KANSAS CITY, Mo. - While Kansas City's fans booed him, Denver defensive end Neil Smith swung for the fences.
Twice Sunday, Smith unleashed his patented postsack home-run swing, which was two more times than he got to use it at Arrowhead in mid-November when the Broncos played the Chiefs. Smith got the opportunity to exact the revenge he wanted when he left Kansas City to sign with Denver in April.
"It felt nice," Smith said after the Broncos' 14-10 win over the Chiefs. So did Smith's torn right triceps. For the first time since he injured it at Buffalo in late October, Smith is starting to feel healthy. The previous week against Jacksonville, in the Broncos' wild-card win, Smith did not wear the brace he had for more than the past two months.
He had three tackles, and one knocked-down pass.
Sunday against the Chiefs he was even more active. Two sacks, four, tackles - the kind of plays he expected to make when Denver signed him to a one-year contract. "I'm healthy now, and I think it's starting to show," Smith said.
Smith also feels great about the Broncos' chances. On Saturday night, after his team arrived in Kansas City, he spoke with his former teammate and close friend Derrick Thomas, the Chiefs' Pro Bowl linebacker. Smith said Thomas told him, "I'll be glad when (the playoffs) are over."
"That's what he said," Smith said. "I told him I was ready to play. I think winning the division hurt them. The week off hurt them., When you put too much emphasis on having home-field advantage and winning the AFC West, it is easy to fall short."
None of the home runs Smith hit Sunday did.
"Man, if they can get all these people ... all these defensive linemen that we have into the game, we should have a really strong rotation, tation, and that's just going to make it a lot easier on the linebackers and the defensive backs," Aldridge said.
"I think the guys it's going to help most is the corners, because they're not going to have to worry about the quarterbacks having a lot of time because our pass rush is going to be all over them."
It was with a strong pass rush that the Broncos quickly ran their record up on the rest of the AFC last season, but it was when the pass rush broke down that they lost to Jacksonville in the playoffs.
But that, Tanuvasa said, was' mostly because of Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell's ability to scramble. "We had a few nicks and things, but I wouldn't say there was a dropoff. We still had a good pass rush as the end of the season, but there's no question that with Keith Traylor and Neil coming in from Kansas City, it's going to be a lot stronger."
There are more than a few NFL observers who believe Smith has lost more than a step, but Tanuvasa is not among them.
"No way," Tanuvasa said. "He can still play. He brings excitement to the game. He's a great leader on the field. He plays hard on every play, and he's just a great leader. When you get a player of the caliber he is to come in here and give us a boost ... we've got a lot of guys who can help him, so hopefully he can help us out also."