FanPost

Highlighting the enemy: Denver Broncos


Last and probably not least due to the Chargers are J-Man's Denver Broncos. This is a certain team I have felt particular dislike to because of the likes of John Elway, Shannon Sharpe, Bill Romanowski, and more recently Robert Ayers. It always seemed like past games with Denver went right to the wire, sometimes we won and sometimes they won, which made the rivalry all the better. Last year who knows what happened, they walloped us at our house and we kicked their teeth in at theirs. Im sure the poll question at the bottom is going to get alot of votes for Denver being the number one rival, but so far I think the comments from the other two highighting the enemies has Oakland in front of San Diego. After the jump I will break down this long heated rivalry.

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via multimedia.heraldinteractive.com

SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2

AFC CHAMPIONSHIPS: 6

AFC WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS: 10

PLAYOFF APPERANCES POST AFL: 20

CHIEFS LEAD ALL TIME SEASON SERIES AT: 55-45 (DENVER 1-0 IN PLAYOFFS AGAINST CHIEFS)

2009

The Denver Broncos are currently in a regime change just like we are here in Kansas City. Last season everyone suspected with Brandon Marshall's actions in the summer, Cutler being traded away for Orton, and just overall weirdness occuring in the Mile High city that Denver was going to falter, well we all know how that turned out. Before the 2009 season started Denver brought in Safety Brian Dawkins, signed 14 Free Agents with names like; Chris Simms, Jabar Gaffney, Correll Buckhalter, and J.J. Arrington. You can see the similarity in the to what the Chiefs did last offseason of purging the roster and bringing in known players from other organizations. Maybe the Broncos had a better starting core in tact because they quickly started the season 6-0 and were the talk of the NFL.

After the bye week in week 7 Denver struggled a bit dropping 4 games including a 3-32 drubbing at the hands of the San Diego Chargers. Sitting at 6-4 the Broncos would take the next two from the New York Giants, and from our Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead before starting another long spiral downward. As we all know we would get our payback in the final week of the season for both teams as we defeated Denver at Invesco Field at Mile High easily 44-24 leaving Denver with an 8-8 overall record, good enough for 2nd place in the AFC West but not good enough for the playoffs.

What alot of people may have forgot was that the final game of the year were career days for numerous players. Not just our Jamaal Charles and Derrick Johnson, but Denvers Orton was 32 for 56 passing with 431 yards the bulk going to Jabar Gaffney who had career highs in receptions and yardage with 14 catches for 231 yards.

The Rivalry

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via www.post-gazette.com

Ever since 1960 The Chiefs and Broncos have squared off against each other. There have been more than a few memorable games, Joe Montana beating Elway in 1994, Dante Hall in 2003 who returned a game winning punt late in the 4th quarter, the game where Steve Atwater knocked out Christian Okoye, last years victory at Invesco which saw Jamaal Charles set a Chiefs single game rushing with 259 yards, and the one playoff game showcasing the two, the 1997 AFC Divisional Playoff game where Denver won 14-10.

When Neil Smith went to the Broncos in 1997 they were already tops of my most disliked teams list. Something about Elway just made me mad, but seeing Neil Smith in the orange and blue crushed me. Smith and Derrick Thomas were my two favorite Chiefs growing up and knowing that he would be lining up against us permanantly solidified my dislike in the Broncos. When it comes time to play the Broncos, I dont want to see a close game all the way until the end, yeah they are fun, what I want to see is us destroy them. I want to see them demoralized, beaten, and walk off the field with their heads held down. This rivalry grew inside of me from a very early age as my best friend growing up was a Broncos fan. His family always rooted hard for the Broncos, he was always the opposite of me, I would be wearing Chiefs gear, he would be wearing Broncos gear. Somehow we managed to remain close friends throughout the years but when I had to hear him brag about Neil Smith and say "thank you" over and over again I boiled with hatred for the Broncos.

The new crop of Bronco players such as Robert Ayers and his cheap shot,

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via cdn2.sbnation.com

are sure to keep this rivalry going.

2010

Josh McDaniels has completely changed the face of the Broncos lineup. No more Brandon Marshall pestering us, Cutler packed up and left last season, and drafting Tim Tebow in the first round are all major shifts from the Broncos of the past. McDaniels is either going to sink or swim with his draft class from this year which can be seen here: 2010 Denver Broncos draft class. A few of the names are going to make an impact seeing as how the Broncos drafted heavily on offensive line with Zane Beadles, J.D. Walton, and Eric Olsen.

The Broncos wide receiving corps is still going to be a dangerous bunch. New addition Demaryius Thomas is going to join Eddie Royal, Brandon Lloyd, Brandon Stokley, and Jabar Gaffney. Over the years we have seen several receivers have successful games against our Chiefs. Hopefully our DB corps with the addition of Eric Berry and Javier Arenas are going to shut them down. Add all those receiver in with Knowshon Moreno and his 7 TD's and this offensive unit may still be dangerous.

Elvis Dumervil is probably the first name you think of when you hear about the Broncos defense. Mix him in with Ayers, Champ Bailey, Brian Dawkins, free agent NT Jamal Williams, and former Chief Vonnie Holliday and you can see why the Broncos defense is respected. Dawkins alone had 2 picks and 116 tackles which was second to only D.J. Williams who amassed 122 tackles of which 100 were solo, Dumervil logged 17 sacks and had 4 forced fumbles, and Champ Bailey's 74 tackles and 3 picks led Denver to the leagues seventh best defense overall.

Our two matchups against Denver in 2010 start with a game on the road November 14 and back in Arrowhead December 5th are must sees. We have to get our young nucleus of players ready to go back into Invesco field and punish Denver again and regain our foothold on our own home. We are going to see Tebow in action for the first time against our Chiefs, is he the second coming of Elway, only time will tell.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.