Kyle: The biggest key to the Pats’ victory was the physical play of the defense. It was just like old times with the Flying Elvis’ throttling anything in white. Games, and poundings, like these stay with the losing team for a few weeks. The play that set the tone was early in the first quarter Jamie Collins threw his body at a defenseless Ronnie Hillman on a pass play out of the backfield. Most guys run up and touch the receiver at that point, but Collins decided to send a message, shoulder first. Fortunately, he was not flagged for unnecessary roughness. My thought is he dodged a bullet there and later in the game. Another dagger was when Devin McCourty ruptured several internal organs in the body of the ghost of Wes Welker. After Brandon Browner took the interception to the Denver 10, Brady hit LaFell on a quick slant and Denver was done.
Raj: Defense. Yes the Patriots offense and special teams put up 43. But who gave them that opportunity? Give credit to the Patriots for playing well as a whole but come on, the defense in that game da reall mvp, ya know?? We knew that the Patriots would have a hard time keeping up with the Broncos offense, but that’s only if we completely ignored the defense. This defense for the Pats didn’t let Denver score more than 3 TDs all game long, giving the New England offense tons of opportunities to score. Game ball goes to everyone on that defense.
Rick: The biggest key for the Patriots last weekend was on defense. While the Patriots didn’t get much pressure on Peyton Manning, I liked the way they were able to confuse Manning in the pocket. One of those examples was the Rob Ninkovich interception early in the second quarter. Plus, they were able to keep the Broncos from extending drives with numerous stops on third down. This allowed the Patriots to get the ball with good field position have their offense excel. Brandon Browner had a strong game on defense along with Darrelle Revis, showing why New England brought them in for this season. Finally, I liked the job Akeem Ayers did during the game, especially his fourth down sack on Manning in the second quarter. To win that game without Jerod Mayo and Chandler Jones was very impressive by the Patriots’ defense!
Derek: The joys of going last. What more is there to be said about the defense? With that in mind, I’ll shift gears and talk about another huge factor in Sunday’s win, which was Rob Gronkowski. Now that he is fully recovered and healthy, we are seeing him create the matchup nightmares that plagued defenses in 2011. Gronk commands so much attention that the rest of the field gets opened up for guys like LaFell, Edelman, and Amendola. What’s even crazier is that even with all the attention Gronkowski gets, he’s such a hulking beast that he still manages to catch a ton of balls and find the end zone on a regular basis.
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