Broncos’ Shovel Buries Chiefs : Denver: Elway’s shovel pass to Sewell sets up Treadwell’s last-second field goal in 16-13 victory.

Denver quarterback John Elway has won 16 games with last-minute scoring drives, and Marty Schottenheimer must feel as if he has seen every one.

Twice escaping what appeared to be sure sacks, Elway moved the Denver Broncos 71 yards Sunday to set up David Treadwell’s 26-yard field goal with one second left and beat Kansas City, 16-13.

It brought back bitter memories for Schottenheimer, who was without the injured Christian Okoye, his 260-pound fullback and the NFL’s leading rusher. Twice while coaching Cleveland, Schottenheimer saw Elway beat the Browns in similar fashion in AFC championship games.

“We had Elway a couple of times, but he’s a big, strong guy,” said Schottenheimer, 4-6 in his first year as head coach of the Chiefs.

Daring play-calling by Denver Coach Dan Reeves was also a factor.

Facing third and eight from the Kansas City 39-yard line, Reeves elected to go with the same shovel pass that had already clicked earlier for gains of seven and 19 yards.

Steve Sewell, skeptical of Reeves’ choice, took the pass and ran 30 yards to the nine.

“When they called it on the sidelines I turned to Sammy Winder and said I don’t think that’s a very good call,” Sewell said. “I was kind of worried about the call because we had run it so much.”

But Sewell darted through an unprotected middle and Treadwell’s boot gave the Broncos an 8-2 record in the AFC West.

Sewell’s run turned out to cost the Chiefs much more than a game. Pro Bowl noseguard Bill Maas broke his left arm on the play and will be out an undetermined length of time.

“Let’s be honest,” said Chief linebacker Derrick Thomas, who had two sacks for 21 yards in losses. “They called the perfect play at the perfect time.”

Thomas and the Chiefs were at a loss as to how to defend the play, which Elway called “almost an inverted option play.”

Said Thomas: “You can’t slow down and wait for it because then you lose all the pressure. If you go up field real hard you miss it. There doesn’t seem to be a way to defend it.”

In sweeping both games from the Chiefs this year, the Broncos caught a major break. In a 34-20 victory at Denver in the season opener, Okoye was just coming off a neck injury and carried only five times.

Sunday, slowed by a nagging thigh injury, the NFL’s leading rusher with 936 yards could only watch.

“It was very, very frustrating. I kept hoping the leg would loosen up. But if I can’t run, I can’t play,” Okoye said.