Week 12 NFL Game Spotlight

Hello and thank you for reading the Cafe’s weekly installment of the NFL Game Spotlight. Last week, I had San Diego beating Denver 31-21, and it wasn’t a bad prediction with a final score of 35-27. I am currently 2-1 on my predictions this season and I am looking forward to this week’s game.

This week’s game features one of the same teams from last week as the Denver Broncos face off against Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium. Plus, it’s the NFL network debut of live NFL games. A rolling Chargers team led by (who else?) Ladanian Tomlinson, who scored a whopping four touchdowns, handed the Denver Broncos a loss last week. Last week, Denver faced off against arguably the best running back in all of the NFL at this point. This week, they face another elite running team led by Larry Johnson.

Schedule to Date:

Kansas City has a record of 6-4 with losses to Cincinnati, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Miami. However, they did have notable wins against San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis.

Denver’s losses came against St. Louis in Week 1, undefeated Indianapolis in Week 8, and last week to San Diego. Denver has already beaten Kansas City in Denver by a score of 9-6 in overtime.

Denver holds the head-to-head advantage even though it was an ugly game by both teams. Also, Denver has had somewhat of a tougher schedule to date and has more quality wins.

Keys to Victory

Kansas City:

1. Must win the game in the trenches. This is a vital key for two reasons. First, Denver has a very good rushing game. Kansas City will have to contain them if they are going to have any success. Second, Plummer is a very mobile quarterback. Kansas City will have a hard time sacking Plummer, but they must pressure him enough to make him get rid of the ball before he wants to.

2. Must run the ball. Larry Johnson leads the NFL in rushing yards and is currently second in the NFL in total touchdowns. Denver showed last week that they can be run on and Kansas City will need to expose that weakness.

Denver:

1. Must correct last week’s problems in containing an elite running back. This week they face Larry Johnson who has more rushing yards and eight less touchdowns than Ladanian Tomlinson. Denver didn’t allow too many yards on the ground last week, but they pretty much folded when it came to the red zone. They cannot allow Larry Johnson to kill them with two or three touchdowns.

Final Thoughts:
Denver, although they played fairly well against San Diego last week, came up short. Kansas City, on the other hand, barely squeaked out a win against the struggling Oakland Raiders. Look for Kansas City to hand the ball to Larry Johnson early and often. Also look for Denver’s defense to be angry and fired up after last week’s lackluster performance against San Diego.
Kansas City 20, Denver 27

Due to the short week and the fact that I am currently on vacation, this article does not contain an injury report as the official team reports have not been released as of the writing date. That said, there is a key injury to Tatum Bell in that he suffers from turf toe in both feet. He is the most explosive back on the team, and if he is not ready to go look for Denver to have a little more trouble than usual establishing the run game. Mike Bell and Damien Nash worked surprisingly well against San Diego, but Tatum provides a long run threat which could help put Denver over the top.

 
Joel Wilbourn is one of a growing number of football experts who write for the Cafe. Joel is writing this from the great state of Texas and welcomes all comments and suggestions in the Cafe's forums where he posts under the name of joelamosobadiah.
 

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