The Denver Broncos suffered a heartbreaking 16-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday after the team’s last-second field goal attempt was blocked.
The Chiefs had identified Broncos lineman Alex Forsyth as being “light on his toes,” making him susceptible to a bullrush. Kansas City rushed three defenders at Forsyth’s spot and ended up blocking the kick to secure the win.
Denver coach Sean Payton has said the loss — and the block — was not the fault of a single player, but that hasn’t stopped fans from lashing out at Forsyth on social media.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix had his first media availability of the week on Wednesday and he came to the defense of Forsyth, who played with Nix at Oregon.
“So, I think it’s very unfortunate, very unfair that, ultimately a play comes down to one moment and — something, people can say that it falls under one person and nobody prepares like Alex Forsyth prepares,” Nix said, via Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com. “Nobody goes through the moments throughout the week and gets every set and every look that he possibly can and go out there and put his team in the best possible spot. And I think it’s unfair that — unfortunately, it’s the game we play and all of our mistakes are on national TV and everyone sees them and there’s a lot of negative talk when somebody messes up, but I think it’s — I think it should be known how valuable he is to our team, how much he is respected throughout our locker room.
“It really — it ticks me off that people can say those things about him and not even see how he works or how he responds or how he plays. And I have no doubt that Alex Forsyth’s going to respond probably better than anybody in that situation. He cares more than anybody would in that situation. And I know every single one of our team, every single guy in our locker room believes in him to move on and respond. And what happened to him sucks, it really does. It’s happened to many of us, and you just gotta, unfortunately get over it and you gotta find ways to move past it.
“And he’s mentally tough. He’s been through tougher life moments than probably any of us, and so, he knows how to handle adversity, and I’m excited to see him grow and respond through this. And I can’t imagine as much as he works throughout a week, how much more he’s going to put on himself, but I respect him greatly. I hate that he’s having to go through all this, but sometimes it’s part of the game and it is what we signed up for, but I’m happy to be on his team. I’m proud to call him a teammate, and I know he’s going to respond really well.”
Bo Nix, on Alex Forsyth: “People can say that it falls under one person and nobody prepares like Alex Forsyth prepares. … It ticks me off that people can say those things about him and not even see how he works or how he responds or how he plays … I hate that he’s having to… pic.twitter.com/tZf6rPMDnJ
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) November 13, 2024
Broncos offensive tackle Garett Bolles and guard Quinn Meinerz also came to Forsyth’s defense. Bolles said fans shouldn’t pin the game on Forsyth when the offense only scored 14 points.
Broncos veteran OL Garett Bolles on his young teammate Alex Forsyth receiving lots of blame for the blocked kick in Kansas City:
“It’s like 300 pounds on 800 pounds. I don’t think anyone should be dogging him…quite frankly we should have put 28 points on them.” pic.twitter.com/GKvAJZXHnW
— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) November 13, 2024
Meinerz said Forsyth getting blamed was ridiculous.
Quinn Meinerz showed his support for #Broncos OL Alex Forsyth today after receiving blame for the blocked kick at the end of the Chiefs game.
“The blame is ridiculous…playing that position is one of the hardest jobs in the sport and arguably across all sports.” #9sports pic.twitter.com/0sDK04arQT
— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) November 13, 2024
Former Broncos players have also come to Forsyth’s defense, with ex-lineman Tyler Polumbus and retired tight end Joel Dreessen sticking up for the center on social media.
I can’t believe I am still arguing with you guys about whether it is normal to get knocked on your ass in Field Goal protection when playing the TE spot but for those of you that still don’t get it here is a compilation of our TE’s on the right side of FG protect getting knocked… pic.twitter.com/hNQNH041h9
— Tyler Polumbus (@Tyler_Polumbus) November 13, 2024
Forsyth will get his first opportunity to bounce back when the Broncos host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
