The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a costly loss to the Denver Broncos last week, dealing a potentially devastating blow to their hopes of repeating as division champions — or making the playoffs at all.
But the game could also be expensive for one Broncos player who drew punishment for his actions on a Patrick Mahomes interception. The third-quarter interception was a game-changer, but also led to a 15-yard penalty against the Broncos and could now net him a significant fine.
NFL Could Fine Broncos Player Five Figures
The Chiefs were driving in the third quarter and nearing the red zone when Mahomes threw an interception. Broncos defensive end John Franklin-Myers was flagged for an illegal blindside block, pushing the Broncos back.
The penalty wiped out the 63-yard return, giving the Broncos the ball at the 11-yard line. Though Denver still scored after an 11-play drive, giving them a 13-6 lead, the play could still cost Franklin-Myers when the league determines fines for the week.
The NFL reviews all plays and announces fines at 4 p.m. ET. The league’s stipulations on fines say a blindside block would warrant a $17,389 fine for a first offense and $23,186 for second offenses.
Patrick Mahomes Vows to Clean Up Mistakes
The loss dropped the Chiefs to 5-5, falling below the cutoff for playoff spots in the AFC and leaving them 3.5 games back in the AFC West.
Mahomes told reporters this week that he’s “just not making the throws” and that he needs to do a better job setting his receivers up to succeed.
“Guys are getting open and giving me chances to make the plays down the field and I just gotta give them chances to make plays,” he said, via SI.com . “And I mean, if you look at the one to Tyquan [Thornton] later in the game, it wasn’t necessarily the best-thrown ball, but it gave him a chance.”
Mahomes added that he doesn’t need to be perfect to put his receivers in position for big plays.
âYeah, I mean the angle stuff is one thing,” he said. “I think what I’ve learned from just playing for a while now is that those deep passes, like I said, those deep passes don’t have to be perfect. I think we always want to make the perfect throw. But if he wins like that, you can flatten his angle, you could throw the ball with more air underneath it, and then he can adjust.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid doesn’t believe the team needs to make any sweeping changes, saying they need to fix some issues with their execution to get back on track.
âWeâre not in a position where we need to wholesale that,â Reid said. âThatâs not where weâre at right now. We need to just clean up some things. The nice part about this offense is youâve got a lot of directions you can go with it. A whole lot of things, different things you can do with it. Itâs important that we do the right things and get ourselves in the right place.â
The Chiefs face another challenge as they try to get back on track, playing the AFC-leading Indianapolis Colts in Week 12.
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