockton's presence and ability to draw a double team. This allows MLB Marvcus Patton to move around more freely in the middle of the field, opening up blitzing lanes in pass rush. McGlockton has all the physical tools, but his effort is spotty. He needs to play on every down Sunday to force the Broncos into the double team.

This could be a disastrous afternoon for young QB Brian Griese. The Broncos are coming off a bye week, which will give Griese more time to prepare and understand his reads, but the Chiefs corner play and aggressive attack is going to be a tremendous challenge for the young quarterback.

The Chiefs will take risks early in the game in order to get to Griese. Expect to see lots of man-to-man coverage on Denver's wideouts on 1st and 2nd downs. Seeing as the Broncos have had very little production from their third receiver spot, it allows the Chiefs to stay in their base set versus three-receiver sets, giving Kansas City better personnel in the blitz package.

The Broncos will be well-prepared for the Chiefs blitz scheme, but it will come down to execution. CB's James Hasty and Chris Dishman play critical roles because they are going to have to hold up with out much support to the inside on hot reads.

WR's Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey are going to be constantly battling press coverage off the line of scrimmage and it is their responsibility to pick up the blitz and find the vacated zone underneath. This has been a problem for the Broncos this season, which leads us to believe that the Chiefs pressure is going to be too much. As well as Griese is prepared for his hot-read assignments, there always seem to be breakdowns when it comes to game time execution.