On Sunday night in New England, the Broncos blew a 24-point lead and lost to the Patriots in overtime, 34-31. Denver cashed in three takeaways for 17 points in building a 24-0 halftime advantage, with Von Miller opening the scoring with a 60-yard fumble return TD. NE erased that deficit in the first 17 minutes of the second half, scoring touchdowns on four straight drives to open the half. Trailing 31-24, Denver drove 80 yards to tie the game on an 11-yard TD pass from Peyton Manning to Demaryius Thomas with 3:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. Each team punted twice in O; the second Patriot punt bounced and deflected off the Broncos' Tony Carter for a fumble which the Pats recovered to set up Stephen Gostkowski's game-winning field goal.
In a game featuring eight lead changes -- the most in any game this season -- the Chiefs lost at home to the Chargers last week, 41-38. KC took a 38-34 lead on Alex Smith's third TD pass of the day, a five-yarder to Dwayne Bowe with 1:22 remaining, but San Diego answered with a 78-yard drive culminating with Philip Rivers' 26-yard game-winning TD pass to Seyi Ajirotutu with 24 seconds to play. Jamaal Charles ran for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added 42 yards receiving in a losing effort.
Denver and Kansas City squared off two weeks ago in Denver, with the Broncos winning, 27-17 on the strength of Peyton Manning's 323 passing yards and Montee Ball's two rushing scores. A Broncos win on Sunday would be their fourth straight in the series -- something neither team has managed since KC did it in 1999-2000.
Peyton Manning's 150 passing yards at New England last week were his lowest total for any game with 20 or more pass attempts since 2008. Manning's 70.4 passer rating, 52.8 completion percentage and 4.17 yards per attempts were all season lows. In the last two games, Manning has thrown for only three touchdowns; he has fumbled three times in those two games.
Jamaal Charles has failed to score a rushing touchdown in his last five games against Denver, but has some good numbers against the Broncos: a 5.4-yard average in his career, and 109.0 rushing yards per contest in the last six meetings between the teams. Charles is 16 rushing attempts away from the 1000th of his career, and 82 rushing yards away from 1000 this season.
The Broncos lead the NFL with 50 offensive touchdowns in 2013, but have been guilty of 23 giveaways, tied for third most in the league. Kansas City's 24 takeaways are tied for second most in the league, while the team's 23 offensive touchdowns are good for only a tie for 20th among all teams.
