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Gary Kubiak’s ill-fated FG decision in loss to Chiefs may torment Broncos come January
Do you play for the tie or play for the win?
Denver coach Gary Kubiak opted for the latter when he likely could have had the former. He wound up with neither.
With the Broncos and Chiefs tied at 27 with 1:08 remaining in overtime, Kubiak found himself facing a 4th-and-10 from the Kansas City 44. Had Denver punted there, the Chiefs may not have had the time (or the motivation) to test the limits of how quickly they could drive into field-goal range. The odds at that point certainly pointed toward a punt ending Sunday night’s thrilling game in a tie.
Instead, Kubiak opted for the 62-yard field goal attempt, giving his big-legged kicker Brandon McManus a shot to blast one through the cold Mile High air for the win. McManus’s kick wasn’t even close—it started left and just kept hooking.
As a result, Kansas City took over at the Denver 48, needing just a field goal to win, with a minute on the clock and a timeout in its pocket. Two Alex Smith completions pushed the ball into field-goal range. The Chiefs’ Cairo Santos then banked one in off the left upright to seal a dramatic 30–27 win.
Kansas City now sits at 8-3, all alone in the AFC’s first wild-card spot and just a game back of the Raiders for first in the West. Denver, at least temporarily, has dropped out of the playoff picture. The Broncos (7–4) sit at seventh in the AFC, behind resurgent Miami due to the conference-record tiebreaker.
So, Kubiak’s decision carries significant repercussions. His team faces an even tougher climb to the playoffs because it backfired.
“The fact that we had no timeouts probably made it—made me want to go in that direction,” Kubiak said after the game. “If you did have your timeouts, maybe, maybe you think about punting it down there and see if you can get the ball back. I don’t know. But we’re going to try to win, and I’ve seen B-Mac do that many times in practice.”
As Andy Reid said after the game, McManus, who played with Reid’s son at Temple has “plenty of leg to make that,” and he does, but this particular attempt, which was five yards longer than his career long, wasn’t close. (This perhaps is the appropriate spot to admit that I thought it was worth giving McManus a shot at it, although it would have…
Chiefs top Broncos in overtime on pinball field goal
Denver and Kansas City traded field goals in overtime before Cairo Santos‘ 34-yard effort sent the Chiefs (8-3) home with a 30-27 victory over the Broncos (7-4) in Week 12.
1. Gary Kubiak’s decision to let kicker Brandon McManus attempt a game-winning 62-yard field goal with just over a minute to go in overtime might come back to bite him come late December. McManus missed what would have been a career-high wide left, giving Kansas City a short field to execute a game-winning drive. Given the opportunity to punt deep on fourth-and-10 and settle for a tie, Kubiak instead rolled the dice, as his division-leading compatriot, Jack Del Rio, would do. The losing result drops the Broncos two games behind the Raiders and one game behind the Chiefs in the AFC West. A tie would have kept Denver and Kansas City locked at 7-3-1 and still in the immediate playoff picture. But as the sun sets on Week 12, the Broncos are on the outside looking in, replaced by the surging Dolphins in the sixth seed.
2. The absence of Jeremy Maclin has limited Kansas City’s offense in many respects, but one positive to be drawn from his hiatus is the emergence of Tyreek Hill as an offensive threat and a name-brand fireball. Hill was responsible for all three of Kansas City’s touchdowns, earning them with a reception, a rush and a punt return. The rookie’s breakaway speed was a known commodity — Hill reached a max speed of 22.77 mph on his return score, a league-best — but Hill’s catching ability and route running have improved, showing up on his game-tying receiving TD…
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