Kansas
Denver Broncos Need To Enter Full-Scale Rebuild Following Latest Loss To Kansas City Chiefs
There’s no question about it, the 2023 Denver Broncos are one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Despite entering the season with high expectations following the hiring of Super Bowl champion head coach Sean Payton, the Broncos aren’t anywhere close to being a contender — in fact, they’re much closer to being a team that picks No. 1 overall next season.
The hapless Broncos lost another dud as they dropped to 1-5 on the season. This time around, they lost to the Chiefs for the 16th consecutive time, 19-8.
In game where no one expected the Broncos to win, the defensive unit somehow had their best game of the season against arguably the league’s best quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. In fact, Denver’s defensive unit held the Chiefs to just 1-for-5 in the red zone, including forcing an interception and a turnover on downs.
However, these 2023 Broncos can never play a complementary game. Either the defensive unit, offensive unit, special teams group or head coach finds a way to completely screw it up for the rest of the team. In tonight’s case, the offensive unit let the team down, with special teams being a major issue in the first half of the game.
To top it all off, it felt like Payton was doing his best to not win the game.
In one of the most puzzling decisions you’ll see by a head coach in a game, Payton called a timeout with 22 seconds remaining in the first half following a sack on Russell Wilson during a failed third down conversion. The Chiefs weren’t going to call a timeout, instead electing to enter halftime with a 10-0 lead.
However, Payton decided to call a timeout for no reason and then decided to punt the ball. Needless to say, the Chiefs drove down the field and Harrison Butker converted on a 60-yard field goal to give Kansas City a 13-0 lead at halftime.
Payton admitted following the game that it was a “boneheaded mistake” by him.
That’s not even including several questionable play calls when the game was still within reach, including a failed third down conversion that saw Wilson roll out to the right with two receivers blanketed by defenders.
Wilson entered the game with an impressive stat line. In fact, through five games, he had been one of the Broncos’ best performers posting 11 touchdowns against two interceptions for a 106.1 passer rating, the fourth-highest in the league. However, advanced analytics show that Wilson had actually been underperforming, posting a 15 quarterback rating in the second half/overtime of games, the worst in the NFL.
For those that were fooled by the basic statistics, Wilson’s lack of explosiveness and inability to convert when it matters most was on full display in front of a national television audience during this game.
The Broncos didn’t score any points until 6:07 was left in the fourth quarter. Entering the fourth quarter, the Broncos produced just 44 passing yards. In fact, prior to Denver’s first touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, Wilson had gone 9-for-17 for a total of 68 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions.
Yes, it’s true that Wilson wasn’t the entire reason for the Broncos’ dismal offensive showing. The receivers — led by Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, two trade deadline pieces — failed to gain any separation for most of the night. In fact, Jeudy — who was involved in a pregame spat with NFL Network analyst and former receiver Steve Smith — produced just three receptions for 14 receiving yards.
But it’s also true that Wilson’s two interceptions were all on him, especially the first one as Denver was near midfield in the first quarter down 3-0.
This was in spite of the fact that the Broncos ran the ball extremely well, averaging 5.0 yards per carry as a team, paced by Javonte Williams’ 5.2 yards per carry and Jaleel McLaughlin’s 4.3 yards per attempt.
Meanwhile, special teams was once again an issue as punter Riley Dixon came out weak in the first half, with his 29-yarder directly leading to good field position for Butker’s field goal.
Through the first several games of the season, it became apparent that Denver is not the team that most people thought they were going to be. The defensive unit was shellshocked as they allowed a franchise record 70 points to the Miami Dolphins in a record-breaking Week 3 loss. Through the first five games of the season, they had proven to be the worst unit in the league, ranking dead last in the league by allowing 36.2 points per game.
Meanwhile, Russell Wilson blew countless opportunities to win games with the game on the line on the last drive in the fourth quarter, coming up short in losses to the Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Commanders and New York Jets.
The problem with the Broncos isn’t one person or one unit — it’s the entire team.
This is a franchise that has yet to recover after winning Super Bowl 50 at the conclusion of the 2015 season. Led by a lackluster regime with John Elway as general manager — and now George Paton — the organization has been in a free fall ever since, becoming the biggest joke in the NFL in the process.
They’ve made bad decisions when it comes to head coaches — Nathaniel Hackett, Vic Fangio and Vance Joseph — and bad decisions when it comes to their quarterbacks, with Wilson and his $243 million deal being the worst of them all.
Simply put, it’s an organizational failure.
Not too long ago, the Broncos were the epitome of a successful franchise. Under the ownership of Pat Bowlen from 1984 until 2019, the Broncos had posted the second-highest winning percentage in the NFL and third-highest winning percentage in American professional sports.
Since 2017, they have the NFL’s third-worst record, with only the New York Jets and New York Giants being worse. However, the Giants at least have recent success, winning a playoff game last season. Meanwhile, the Jets at least have a bright future with one of their few weaknesses being at quarterback.
The Broncos have simply been a bad organization in recent years.
The problem is, Denver has refused to enter a rebuild, flirting with the idea that they can contend with a big quarterback move or big head coaching hire.
Well, they’ve done both in the past two seasons. And they’re worse than they’ve ever been as a team.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams may not be the sole solution to all of the Broncos’ problems. But he can surely help lead the Broncos back into an era of stability if the franchise is lucky enough to land him.
The Broncos will be in full fire sale mode by the trade deadline on October 31. That means key players like Sutton, Jeudy, safety Justin Simmons, tackle Garett Boles and others will be available.
And simply put, it’s what’s best for both the franchise and the players. Boles said it best following the record-breaking Dolphins loss in Week 3.
“I’m tired of losing, man,” Bolles said back in September. “I’ve been here seven years and all I’ve done is lost, and it’s frustrating.”
It’s time for a fresh start for everyone.
For the first time in decades, the Broncos will enter a rebuild.
And it’s absolutely necessary if Denver is to ever regain its place as a winning franchise in the NFL.
Kansas
Chiefs, Ravens to kick off 2024 NFL season as Kansas City looks to 3-peat
The Kansas City Chiefs will begin their quest for a third consecutive championship against the Baltimore Ravens as the NFL announced its opener to the 2024 season on Monday.
The Chiefs and Ravens will battle on Thursday, Sept. 5. It will be a rematch of the 2023 AFC Championship that saw Kansas City oust Baltimore 17-10. The game will be played at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs had a 17-7 lead in that game going into halftime and only allowed a Justin Tucker field goal in the second half.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
“The stage is set,” the Chiefs’ X account posted after the announcement.
The Ravens celebrated that they were “kicking off the NFL season.”
Kansas City is fresh off of another Super Bowl victory. The team came back to defeat the San Francisco 49ers and become the first team since the 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles. No team has won three straight Super Bowl titles.
JASON KELCE BELIEVES HE COULD TURN LEBRON JAMES INTO THE ‘GREATEST REDZONE THREAT IN THE NFL’
Baltimore last won a Super Bowl during the 2012 season – ironically, over the 49ers. Their appearance in the AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs was their first since that season. John Harbaugh has been the head coach through all the ups and downs since 2008.
The Chiefs are awaiting potential discipline against Rashee Rice as the wide receiver was involved in a crash in Texas in April. The team has since drafted Xavier Worthy as a potential replacement. Kansas City also acquired Marquise Brown in the offseason.
The Ravens loaded up on offense with the signing of running back Derrick Henry. The team also added help on the offensive line in Josh Jones.
Lamar Jackson is the reigning NFL MVP. He had 3,678 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, 821 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Last season, the Chiefs opened up the year at home against the Detroit Lions. The Lions edged the Chiefs 21-20. Still, Kansas City bounced back and won the Super Bowl.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Kansas
New Kansas state law will make it easier for some drivers to get back on roads legally
WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) – A new State Law will make it easier for some drivers to get back on the road legally. It’s the second state law to come from a series of KAKE News Investigations into suspended and revoked driver’s licenses dating back to 2018.
“After, you and others did stories on how many people are affected with suspended driver’s licenses, or revoked driver’s licenses. Those stories helped with this bill,” said State Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau.
Say if you can’t pay a traffic fine within 30 days, your license will be restricted instead of suspended. It’s just one of several changes under this law which goes into effect on January 1st.
“It allowed me to turn a negative into a positive. All the negative stuff and just driving on a suspended license, which I thought it was in the process of getting straight, it finally came to fruition,” said Michael who asked to only go by his first name.
Michael is one of many Kansas who could benefit from Senate Bill 500.
It’s to help people like him get restricted driver’s licenses instead of a suspended license if a traffic ticket is unpaid.
For him, it started when he tried to get his CDL.
“I went to the DMV, I got a letter saying that I was eligible. However, a ticket in Kansas City made me ineligible,” said Michael.
Michael thought he took care of the ticket in Kansas City, but the DMV told him he was driving with a suspended license.
Senate Bill 500 will give him time to still drive and correct things.
“It will retroactively help those with a revoked driver’s license. So they now too can participate in the restrictive driver’s license program while making payments on their fines,” said Faust-Goudeau.
Right now, anyone stopped for driving while suspended automatically gets their license revoked. But with this change, they’ll get the chance at a restricted license as long as they set up and keep up with a payment plan.
Like Michael, many Kansans only find out they have a suspended license during a traffic stop. This law also makes it cheaper to get your license re-instated…
“Current law if you have three five traffic violations, if you want to get that right and drive legally you have to pay $100 per reinstatement fee,” said Goudeau.
But with the new law in effect on January 1st, 2025, there’s just a flat rate fee.
“It eliminates that you only have to pay $100 no matter how many traffic violations you have,” said Goudeau.
This was a bipartisan bill. Both Republicans and Democrats agreed on it.
Kansas
Kansas City to Grandview public bus route no longer offered
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The public will no longer have an option to take a public bus from Grandview to Kansas City, Mo.
Beginning Monday, May 13, the 29 Blue Ridge Limited Bus Route will end at Holiday Drive and Blue Ridge Boulevard instead of continuing on into Grandview.
According to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, Grandview leaders terminated its agreement for bus service.
Members of the Grandview Board of Aldermen discussed the number of people who actually used the route while trying to determine if the cost for the service justified keeping it during a meeting on April 23.
ALSO READ: Man gets boat painted on fence that city made him put up to hide it
The route has been an option for people living in Grandview since April 2019, when KCATA expanded service. At that point the route included stops on Main Street at City Hall, the Mid-Continent Public Library-Grandview, and Truman’s Marketplace.
The limited service provided early morning and late afternoon service Monday through Friday.
Additional information about the KCATA, and the routes and services it provides, is available online at ridekc.org.
Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.
-
World1 week ago
Brussels, my love? Champage cracked open to celebrate the Big Bang
-
Politics1 week ago
Australian lawmakers send letter urging Biden to drop case against Julian Assange on World Press Freedom Day
-
Education1 week ago
How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours
-
News1 week ago
A group of Republicans has united to defend the legitimacy of US elections and those who run them
-
Politics1 week ago
House Dems seeking re-election seemingly reverse course, call on Biden to 'bring order to the southern border'
-
World1 week ago
‘It’s going to be worse’: Brazil braces for more pain amid record flooding
-
Politics1 week ago
'Stop the invasion': Migrant flights in battleground state ignite bipartisan backlash from lawmakers
-
World1 week ago
German socialist candidate attacked before EU elections