Patriots Trot into Bye Week with Critical Win Over Broncos

Good evening, Patriots fans! We got to see another classic: The 16^th clash between two future hall-of-fame quarterbacks – Peyton Williams Manning vs. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr. We knew the Patriots had the edge in this game since it took place at Gillette Stadium and Manning has always struggled against Brady in the Foxboro cold. But the games were usually close. Was anything different this time? Even though the score would tell you otherwise, this game kept me on the edge of my seat throughout!

This game started off as a back-and-forth affair. After a couple of defensive stops from both teams, the Patriots drew first blood with a 49 yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski. But the Broncos responded with a long drive which ended with a touchdown run by Ronnie Hillman. The Patriots tried to respond back with a touchdown, and I thought they had it (thanks, Brandon LaFell, for dropping the catch in the end zone). But they settled for another Gostkowski field goal. No problem though because Rob Ninkovich picked off Manning and Brady found a sliding Julian Edelman for the touchdown. Edelman stole the spotlight soon after with an incredible 84 yard punt return for a touchdown! You could have basically called it the Edelman show at that point. Brandon McManus missed a 41 yard field goal into the wind but New England couldn’t add to the lead. Problem? Nah, the Broncos couldn’t either because Manning got sacked on 4^th and 6. This gave the Patriots one last chance and they capitalized with Brady finding Shane Vereen wide open in the end zone – with only 8 seconds left on the clock! The Patriots took a commanding 27-7 lead heading into halftime.

Brady was picked off on New England’s first possession and Denver took full advantage of the opportunity as Manning drove his team downfield and found Julius Thomas for the touchdown. The Patriots responded with another field goal from Gostkowski. I feel like the turning point of this game came on a later Broncos drive. Manning attempted a pass to Wes Welker but it deflected off his hands and right into Brandon Browner’s basket for the interception! I really do feel bad for Welker though because in the process of missing that catch, he was hit a millisecond later by Devin McCourty in the back and it looked as if Welker’s ribs shifted forward. He would not return…praying for you, Wes. But the Patriots took advantage of the situation and Brady found LaFell for the touchdown. Hillman helped the Broncos respond with another touchdown but the Patriots didn’t let that bother them. Brady led New England down the field and found Rob Gronkowski in the end zone, but the 2 point conversion failed. From that point on, both defenses held their ground. The most important thing here is to note that the Patriots defense played physical and despite some penalties, they prevented Denver from scoring any more points (especially when they went for it on 4^th down several times). Therefore, that would be it! Your final score: Denver Broncos 21, New England Patriots 43!

The scoreboard will tell you that this game was easy for the Patriots and that the Broncos were just not on their game today. False. This was an extremely difficult game. The Denver Broncos gave it their all. But the Patriots offense made clutch plays when they needed to. The Patriots defense squared up, stood up, and kept it up. Keeping that Broncos’ offense under 30 was always a question mark coming into this game. They held them to just a point over 20. That in my opinion is absolutely remarkable. Props to everyone on this team who helped contribute to this win. Several weeks ago, we wondered if the Patriots could even win the AFC East, make the playoffs, or even contend with some of the elite teams in the NFL. After tonight, now at 7-2, they’ve proved that they can and now stand alone on top of the AFC heading into the bye week. With the way this team is playing, only good vibrations are surrounding this team. I’m confident that they can keep this up in Indianapolis in a couple of weeks. Until then, rest easy, Patriots fans! Follow me and the blog on twitter and let’s go Patriots!