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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- **It's a matchup between the two teams with the best records in the AFC – and the highest combined winning percentage for two teams this late in a season since the NFL merger – but for Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, the excitement surrounding Sunday's showdown between the Broncos and Chiefs won't change his team's preparation leading up to the game.
"(There are) two good teams playing each other with two good records and it's exciting," Reid said during a conference call with the Denver media on Wednesday. "That's OK. The fans, the media – they're excited about that and that's OK. That's alright. We get it and we'll maintain our focus just like I'm sure the Broncos will."
The undefeated Chiefs lead the NFL in scoring defense at 12.3 points per game, while the 8-1 Broncos have scored 41.2 points per game and have operated at a record-setting offensive pace. However, Reid deflected any notion that Sunday's matchup is a measuring stick for his team.
"I haven't really got into all of that," Reid said with a laugh. "We're just trying to get ourselves ready to play a good team. That's really what it is. That's not the way my thought process goes but it makes a good story. I can't tell you I've gone there. I'm just trying to study them, their offense and defense and special teams and make sure that we've got a grip on that and then let's go play. Pretty simple (game plan)."
His quarterback, Alex Smith, noted that he doesn't believe in speculating over the NFL's best team in the midst of the regular season.
"The speculation of (10) weeks in, who's the best team – for me, it's kind of pointless," Smith said. "I mean, who cares? I don't care who's the best team nine (games) in – I want to be the best team come February. That's the focus and the great thing is, we're going to find out. To try to talk and find out at this point, I just don't get it."
One area in particular that Kansas City has excelled is in turnover margin – the Chiefs have committed just eight turnovers this season on offense in addition to forcing 23 on defense – something that Smith pointed out as being linked to the Chiefs' overall success this season. That plus-15 differential leads the league.
"I think there is a great correlation of protecting the football and winning," Smith said. "With that, though, you still need to go out and execute and score points. That's our job, as an offense, is go out there and score points. The goal is to have your fundamentals be good in the sense that you can go out there and when you try and score points, you are protecting the football."
However, he noted that Kansas City also can't be overly cautious in its attack.
"You don't ever want to go out there with the mindset that you're just going to protect the football," Smith said. "I mean, you're going out there to play a football game and to execute plays."
At the end of the day, however, Smith noted that ultimately he's only concerned with one statistic – winning football games.
"Trying to go 1-0 every week – that's our mindset around here," Smith said. "Ultimately, you said it – I think you put in all this work, you sacrifice, you put in all this time to try to get a win, whatever it takes. That really is the mindset. I think as a team, it's not just quarterbacks, but as a team, that feeling you have when you have put in all the time and the sacrifice and you do walk away with a victory – how good it feels."
