Broncos were planning to take delay of game on crucial Chris Jones offside penalty

The Denver Broncos found themselves in a precarious position against the Kansas City Chiefs. Against the former Super Bowl winners, Denver was tied at 13 with Kansas City after the two-minute warning. Denver had the ball at the Chiefs’ nine-yard line and was facing a fourth-and-two.

And then, the Broncos got bailed out by a crucial penalty by the Chiefs. As Denver was lining up for the play, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones flinched and jumped the line. The officials blew the play dead, and the Broncos were awarded a first down after Jones’ offside penalty.

The Broncos ended up scoring on the play on a connection between Bo Nix and running back RJ Harvey. The Chiefs were unable to score a touchdown in response, giving Denver the win. However, Denver got blessed heavily on the Jones offside call… especially since they weren’t planning on making a play to begin with.

“”It was an odd-ball formation that we hadn’t shown before,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said, per Troy Renck. “It’s a no-brainer freeze. Out of a different formation. We were going to take a delay of game. It was called Harrisburg. A unique one. Then Meinerz was barking the cadence out as the heel came up, and he gets Air Jordans for the offensive line.”

Even when they were on the nine-yard line, the Broncos apparently had no intention of snapping the ball. Instead, they were going to kick a field goal after taking the five-yard penalty. That would’ve given the Chiefs slightliy less than two minutes to go down the field and either tie the game with another field goal or take the lead on a touchdown.

The conservative decision might have costed the Broncos a chance at the one seed had they surrendered a touchdown in that scenario. Instead, Denver got a new set of downs to take a decisive lead over the Chiefs. The vaunted defense proved their worth again in the clutch, limiitng Kansas City to just eight downs and forcing a turnover.

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