After 15 minutes at Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City Chiefs lead the Denver Broncos, 6-0. The Broncos are on a five-game win streak, but it was the Chiefs who put together two early drives to strike first.
The Chiefs picked up an early three points on their opening possession -- a drive that covered 55 yards in nearly six minutes. The big play of the drive was a Dexter McCluster run, as the speedy veteran broke one for 19 yards and put Kansas City deep in Denver territory. But the drive stalled out there, as an attempted throwback pass from Peyton Hillis to Brady Quinn was well short and off the mark, forcing the Chiefs to settle for a 34-yard Ryan Succop field goal.
On their second possession, the Chiefs moved into the red zone again but failed to pick up a first down at the two-yard line. Succop came on to kick a 22-yard field goal. The Chiefs were late to break the huddle on third-and-five, and Quinn rushed the offense to the line of scrimmage. After a quick snap, he whipped it out to the left flat to Terrance Copper but the harried play fell short of the first-down marker.
Those two sustained drives into Denver territory kept Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense off the field for much of the first quarter. But the Broncos pushed to the cusp of the red zone in the final two minutes of the half, with Manning hitting Eric Decker over the middle for a big 29-yard gain. Matt Prater, however, pushed a knuckleball kick wide right to preserve the Chiefs 6-0 lead.