Chiefs @ Broncos · Week 8

WEEK 8 · FINAL

THE READ

Chiefs run away with it, 59-28

Chiefs 59, Broncos 28, and it was not that close. Patrick Mahomes threw for Chiefs — 12/17, 292 yards, 4 TD. Bo Nix was steady for Broncos — 20/39, 328 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT — in a losing effort. Worth noting: Elijah Arroyo, 80 overall, is 4 in the league in receiving yards. On the ground: Chiefs 176, Broncos 10.

Elise Carter The insider

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Chiefs	+18.3	+6.8	+11.4	+6
Broncos	+11.0	+5.0	+6.0	+1

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Chiefs — AFC #5 · 6-2 Broncos — in the hunt · 5-4 Playoff picture →

IN THE BOOTH

Marcus Reyes The numbers guy

Denver threw 39 times and ran 6, which meant Kansas City's front four got to live in the backfield all afternoon—Chris Jones alone had 3 sacks—while the ground game that should've kept them honest generated 10 yards and vanished.

Riley Parker The chaos merchant · replying

Denver threw the ball 39 times because the line kept folding—6 sacks allowed means Bo Nix spent half the afternoon running for his life, and when you're that desperate to escape, 4 interceptions stops being bad luck and starts being inevitable.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Patrick Mahomes

Chiefs

12/17, 292 yards, 4 TD

Bo Nix

Broncos

20/39, 328 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT

Xavier Worthy

Chiefs

5 catches, 199 yards, 3 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

💎 Elijah Arroyo is 80 overall and sits 4 in the league in receiving yards.

🧊 Bo Nix — 89 overall — was held to 6 rushing yards, against an average of 12.

📉 Patrick Mahomes is still searching for it: 226 passing yards a game across his last three, against an average of 308.

WHAT DECIDED IT

On the ground Chiefs 176, Broncos 10 Chiefs

Total yards Chiefs 468, Broncos 338 Chiefs

Through the air Broncos 328, Chiefs 292 Broncos

Giveaways Broncos 4, Chiefs 0 Chiefs

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 8 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 54% · Rush 46% · 43.9 scored, 32.4 allowed

11.9 yds/att 63.0% completions 6.7 yds/carry 455.4 yds/game 1.3 giveaways/game 6.2% sack rate last 5: 3-2

Primary weapon: Xavier Worthy WR — 38% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 71 · Aggressive Balance 96 Ball security 64 Back usage 43% QB runs 1.4/game

Most exposed: one-man passing game -- Xavier Worthy takes 38% of the receiving yards

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 98 WR 84 TE 76 RB 85 OL 85 DL 86 LB 85 DB 83

Best: Patrick Mahomes QB 98 Fastest: Xavier Worthy WR 99 SPD 10 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

Grand Regent K

Broncos · his last 8 games

Throws it One back

Pass / run78% / 22% Points for / against39.1 — 33.1 Margin+6.0 Giveaways a game1.9 Sacks taken6.9% of dropbacks Lead backOmarion Hampton · 7.8/g Top targetElijah Arroyo · 34% QB carries0.8 a game

Prodigy

Chiefs · his last 7 games

Runs it One back One target

Pass / run54% / 46% Points for / against43.9 — 32.4 Margin+11.4 Giveaways a game1.3 Sacks taken6.2% of dropbacks Lead backKenneth Walker · 18.3/g Top targetXavier Worthy · 38% QB carries1.1 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES Prodigy against Grand Regent K — the men, not the teams

Prodigy leads it 2-0. Prodigy has won 2 straight.

2 meetings avg 55.5 — 29.5 biggest: 31 pts to Prodigy

S1 · week 8 Prodigy 59 — 28 Grand Regent K PRODIGY

S1 · week 1 Prodigy 52 — 31 Grand Regent K PRODIGY

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Chiefs receivers vs Broncos secondary 84 v 85 EVEN

Broncos receivers vs Chiefs secondary 85 v 83 EVEN

Chiefs line vs Broncos front 85 v 90 BRONCOS

Broncos line vs Chiefs front 86 v 86 EVEN

Chiefs backs vs Broncos run defence 85 v 86 EVEN

Broncos backs vs Chiefs run defence 82 v 85 CHIEFS

Chiefs passer vs Broncos secondary 98 v 85 CHIEFS

Broncos passer vs Chiefs secondary 89 v 83 BRONCOS

TOP PERFORMERS

Bo Nix QB Broncos 328 pass yds

Patrick Mahomes QB Chiefs 292 pass yds

Xavier Worthy WR Chiefs 199 rec yds

Kenneth Walker HB Chiefs 167 rush yds

Elijah Arroyo TE Broncos 140 rec yds

Courtland Sutton WR Broncos 110 rec yds

Pat Bryant II WR Broncos 63 rec yds

Derrick Moore LEDG Chiefs 2 sacks

Chris Jones DT Chiefs 3 sacks

Mansoor Delane CB Chiefs 2 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

CHIEFS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Patrick Mahomes QB	12/17	292	4	0	2	71	152.5

BRONCOS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Bo Nix QB	20/39	328	3	4	6	63	65.9

CHIEFS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Kenneth Walker HB	21	167	8.0	3	3	40	33	0
Patrick Mahomes QB	1	9	9	0	0	0	9	0

BRONCOS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
Bo Nix QB	2	6	3	0	0	2	4
Omarion Hampton HB	4	4	1	1	0	5	5
Courtland Sutton WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

CHIEFS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
Xavier Worthy WR	5	199	39.8	3	56	1	71
Jonnu Smith TE	2	34	17	0	8	0	27
Rashee Rice WR	1	27	27	1	0	0	27
Tyquan Thornton WR	3	20	6.7	0	13	0	12
Kenneth Walker HB	1	12	12	0	7	0	12

BRONCOS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Elijah Arroyo TE	9	140	15.6	2	35	33
Courtland Sutton WR	5	110	22	0	29	43
Pat Bryant II WR	1	63	63	1	26	63
Omarion Hampton HB	4	9	2.2	0	5	5
Marvin Mims Jr WR	1	6	6	0	0	6

CHIEFS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	TD
Derrick Moore LEDG	3	2	0	0	0
L'Jarius Sneed CB	3	0	0	1	0
Chris Jones DT	3	3	0	0	0
Nick Bolton MIKE	3	0	0	1	0
Taron Johnson CB	2	0	0	0	0
Jacob Rodriguez SAM	2	0	0	0	0
Kam Curl SS	2	0	0	1	0
Drue Tranquill WILL	2	0	0	1	0
Kristian Fulton CB	2	0	0	0	0
Jaden Hicks SS	1	0	0	0	0
George Karlaftis LEDG	1	1	0	0	0
Jerome Baker SAM	1	0	0	0	0
Kaiir Elam FS	1	0	2	1	1
Mansoor Delane CB	0	0	2	1	0

BRONCOS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	PD
Jahdae Barron CB	4	0	0
Tyson Campbell CB	3	0	0
Grant Delpit FS	3	0	0
Talanoa Hufanga SS	3	0	0
Andrew Van Ginkel REDG	1	0	0
Jarrick Bernard-Converse SS	1	0	0
Jared Verse DT	1	1	0
Nik Bonitto LEDG	1	1	0
Jake Golday MIKE	1	0	0
Jevon Holland FS	1	0	0
Riley Moss CB	0	0	1

CHIEFS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Harrison Butker K	1/1	8/8	53

BRONCOS

nothing recorded

RECENT FORM

Chiefs

L 24–30 vs Seahawks WK 7

L 44–56 vs Chargers WK 6

W 49–21 vs Raiders WK 4

Broncos

W 48–14 vs Cardinals WK 7

L 17–21 vs Seahawks WK 6

W 48–27 vs Chargers WK 5

TEAM STATS

Chiefs		Broncos
468	TOTAL YARDS	338
292	PASSING YARDS	328
176	RUSHING YARDS	10
2	SACKS ALLOWED	6
6	SACKS MADE	2
0	GIVEAWAYS	4
4	TAKEAWAYS	0

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

2 CHIEFS — 0 BRONCOS

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