Trent Green talks Chiefs vs. Broncos

On Friday morning, I was able to talk football with Kansas City Chiefs great, quarterback Trent Green. Green is working as a CBS analyst these days alongside broadcaster Greg Gumbel, and will be calling Kansas City’s contest against the Denver Broncos this Sunday.

Green clearly feels the Chiefs have a good chance of winning on Sunday. While a good broadcaster never reveals which way he is leaning, the former Pro Bowler came off as believing in Kansas City to put up a good fight at the very least.

Here was our conversation…

Q: Are the Chiefs a realistic threat to make the playoffs?

A: If you look at the rest of the AFC in terms of the wild card and teams fighting for that role, and that’s the Chiefs right now, is to try and figure out how they can get there. They have a realistic chance. It’s very important this week in Denver and next week at San Diego. … These next four weeks you can’t make it any more important. If they want any part in this discussion they have to come out of it feeling good about themselves, at least going 3-1.

Q: The Chiefs defense seems to be coming around in recent weeks. What do you see in them that makes you believe they can shut the Broncos down?

A: The first thing is the success against Denver the first time. For the most part, they had them locked down until the final drive, when they needed to get the touchdown to tie it up. … If you look at what has happened they have gotten better over the last few weeks. … Derrick Johnson, Mike DeVito and Eric Berry were coming back and there were high expectations. The coaching staff has high expectations. They are starting to get back to that point and a big piece is Dontari Poe. As he has gotten healthy it has gotten much better and I’m seeing him getting gradually better.

Q: How much of a difference with having Sean Smith be this time around?

A: I think it makes a big difference. Sean is the best corner on the Kansas City, and we’ll see how Marcus Peters develops.When you lose something like that it’s a big miss. What will be interesting is if you watch Denver the last few weeks, they have been going to the tight end more with Owen Daniels. … If you suddenly have to pay more attention to the TE you leave yourself on an island with the wide receivers. … They are dealing with a shuffled offensive line as well, just like the Chiefs have been.

Q: What makes you believe the Chiefs can score enough to win?

A: You have to go back to the first game. They didn’t put up huge numbers but they had was good numbers. If they don’t have the penalties and turnovers they could have won the game. I like the improvement of Chris Conley, that’s big. Same thing with James O’Shaughnessy and the health of Demetrius Harris, who give you some options opposite of Travis Kelce. I have a ton of respect for T.J. Ward, but form a size standpoint there are some things they can take advantage of. Charcandrick West has been good, averaging over 100 yards per week. The offensive line, after shuffling around … they have played better. This will be a big test.

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