Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Bobby Elder, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. Kansas City 24 at Denver 31 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Kansas City Chiefs: Priest Holmes left the game with a right hip strain in the 4th quarter. He did not return. It looked eerily similar to the play Bo Jackson was injured on that revealed the condition that ended his career. If you're counting on Holmes to carry you in the fantasy playoffs you shouldn't be reading this, you should be on the phone to your commissioner trying to get Mike Cloud, who took Holmes' place in the lineup. Other key KC injuries include: Johnnie Morton who was a late scratch and did not play, Tony Richardson who left the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter and did not return, and Marc Boerigter who started for Morton left in the second half with a shoulder injury and did not return. Dante Hall took advantage of the extra playing time the injuries created and produced a career game. He finished with 5 catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which was a 49-yard Barry Sanders impression. He shook two Bronco defenders out of their shoes and then ran by them for the touchdown. Hall is one to watch, especially if the Chiefs' injury report gets any longer. Think of him as a Kansas City version of Az Hakim. Denver Broncos: We all knew there would be a huge fantasy RB day in this game but we figured it would be Holmes. Clinton Portis was the huge one with 3 scores rushing and 1 receiving. His day could have been bigger but he fumbled twice, once at the K.C. goal line and once at the K.C. 24. He gashed the K.C. defense for 130 yards on 21 carries and added another 75 yards on three receptions. Brian Griese didn't need big numbers because the rushing game was doing so well. He finished with 297 passing yards and 1 touchdown pass. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW Kansas City Chiefs QB: Trent Green threw for 310 yards and 2 scores on just 18 of 42 passing. He had poor yardage numbers until hooking up with Dante Hall for two long scores in the second half. The Broncos showed lots of different coverage looks at Green and he seemed confused at times. Part of the poor showing has to be attributed to his #1 receiver, J Morton, not playing and then having that players' replacement, M Boerigter, also leave the game injured. That let the defense double Gonzalez and effectively take him out of the game. RB: Priest Holmes took the NFL rushing lead with a 56-yard run in the second half but was injured on the play. It's being called a right hip strain. He did not return. He also did not score in the game leaving many fantasy owners out in the cold. He finished with 18 carries for 161 yards and 2 catches for 22 yards. Tony Richardson was carted off the field early in the second quarter with a shoulder injury. He did not return. Mike Cloud replaced Priest Homes in the game and proved that it is clearly not the system that makes Holmes so great. He finished with just 5 carries for 15 yards but he did score. WR: Dante Hall took advantage of the extra playing time the injuries created and produced a career game. He finished with 5 catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which was a 49-yard Barry Sanders impression. He shook two Bronco defenders out of their shoes and then ran by them for the touchdown. Hall is one to watch, especially if the Chiefs' injury report gets any longer. Think of him as a Kansas City version of Az Hakim (Kay-Cee Ay-Zee). Eddie Kennison was the only other regular Kansas City receiver to finish the game healthy. He wasn't much of a fantasy factor, however, and finished with 4 catches for 69 yards. Marc Boerigter started in the place of an injured Johnnie Morton but left the game in the second half with a shoulder injury. He did not have a catch but was targeted frequently in the first half. Johnnie Morton did not play. TE: Tony Gonzalez's suffered the most from all of the other K.C. injuries. With a lack of dangerous targets the Broncos simply double-teamed Gonzalez the whole game. He finished with 4 catches for 58 yards. Kansas City Pass Defense: The Chiefs gave up most of their yards on two plays: a screen pass that Clinton Portis turned into a 66-yard touchdown and a 46-yard pass to Rod Smith. The dominant Denver rushing attack really opened up the K.C. defense to long passes, which the Broncos exploited ruthlessly. Kansas City Rush Defense: Clinton Portis gashed this group for 130 yards and another 59 by Mike Anderson. This was a poor showing for a defense that had made great strides in recent weeks. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** Denver Broncos QB: Brian Griese threw for 297 yards on 18 of 26 passing with most of his yards coming on big plays. Unlike the dink-and-dunk of Rich Gannon's Raiders the Bronco passing attack used the run to set up the long pass. Clinton Portis kept the safeties up in run support and left the long zones vulnerable. Griese had just the one scoring pass and also an interception. The INT looked like a case of the receiver reading the defense differently from the QB and making the wrong break. RB: Clinton Portis put on a one-man show. He scored 4 touchdowns, 3 rushing and 1 receiving. The catch was a simple screen pass that he broke for 66 yards. Two of his rushing scores were less than 3 yards and the other was a 51-yard blast through the middle of the K.C. defense. He did have two drive-stopping fumbles that almost cost the Broncos the game, though. One was at the K.C 3-yard line and the other was at the K.C. 20. Mike Anderson got 12 carries in the game, which I thought was an unusually large amount. I think part of that has to be attributed to the fumbles. Coach Shanahan, like every other coach in the league, hates a fumbler. Portis did get the bulk of the carries and all of the goal line carries so I wouldn't assign the 'vulture' tag to Anderson, but it's important to note that Shanahan isn't afraid to limit Portis' opportunities if he's not taking proper care of the ball. WR: Rod Smith had just 3 catches but he squeezed 83 yards out of them. The Broncos were having such success running the ball that the passing game suffered from limited opportunities. The success of the rushing attack also opened up the deep zones of the K.C. secondary. Ashley Leile had just 2 catches but they went for 68 yards. Again, the running game opened up the deep pass for the Broncos. Ed McCaffrey's patented crossing routes, however, were not deep enough to exploit the adjusted K.C. coverage. He had just 11 yards on 2 receptions. TE: Shannon Sharpe led all Denver receivers with 5 catches but only totaled 31 yards. Denver Pass Defense: Trent Green's poor completion percentage was more reflective of bad passes than pressure from the Bronco pass rush. They had just one sack and no interceptions. They had success when they threw odd alignments and cover schemes at Green but they didn't get a lot of hits on him. Denver Rush Defense: Priest Holmes tallied 161 rushing yards in just under three quarters of play against this highly touted group before leaving with a hip injury. Granted, Holmes is the NFL's leading rusher but this was a top-10 rated rush defense. They did not live up to that ranking today.