Smith Gets Mile-High Milestone

Rod Smith, Mike Anderson and the Denver Broncos made that newfangled Kansas City defense seem a lot like the old one. And that vaunted Chief offense looked pretty lame too.

Anderson turned in a 44-yard touchdown run and Smith became the first undrafted player in NFL history to reach 10,000 yards receiving as the Broncos handled the Chiefs from start to finish in a 30-10 victory Monday night.

Jake Plummer completed 13 of 18 passes for 152 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown toss to Smith, and ran for a score on fourth and goal from the one, an efficient performance that was more than enough to blow out Trent Green and the Chiefs.

“I didn’t do much but just guided them down the field,” Plummer said.

Green finally threw his first touchdown this season with two minutes to play -- a 21-yard pass to Samie Parker -- but it was cosmetic, a score that helped Dick Vermeil avoid his worst loss as an NFL coach and the Chiefs avoid matching their worst loss in the 46-year history of this AFC West series.

Green had 27 touchdown passes last year for the NFL’s most productive offense. The Chiefs (2-1) were anything but productive against the Broncos.

Priest Holmes finished with only 61 yards rushing and Larry Johnson had 13 yards in eight carries.

Harassed by Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown -- two members of Denver’s revamped defensive line -- Green finished 23 for 44 for 221 yards.

When the Broncos (2-1) weren’t making Kansas City look bad, the Chiefs were doing it themselves. They finished with 118 yards in penalties, including eight infractions in the first half while the Broncos were cruising to a 20-0 lead.

The perennially soft Kansas City defense added players this season -- most notably defensive backs Patrick Surtain and Sammy Knight and linebacker Kendrell Bell -- and when the Chiefs gave up a total of 24 points over the first two games, it looked as if the fixes were working.

But the Chiefs took a step backward against the Broncos, who started clicking after two rugged games to start the season.

Anderson, who has struggled since injuring his ribs in the first half of the opener against Miami, went through a huge hole untouched in the first quarter for his long score and a 10-0 lead.

“We didn’t want to sit back,” Anderson said. “We wanted to go right at them. That’s why the first score was so important. We had to run the ball to make the play action so effective.”

The Broncos used Anderson to work the clock in the second half. He finished with 98 yards in 20 carries.

Three plays after Anderson’s touchdown, Brown recovered his second fumble of the season and the Broncos scored right away, when Plummer connected with Smith at the back of the end zone for the 12-yard touchdown play.

The Denver receiver caught seven passes for 80 yards. He reached his milestone with a 19-yard catch in the third quarter, making him the 24th player to reach 10,000 yards. He celebrated in his typical understated style -- getting up and lining up for the next play.