The Patriots seemed they were not ready to play Sunday afternoon in the Mile High City. The Broncos showed up to play tough football against their conference rivals and dominated on ALL aspects statistically. The major differences in this game was the time of possession where the Broncos had over 35 minutes, the Broncos had 507 total yards compared to the Patriots 320 total yards, and finally the Broncos had 27 first downs to the Patriots 19 first downs. There were several factors that played in the Patriots loss and one of them was the fact that they could not establish the run.
The past few games, the Patriots have been so dynamic in the run game with their three backs in Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen and LeGarrette Blount. The Broncos did an excellent job in jamming the gaps and holding the Patriots to just 64 total rushing yards which was the lowest amount for them in weeks.
It is hard to establish a running game when the defense is doing a great job to stop it but it also doesn’t help when you have to play catch up all game. Once the Broncos took the lead, they didn’t let up off the gas pedal. The Patriots had to rely on the passing game and Tom Brady and he just couldn’t come through.
Brady had several opportunities to make big plays and possible touchdown plays but sailed the ball over his receivers head. Something seemed wrong with Brady because it is rare to see him not be as accurate as we all know he can be. It is true that Brady was missing some key receivers but we have seen him overcome adversity in bad situations like this before.
What went wrong for the Patriots the most was simply the fact that Peyton Manning was Peyton Manning. He was 32 for 43 and had 400 passing yards with two touchdowns. Most of Manning’s incompletions were from dropped passes and you could imagine what the end result could’ve been if there were dropped passes by the receivers.
Once cornerback Aqib Talib exited the game with an injury, Manning targeted that side of the field by consistently getting the ball to Demaryius Thomas who ended up having seven receptions and 134 yards with a touchdown. Manning is known for exposing weaknesses in the defense and the second Talib left the game, he tore up the secondary.
Overall when you look at this game, the Patriots had plenty of chances to stay competitive. Even towards the end of the game they were making a run for a comeback. The Broncos were failing to put the game away by settling for field goals instead of getting the ball in the end zone. Good thing for the Broncos was the fact that they played great defense and Brady was off his game. The Denver Broncos will go to New Jersey to play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday February 2.