Thanks to the gang over at Mile High Report for answering our Chiefs-Broncos questions. You can check out our Q&A below. Find my answers to their questions over at MHR.
If Talib and Wolfe are back, what are you expecting out of them? Will they be limited?
MHR: There was an awful lot of chatter early this season about replacing Aqib Talib. I think a whole lot of that chatter has died away at this point as Broncos Country has seen the difference between Talib and a player like Bradley Roby. Before getting injured, Talib was easily playing the best football of any corner in the NFL. If he plays, he's going to be bringing that a same level of smothering defense to his side of the field.
The Broncos defense has been a bit weak to the run and when they lost their best run defender on the defensive line in Derek Wolfe, that weakness became a bit more prominent. Wolfe is easily the best lineman and is a plus both against the run and the pass.
Both of these guys play a big time role in what the defense does. We have some guys behind them that are decent fill-ins, but they clearly aren't at the same level on the field as what Talib and Wolfe are.
We've heard very little so far from Kubiak other than that these guys have been limited in practice. I'm doubting we'll get a clear answer on their prognosis before hte game.
Can the Chiefs run the ball on the Broncos?
MHR:Any team can run the ball on the Broncos this year to some extent, especially to the offense's left side. Jared Crick has looked like a liability for most of the season against the run and it hasn't been Sylvester William's strong suit either.
Several voices at MHR have been asking why Billy Winn hasn't gotten more snaps on 1st and 2nd downs to shore this up as he is an excellent run defender. I've also thought Darius Kilgo has looked like a better NT as well.
Tell us about our old pal Donald Stephenson.
MHR: Hopes were high during the first 3 weeks of the year. Stephenson looked like a really strong RT who was going to be a big step up from anything we tried at RT last year. Unfortunately that shine wore off. Last game he played in he was benched because he was playing so poorly.
I'm not sure what happened to the guy that we saw in weeks 1-3, but we'd love him to show back up. At this point, it has become a competition between him and Ty Sambrailo. Either one is a big liability at RT in both facets of the offense.
When the Broncos are on offense, what do they do win? What are they good at?
MHR: The best offense we've seen from the Broncos has been only in a couple games where the running game has been clicking. The offense then sets up good play-action passes off of that and really just drives the ball down the field in a really methodical manner.
Denver doesn't win with its offense though. The offense has been barely a step better than the offense we saw out of Denver in 2015 honestly. We've luckily enough had fewer turnovers. Other than that, there's not much to write home about.
The one thing the offense has been good at here and there has been deep passes down the field to our star WRs. Both Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas have made really great deep ball plays multiple times this year, but it has been inconsistent at best.
Score prediction?
MHR: Denver is home and I always like them there. I see a lot of similarities between these two teams: very strong defenses and very poor offenses. I do think Denver's got a significant edge at home which will lead to a victory over the Chiefs 23-17.