Good evening, Patriots fans. Well, what can I say? The Patriots will not be playing in Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, NJ. Today, New England simply took on a much better Denver Broncos team. From start to finish, today was just not the Patriots’ day.
Denver won the toss and deferred, but the Pats went 3 and out. Eventually both teams traded 3 and outs but the Broncos looked much better. On one touchdown-looking drive, the Patriots defense stayed strong and held the Broncos to a 27 yard field goal by Matt Prater. New England got inside Denver territory but an offensive pass interference forced them to punt. Wes Welker injured Aqib Talib on an illegal-pick play (no penalty called), and it seemed like Talib had a serious rib injury. He would not return…figures because he was sidelined against Baltimore with an injury and that cost us the game. Denver would drive down the field and Peyton Manning found Jacob Tamme in the endzone for the touchdown. The Pats responded with a 2-minute drill type offense but only got a 47 yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski. Unfortunately the Broncos responded with 35 yard field goal. At the end of a very disappointing half, the Broncos lead the Patriots 13-3.
Denver got the ball to start the 3rd quarter and nearly took half of the quarter. What’s worse is that the drive ended with a TD pass from Manning to Demariyus Thomas. But the problem was that this touchdown really boosted Thomas’ confidence because he was being guarded by Alfonzo Dennard instead of Talib. Tom Brady led the Patriots down the field, but he got sacked on a 4th and 2 deep inside the Broncos’ territory. Many Pats fans on twitter were already giving the Broncos the win because that sack was devastating. The Broncos killed more clock but they didn’t get a touchdown, only a 20 yard field goal from Prater. New England drove down inside Denver territory quickly and finally got a touchdown; Brady found Julian Edelman right at the goal line. But the Broncos responded with a 54 yard field goal from Prater. That didn’t stop the Pats. After getting inside the Denver redzone again, Brady ran the ball in himself, but the 2 point conversion was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, it was too late. Manning and Co. would recover the onside kick, kill the clock, and take a knee to clinch a ticket to the Super Bowl. Your final score: New England Patriots 16 Denver Broncos 26.
This is heartbreaking. We as Patriots fans have every right to be disappointed. The team came so far yet fell so short. But this season was not a failure. This New England Patriots team was not expected to go this far. Hell, some people didn’t even think they’d make the playoffs. I wish that they played with more determination today. Brady was not sharp. How about LeGarrette Blount? He was virtually invisible today. We can make tons of what-if scenarios but in the end, Denver won the game fair and square. Congratulations to them and their fans. They deserved it. Tonight, the night is theirs. But remember Pats fans, we will have a healthier and much more lethal team next season, so look forward to that! Even though the season’s over, I hope to interact with all of our fans! So be sure to follow us @FoxboroBlog and me, @vaidyeah33. Have a great day and let’s go Patriots!
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