Throughout the entire 2019-20 season, DNVR will be giving you game grades from every Denver Broncos’ contest. Evaluating all the starters and beyond to give you a better look at the team’s strengths and weaknesses on a game-by-game basis.

In a snowy Arrowhead stadium, the Broncos were thoroughly outmatched in a 23-3 defeat that never felt competitive once the Kansas City Chiefs scored their opening touchdown.

With Andy Reid and his squad now beating Vic Fangio 53-9 in their two meetings this year, here’s who stood out.

Standouts from the game

Shelby Harris: B+

Harris was a godsend in a game where the defensive line was completely depleted. He created consistent pressure with two sacks and two more hurries. His grade could’ve been even higher if not for a roughing the passer penalty that prolonged a key early drive.

Von Miller: B+

Von played a tough game until the end, despite not being 100-percent, with a sack, three QB hurries, and a run stuff. Even in the snow, he was still making amazing plays coming off the edge with his alien-like agility. 

Noah Fant: B-

Fant had two pretty grabs, the first of which to convert 4th-and-1 as the rookie created yards after the catch with a powerful run. He was unfortunately injured but returned and had a nice block on the Broncos longest run of the game.

Drew Lock: C-

Getting little help from the run game, while being hit 10 times and suffering some tough drops, Lock struggled on his own, tossing up a wild interception and missing an array of throws, as he didn’t always look on the same page with his receivers. He ended the game with a below 50-percent completion rate.

He also battled all game and carried the offense, allowing just two sacks, showing resilience under pressure and getting the ball out quickly. Lock converted 4-of-12 thrid-downs (33 percent) while completing 50-percent of his third-down throws. Again, doing some of his best work on third down.

The game lacked jaw-dropping throws, but he fought hard despite a nightmare game for the offense.

Defense

Mike Purcell: C+

Purcell had his moments as a run defender, disrupting plays in the backfield with 1.5 run stuffs. He also got a QB hurry on the two-point conversion, as injuries forced him onto the field for 84-percent of the snaps. 

Alexander Johnson: C

Johnson looked slow, lacking any sort of bite coming downhill. He was especially slow on blitzes, not generating any pressure. The big linebacker didn’t commit many mistakes but lacked any sort of impact or tone-setting plays. 

Todd Davis: C

Davis was hanging on by a thread late, as jitterbug back Darwin Thompson was giving him trouble and burning him in the hole by the end. He held up decently in coverage, though, he too was on Travis Kelce’s hit list.

Jeremiah Attaochu: C+

Attaochu worked hard in pursuit, got a QB hurry and a run stuff though his game started off terribly, first getting juked out of his cleats by LeSean McCoy and then jumping offsides to gift the Chiefs a third down.

Will Parks: C+

Parks played 63-percent of the snaps and was tested much more, especially having to turn and run up the seam with some of the Chiefs’ fastest receivers. He was out mastered on Tyreek Hill’s touchdown and ended the day allowing three receptions for 44 yards on four targets. 

Chris Harris Jr.: F

The Chiefs didn’t give Harris any respect, going after him early and often. First, Hill got him on the big touchdown by outrunning him and Simmons. Then, they isolated Kelce outside on Harris, where the tight end feasted. At the end of the day, Harris allowed six grabs for 90 yards, on seven targets. 

Justin Simmons: C+

Simmons wasn’t his best either, as he too couldn’t close on Hill’s TD. The safety allowed too much over the middle early but tightened up in the second half coming down with an incredible diving interception, reading Patrick Mahomes and running across the formation to make the play. 

Kareem Jackson: B

Jackson tried his best to set the tone, blowing up Sammy Watkins on the sideline to force an incompletion. He was only thrown to a couple of times, allowing one grab for 12 yards, a pretty flawless game, though, his impact was limited.

Isaac Yiadom: B-

Yiadom had a poor pass interference flag in coverage deep on Kelce, never getting his head turned. He was otherwise solid on five targets, allowing just three receptions for 26 yards. His recent growth has been impressive.

Other noteworthy defensive performances

Trey Marshall didn’t look up to the moment, struggling to handle all of KC’s firepower at WR and TE. Put in on dime looks, he wasn’t rangy enough to handle that speed as a deep safety.

Offense

Garett Bolles: C-

Bolles allowed three different quarterback hits, one bigger than the next as by the end of the game, Frank Clark was teeing off and simply burning the left tackle off the snap.

For 92-percent of the 40 reps he had in pass protection, he was solid, it was those three that hurt him on top of a tough outing run blocking, allowing a run stop.

Dalton Risner: C+

Due to the conditions, Risner had some trouble getting to his spots on some of the pull blocks he had to execute on the move. He was solid in pass protection and the best member of the line otherwise.

Connor McGovern: C-

McGovern’s inability to create much push for the run hurt him, as he was getting knocked back on a few occasions, conceding a TFL and a run stop. He was tested in pass protection as well.

Austin Schlottman: C-

Schlottman was like Bolles, holding on until the very end when Chris Jones tossed him like a ragdoll on a couple of occasions resulting in vicious hits on Lock. He battled, but it wasn’t always pretty.

Elijah Wilkinson: D

The right tackle had the greatest issues in pass protection, as overload blitzes to his side almost always got home. He allowed a sack early and was blown off the edge by Clark, twice on fourth downs leading to violent hits on the Broncos young QB.

Wilkinson had a highlight block on the second level on Sutton’s big screen but struggled with consistency and awareness.

Courtland Sutton: C+

Sutton battled but also left some receptions on the table, most of all a TD grab that Tyrann Mathieu tore out of his hands.

He did a nice job creating YAC in the second half and roughing out 79-receiving yards while also drawing a penalty. Like most of the young Broncos, he learned some valuable lessons on the day, most of all to dominate press coverage at his size and not get jammed up.

Tim Patrick: C-

Patrick got open underneath on a few quick hitters for Lock but just struggled to create much separation for the rest of the game.

Royce Freeman: D

Freeman ran the ball four times for a combined four yards and had a nice eight-yard run. He was absent and slow, not the battering ram that this game called for.

Phillip Lindsay: C-

Lindsay worked hard to get positive yards on every play, still producing a respectable 4.6-yard average. He broke off a couple of 10-plus yard runs but struggled with the terrain to rally be dynamic and break tackles.

Other noteworthy offensive performances

DaeSean Hamilton was targeted nine times and could only come down with two grabs for 13 yards. He clearly wasn’t fully in tune with Lock and had a drop or two. 

Troy Fumagalli did a nice job blocking, completely opening up the screen for Sutton to get 33 yards.

Special Teams: C-

The punt team wasn’t great in adverse conditions as special teams didn’t contribute much else. 

Coaching: D

Vic Fangio‘s squad had far too many penalties and didn’t look prepared at all for the elements. The defense struggled as the line was outmanned, and Kelce did whatever he wanted, though, to Fangio’s credit, the unit played well in the red zone, or the game would’ve been much uglier. 

Year one needs to be a teaching moment for the veteran defensive play-caller who can’t keep getting beat in this fashion by Reid and his staff.

Rich Scangarello‘s offensive plan went down the drain once the Broncos were down big, with far too many uninspiring three-receiver sets as the QB and his targets did not look in sync.