There was no reason the Kansas City Chiefs' win over the Denver Broncoson Monday night should have been close. There was no reason to allow a team with Trevor Siemian as its quarterback to hang around at Arrowhead Stadium. There was no reason for knuckles to turn white.
That was all true the moment the Chiefs went up by two touchdowns midway through the first quarter. It was even truer when their two-touchdown lead held at halftime.
Yet by the end of the third quarter, the Kansas City offense had gone from white-hot to washed out, and Denver clawed to within one score in a game that seemed destined to be a loud divisional thumping.
Teams are defined by moments like these. They're tested when the ground beneath their feet feels a little uneven and a seemingly easy win threatens to slip away.
In those five-alarm emergencies, a safety net is required. The Chiefs' source of cozy comfort is a physically imposing defense that swarms to both the ball and the quarterback in equal doses.
It's a unit they can trust—even when their surging offense sputters, which is what happened Monday. But Kansas City clung to its roots and reverted to its defense-first identity, prevailing 29-19 in a game with few style points.
It was a night that featured offense from the defense, and Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters was the main contributor. His evening of thrashing and snatching started with a 45-yard fumble-return touchdown in the first quarter. He had the awareness to hold up Broncos running back Jamaal Charles at the end of a run and then rip the ball loose.he Kansas City defense entered Week 8 with only eight takeaways. In 2016, it led the league with 33. Stripping and recovering the ball to either score or create quality field position is what the Chiefs' tenacious defenders have thrived on for the past few seasons.
They're pesky, annoying and terrifying all at once, with the latter feeling usually coming from an opponent when outside linebacker Justin Houston is bearing down on its quarterback. He finished with two sacks against the Broncos and has 7.5 this season.
Peters was the tone-setter, though, which should surprise no one. Shortly after his fumble-return touchdown, the 24-year-old grabbed one of Siemian's many wayward passes, securing his third interception of 2017 and second in Kansas City's last three games.
Even more incredibly, it was Peters' 17th interception in only his 39th regular-season game. As SNF on NBC noted, he leads the league since entering in 2015 as the 18th overall pick:
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