Denver’s Defense Shows New Life : Two Interceptions Turn Into Scores in 34-20 Victory Over Chiefs

In the off-season, Denver Bronco Coach Dan Reeves went shopping for a more aggressive defense. On Sunday, it appeared he got what he paid for.

Junking the more passive philosophy of longtime defensive coordinator Joe Collier, Reeves hired Wade Phillips to install an attacking philosophy.

After an erratic preseason, the new-look Broncos defense--featuring five new faces in the starting lineup--came up with numerous big plays Sunday.

But none were bigger than the two interceptions returned for touchdowns by Tyrone Braxton and Randy Robbins in the Broncos’ 34-20 victory over Kansas City.

Braxton, a converted safety who moved into a starting role at cornerback in the preseason after Mark Haynes was injured, picked off a Steve DeBerg pass and returned it 34 yards for a first-quarter score.

Robbins, a backup safety, clinched the victory by running his interception back 18 yards with 3:11 to play.

Both players boldly cut in front of Chief receiver Emile Harry to make their interceptions.

“Those were just great individual plays,” said Phillips, son of former Houston and New Orleans coach Bum Phillips. “We want them to go after the football. We’ve still got some work to do, obviously, but we did shut down their running game and we made the big plays when we had to.”

The Broncos converted four Chief turnovers into 24 points.

“Those turnovers really hurt us,” new Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “Those two early turnovers really put us in a hole, but we never gave up. We competed for the entire 60 minutes.”

John Elway drilled a nine-yard scoring pass to Steve Sewell late in the third quarter, and Sammy Winder had a two-yard scoring run for the Broncos, who defeated the Chiefs for the seventh time in nine meetings.

Schottenheimer, 0-4 against the Broncos while with Cleveland, is now 0-5.