NFL:  WEEKS 12 & 13; BRONCOS DEFEAT CHIEFS  

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“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   WE’RE at the cusp of a last segment of four among 16 games of the 2012 NFL season, and seven of the eight division leading teams are up by two or more wins, the eighth being the National Conference North’s 8-3 Chicago Bears, up but by one over the 7-4 Green bay Packers.

Leading the NFL are the NC South’s 10-1 Atlanta Falcons and the American Conference South’s 10-1 Houston Texans. The AC East’s 9-2 Baltimore Ravens are third in the league, and all other division leading franchises have eight wins.

The only two division leading teams with four wins ahead of second place franchises are the AC West’s Denver Broncos ahead of the 4-7 San Diego Chargers, and the Falcons ahead of the 6-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Meanwhile, 18 of the NFL’s 32 teams are still below .500, the worst being the AC West’s 1-10 Kansas City Chiefs, at .091, next worst, the AC South’s 2-9 Jacksonville Jaguars. Only three of the 18 teams below .500 are close to reaching .500, the AC East’s 5-6 Miami Dolphins, the NC East’s 5-6 Washington Redskins, and the NC South’s 5-6 New Orleans Saints.

AC West leading team, the Broncos, lost games this season to AC East leading franchise, the 8-1 New England Patriots, and to the AC South’s Texans. Losing to either in the 2012 NFL playoffs, and to the AC North leading franchise, the Ravens, means no Super Bowl appearance for the Broncos. But the Broncos losses this season haven’t been catastrophic, respectively re. the Patriots and Texans by six and 10 points. Scratching the Broncos from a possible Super Bowl slot at this time is premature, in spite of the Texans amazing record. A December 16 regular season Broncos vs. Ravens game could advise whether the Broncos will have heft going after the AC crown.

Within the NC, Green Bay could leap ahead of Chicago, but from the year’s stats it appears that the Falcons will lead the NC and be at the Super Bowl, according to the current popular consensus, “facing the Texans.”

Broncos Defeating the Chiefs, 17-9.  Sunday’s Broncos vs. Chiefs game underscored a truth about the NFL, this: the worst teams in the league can prevent the best from humiliating them, possibly embarrassing the winner. Denver’s first half performance was as the Kansas City Chiefs have been throughout most of the season, and the Chiefs defense in that half was more like that of the Denver Broncos of Denver’s recent wins. The second half had the Broncos come alive somewhat, but against a Chiefs team that was anything but, more like underlings losing in practice to better, though still stumbling squads.

The Broncos won by eight points of the 10 that this page predicted last week, and, yes, a win is a win, and you can’t fault a Broncos defense that can keep an opposing team from scoring a touchdown (the Chiefs points were from three field goals).

Noteworthy was Denver’s 104 more yards gained over the Chiefs, from an averaged 5.8 yards gained per play, 7.0 per pass play. Denver's quarterback, Peyton Manning, completed 22 of 37 passes for 285 yards, while the Chiefs QB, Brady Quinn, completed 13 of 25 for 126 yards.

Next up for the Broncos are the NC South's Buccaneers, an above .500 team likely to exceed the capabilities shown against Denver by the Chiefs on Sunday.

Another Broncos/Chiefs match will occur on December 30, Denver’s last game of the regular season. Informed guesses have the Denver team finishing the season at 11-5. 

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