NFL: WEEK 11, ANALYSIS & OUTLOOK; BRONCOS TOPPLE THE CHIEFS // NBA, UNBOUND.

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL: WEEK 11, ANALYSIS & OUTLOOK; BRONCOS TOPPLE THE CHIEFS // NBA, UNBOUND . . . // NFL---A FINAL five weeks of NFL play will reveal teams for the division and conference playoffs leading to Super Bowl XLVIII. Officially, that is, in that Week 11 of NFL-2013 has probably lifted the curtain fully on likely end-of-season winning franchises, led now by the National Conference West’s 10-1 Seattle Seahawks, first to achieve double-digit victories during 2013, after defeating the NC North’s 2-8 Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, 41-20. Number two within the NFL today, and first within the American Conference West and second inside NFL-entire, that’s the now 9-1 Denver Broncos, Sunday’s winner versus the AC West’s now 9-1 Kansas City Chiefs. No longer an undefeated franchise, the Chiefs are second to the Broncos within the AC West from insufficient points, and second inside the AC-entire while third within the full NFL. Holding at fourth within the NFL’s two conferences, and number one inside the NC and NC South, that’s the 8-2 New Orleans Saints after taking down NC West’s 6-4 San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, 23-20. As to the remaining division leading franchises, except for the AC North’s 7-4 Cincinnati Bengals lead over the 4-6 Pittsburgh Pirates, plus the AC South’s 7-3 Indianapolis Colts being atop the 4-6 Tennessee Titans, and the AC East’s 7-5 New England Patriots now above the 5-5 New York Jets, all other division leading franchises have but one win atop their respective second position teams. That leaves three of eight divisions that could see new leading teams after Week 12---the AC West, providing that next Sunday the Broncos lose to the Patriots and that the Chiefs defeat the 4-5 San Diego Chargers; the NC East, if the 6-5 at Bye Week Philadelphia Eagles see the Dallas Cowboys defeat the NC East’s 4-6 N.Y. Giants, causing a tie at first place; and, the NC North, if the 6-4 Detroit Lions lose to the NC South’s 2-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 6-4 Chicago Bears defeat the NC West’s 4-6 St. Louis Rams. Note that during Week 11, these three divisions were the divisions that underwent leading team flip-flops from Week 10. Meanwhile, turnabouts seemed to dominate at the back of the grid during Week 11, with the 4-6 Chargers replacing the 4-6 Oakland Raiders at last place within the AC West, and inside the AC North the 4-6 Cleveland Browns dropping from second place to fourth + last (Yikes!) while from that low position the 4-6 Pittsburgh Steelers rose to second behind the Bengals; and, within the NC East the 3-7 Washington Redskins dropped to fourth + last, allowing the 4-6 Giants to ascend to third place, while within the NC South the Atlanta Falcons dropped to last, moving the 2-8 Buc’s to third. So, across the board the NFL isn’t entirely emblematic of a status quo, it can shift and turn where least expected, Week 11 proof of that . . . // BRONCOS, CHIEFS--- TODAY at Kansas City, Kansas, the Denver Broncos are the main prototype for Spoilers, a work of the Devil, the NFL team from Hell, from the Broncos having whipped the Chiefs on Sunday, 27-17. Meanwhile, at Denver, Colorado, the Broncos are Warrior-Kings, God-like, the NFL franchise from Heaven. At 9-1, and occupying the AC West’s number one position and the NFL-entire’s number two slot behind the NC West’s 10-1 Seattle Seahawks, the Broncos are Super Bowl-headed easily unless the task is made harder, or erased, from the team losing most of six contests between this Sunday and December 29 (Weeks 12 through 16), most unlikely though neither of the six games is a win that the Broncos could accrue while thinking about Spring and Summer vacations; for instance, it’s the New England Patriots during Week 12, then the Chiefs again for Week 13, followed by games against the Tennessee Titans, San Diego Chargers, Houston Texans, and the Oakland Raiders. Recall that earlier in the season, the Broncos defense gave up 20 and 21 points respectively to the Chargers and the Raiders. Of course, the bouts versus the Patriots and the Chiefs will be the more crucial toward the Broncos maintaining division and conference supremacy, and Week 11’s Broncos vs. Chiefs game revealed some “tells” as to how this need can reach fulfillment. On a bright side for the Broncos, on Sunday its defense held the Chiefs to fewer than 20 points for the second time among 10 games played since NFL-2013 began, and the Broncos offense maintained a lead against the Chiefs within each quarter largely due to the improved “crashing through time and space” by the Broncos pass protection unit, which prevented the Chiefs pass rush from succeeding enough at disorienting the Broncos passing tactics that enabled drives for touchdowns achieved from rushes twice by RB Monte Ball and once by TE Julius Thomas. Of a remarkable contribution here were the Broncos WR’s Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker and TE Thomas receiving for more than 300 yards collectively, much of this becoming the first down purchases that resulted in 30 minutes of ball possession and end zone occupation for the Broncos TD’s and field goals, one of the latter a 54 yard FG (kicker, Matt Patter). An argument can be made that because the Chiefs defense is probably the best in the NFL today, the Broncos offense against it on Sunday was among the better Broncos offense performances of the year, and this happened with Broncos QB Peyton Manning slowed some by harmed ankles. Manning once again threw for more than 300 yards, and he completed 24 of 40 passes. Against this, the Chiefs QB, Alex Smith, threw for almost 100 fewer yards than Manning had hurled, implying a weaker offense than that of the Broncos, further implying that the improved Broncos defense can keep the Chiefs offense “down and out” when the two teams meet again, December 1. Yes, the Broncos defense could be as tough and suppressing during Week 12 vs. the Patriots, as against the Chiefs offense on Sunday, but only if the Broncos pass rush can disrupt Patriots QB Tom Brady enough times and keep the football out of the hands of Brady’s select receivers/rushers more often than not, sure to be a harder task than interfering with the Chiefs offense. . . More about Broncos/Patriots comparisons, and Week 12 picks, within this Friday’s posting . . . //. . . NBA---RATHER quickly in this season, the NBA teams expected to be hot and leading their respective divisions have begun to be just that. The San Antonio Spurs are now atop the Western Conference West’s Southwest Division with nine wins over just one loss, and the Golden State Warriors are leading the WC Pacific, 8-2. The Miami Heat has moved atop the Eastern Conference Southeast at 7-3, and the Indiana Pacers are number one at EC Central, at 9-1. Not that surprises never occur when 10 or more of 82 season-games have gone by, to wit: season 2012/13’s 12tth Western Conference ranking Portland Trail Blazers are now leading the WC’s Northwest Division, at 9-2, and 2012/13’s ninth Eastern Conference ranking Philadelphia 76ers are number one, EC Atlantic, though at 5-7. Of all the leading NBA teams, however, only one has a stretch lead, the EC Central’s Pacers with three wins above the 6-2 Chicago Bulls. Except for the Trail Blazer’s two-game lead over the WC Northwest’s 7-3 Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Spurs two games above the WC Southwest’s 7-4 Houston Rockets, all other NBA division leading franchises are ahead by just one game, the Warriors being above the WC Pacific’s 7-3 Los Angeles Clippers, the EC Atlantic’s 76ers above the 4-7 Toronto Raptors, the EC Southeast’s Miami Heat over the 6-4 Atlanta Hawks. Surprisingly of poor starts (Yes, NBA 2013/14 is still in gestation-mode, with the possibility that upswings will occur rapidly and soon),are the WC Northwest’s Denver Nuggets being 4-6 and at fourth position, the WC Southwest’s Memphis Grizzlies being at 5-5 and at fourth place, plus the WC Pacific’s L.A. Lakers being at 5-7 and at fourth position, also the NC Atlantic’s Boston Celtics at 4-7 and holding at third, with the New York Knicks behind the Celtics at 3-6 and the 3-7 Brooklyn Nets back of the Knicks and at last place. To date, no NBA team is without a win, worst case being the WC Northwest’s 1-11 Utah Jazz. END/ml