The Denver Broncos barely escaped Arrowhead with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and a gift offside penalty from Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones played a big role in the win. It came with the Broncos deep in Kansas City territory and the game tied 13-13, with Denver facing a fourth-and-2 from the Chiefs nine yard line.
The Broncos did the fake snap count tactic—you know, the one that never works? Except it did this time, as Jones flinched and jumped into the neutral zone to give Denver a fresh set of downs and a chance to put a touchdown on the board, which they quickly did.
The Broncos were never going to snap the ball, though, according to coach Sean Payton, and there was a strategy of sorts involved in that.
“It’s a no-brainer freeze,” Payton said in a piece written by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, “but it is out of a different formation. One we had never shown. We were going to take the delay of game. We didn’t have a play. I don’t know why we called it Harrisburg. It looks like a play we have called Pittsburgh. No one moves in Harrisburg. I think that’s why we came up with that. It is a unique one because you are on the road, so it involves a heel and then [guard Quinn] Meinerz is barking the cadence out so, hats off to him. . . . That changed the complexity of the clock. That was a big play.
“We were going to take the penalty and kick the field goal. That was the plan, and it was just an oddball formation to run a no-brainer freeze from. Especially on the road.”
According to Florio, the “set hut” call from Meinerz was timed to occur when Bo Nix’s foot came up, and the tactic fooled Jones into jumping offside. It was a key play, and it underscored just how disappointing and underwhelming Jones has been, especially given the size of his contract.
As for the Broncos, this was a game where they never should have had to rely on this kind of gimmickry to get a vital win. They were mostly awful in the red zone, as Payton got thoroughly out-by Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who set up a soft zone to prevent big plays and keep the score down that worked to near-perfection.