Rich Weighs In on the Broncos’ “Troubling” 31-10 Beatdown at the Hands of the Chiefs in Week 1

Week 1 can lie. Rich said it up front, and then spent several minutes explaining why the version of Denver that showed up Monday night still should worry people.

That was not the defense that dominated last season. That was not the offense that dominated last season. And Jaylen Waddle, the addition everyone spent the summer projecting, finished with one catch for two yards.

The final was 31-10, and the conversation in Denver is going to land in one place.

Sean Payton gave up the play calling. Davis Webb has it now, and the context matters, because Webb is a genuinely hot name in the league. He interviewed in several places, plenty of teams respect him, and Denver did not want to lose him.

The first night was an unmitigated disaster.

It did not help that Bo Nix threw an interception three snaps in. Denver tied the game anyway, and then the roof caved in on the defensive side, and the offense could not keep up.

Rich pinpointed the moment he knew. When Kenneth Walker broke off a 60 yard run, it was all she wrote, because Denver did not look like it had the offensive firepower to answer against that Kansas City defense.

Payton, to his credit, addressed the play calling question directly.

"As a head coach, whether you're calling the plays or you're not, regardless of who's calling the plays, when you have a game like that and you're the head coach, it's frustrating, it's disappointing," Payton said. "And I don't know that the feeling is any different whether you're calling them or not, honestly."

Status quo, in other words.

Nix did what quarterbacks do and put it on his own plate, defending Webb in the process.

"The players did not make it easy on him today. Pretty pitiful actually," Nix said. "To me in the headset, he treated it like a pro. He was like, hey, next play, here we go, you got this. He shot it with conviction. We called exactly what we prepared for and what we wanted to get to, and we just didn't execute. Then we were behind, and I don't think we did a whole lot of good consistently enough to win the game at all."

The numbers are grim in every direction. Three fumbles with one lost, the interception, four sacks taken. The run game with Dobbins and Harvey produced 61 yards. The passing game produced 131.

Rich's summary was a large goose egg in several different ways, from a team that is supremely talented.

Here is the real problem. Whatever is fixable has to get fixed on a short week, and at the end of that short week sits Jacksonville, a team that destroyed Denver last season and looked terrific in its opener. After that comes the Rams on a Sunday night, then a trip to San Francisco, then the Chargers, then Seattle at home on a short week Thursday, then Arizona, then Kansas City again.

Somebody at the desk did the math out loud and arrived at 2-4.

Rich is not that far gone, and his reasoning is worth noting. That projection assumes Monday night is how Denver plays for the next five weeks. If the Rams play the way they played in Australia, the Broncos can win that one, especially in the altitude without Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald. And the way the Chargers looked, Denver can walk into Los Angeles and win handily.

The broader admission is the useful part.

"I thought they were going to win. I thought they were a better team," Rich said. "But when you pick Week 1 games, you use the prism of the previous year, and it's a whole new year."

As for the winners, the Chiefs look like they are back, and their schedule is a good deal more yellow brick road than Denver's.

Rich did flag one thing that has not changed. Patrick Mahomes showed rust. Every completion came within eight yards of the line of scrimmage, and both touchdown passes were thrown behind it. Kansas City still is not pushing the ball downfield, which has been the theme for a few seasons now, though Mahomes moving around was impressive.

It prompted a question from Cooper, Rich's son, watching the second half next to him. Would the Chiefs sign Tyreek Hill if he were healthy?

Rich does not think so. What they need is someone who does what Xavier Worthy does. Or, as the desk pointed out, they may not need to do anything at all. If Kenneth Walker is going to run all over you and the defense is going to swallow you up in a 21 point win, who cares?

Rich reached for the Rod Woodson line to close it. The most adaptable organism in the NFL is the NFL. Teams will adjust.