SAD NEWS: DENVER BRONCOS KEY PLAYER GONE ON A NECK INJURY AFT…

INGLEWOOD, California — With Blucifer’s fiery breath on the back of his neck, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes had better not turn around. The devil dressed in orange and blue is dangerously nearer to the Chiefs than it might seem in their rearview mirror. “We’re in a horse race,” quarterback Russell Wilson declared on Sunday following the Broncos’ demolition of those Los Angeles Thunderdolts. Denver defeated the Chargers 24-7 in a game that was never close after a sinister Denver defense broke the soul and took the spirit of Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert early in the first quarter.

I’ll stop with my corny football poetry now. Ma’am, let’s simply focus on the facts: The Broncos are 6-1 since ending a 16-game losing run to Kansas City on the final Sunday of October, while the Chiefs are 2-4.

Yes, but the Broncos have other goals to pursue in the remaining games of this NFL season besides a Wild Card berth. Denver is only one game out of first place in the AFC West, a division the Chiefs have won seven straight years, with four games left in the regular season.

You’ve mastered these Broncos’ M.O. by now. Put up a strong defensive line, harass the quarterback, hit the rock, and wait for QB Russell Wilson to make a big play that almost always results in a no-freaking-way catch by Courtland Sutton.

Sean Payton, the coach of the Broncos, praised Sutton’s ability to win 50-50 balls with both his strength and his hops, calling him “like a big power forward.”

With five minutes and 55 seconds left in the third quarter, Wilson and Sutton produced a jazzy improvisation that set up a one-handed catch on a 46-yard touchdown pass, giving the Broncos a 17-0 lead. That play was the decisive play that sealed this victory for Denver.

Listening to a voice inside his brain, Sutton conjured touchdown magic on a play that went pleasantly off script when the Denver offensive line gave Wilson more than six seconds to improvise before Wilson threw the ball.

“Top down,” remembers Sutton. “In my mind, I literally heard Wilson say, ‘Top down.'”

Recognition is the basis for perception. Make use of the room the defense has provided.

The veteran quarterback was tickled by Sutton’s small admission that Wilson was the little birdie in his ear.

Wilson added that Sutton “did a great job, because he was going deep, came back for a second, and then went deep again.”

The Broncos valued that rapport, which existed between a quarterback and receiver without the need for words, at six points.

There’s a very good reason I bring up this football ESP between Wilson and Sutton. Although Mahomes and Wilson are the only two quarterbacks mentioned in the same sentence in the NFL, anyone who has witnessed the Chiefs’ championship reputation slowly crumble can attest to this fact: the K.C. offense has been reduced to little more than the magic that Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce can work together.

Denver’s QB-WR1 combination has outperformed Mahomes and Kelce in the most crucial area, as Sutton has hauled in 53 receptions for 799 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023, the most by any Broncos receiver in a single season since the late, great Demaryius Thomas in 2014. Mahomes and Kelce have connected on 80 passes for 896 yards and five touchdowns.

“I attempt to play with a specific mindset and style, and it originated from Thomas’s style of play,” Sutton remarked.

Los Angeles has too many issues the other six days of the week to worry about the Chargers on Sunday, especially in a city where a gallon of ordinary gas costs $5.19. Broncos Country took over SoFi Stadium so decisively and almost without resistance that Denver linebacker Alex Singleton felt comfortable calling for noise from the crowd prior to the start of a fourth-down play by backup quarterback Easton Stick, who took over for Herbert following the most overrated quarterback in the NFL’s injury to his finger.

As long as the Broncos defeat the final three AFC clubs on their schedule—the reeling Chargers, the miserable Patriots, and the disgusting Raiders—they have every reason to think they can snap their protracted postseason drought. With a 7-6 record.

Blucifer’s hot breath is now on the necks of all the AFC competitors leading Denver in the wild-card chase. Kicking ass, checking boxes, and taking names are all part of the Broncos’ game. For all fans of this team, the long postseason drought is almost over; they can practically taste the champagne.

As Payton put it, “It’s one less question about one more demon we have answered,” victory by victory and week by week.