Patriots Blast Broncos 43-21 in Manning-Brady Showdown

The highly anticipated Peyton Manning and Tom Brady matchup on Sunday turned out to be a no contest. The Patriots buried the Broncos 43-21 in a game that showed everyone that the Broncos are not as good as they think they are. It was a beatdown, and the Pats certainly made a statement in this statement game. Forget about the performances by Brady and Manning. The Patriots as a team outcoached, outexecuted, and outplayed the Broncos in every phase. The Broncos got served a big piece of humble pie, and in the process now need to reevaluate themselves going forward. Maybe they can use this game as a learning tool, but in any event they have to realize that there is a long way to go before someone gives them the Lombardi Trophy. Here are my thoughts and observations on the game….

1)    In my opinion, the entire game fell apart in the second quarter. The Broncos actually started the game well. They forced a punt on the first drive and gave up a field goal on the second drive, and they answered that field goal with a really nice touchdown drive that was capped off by a Ronnie Hillman 1 yard touchdown run. The score was setup by big throws from Manning to Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas against Darrelle Revis. At 7-3, you had to feel good as a Broncos fan. After giving up only a field goal on the next drive it was 7-6 Denver, and the Broncos were getting the ball back.

2)    Here is where the game turned for the Broncos: Manning gets fooled by the Patriots defense and he gets picked off by Rob Ninkovich. That pick sets up a touchdown pass from Brady to Julian Edelman to give the Pats a 13-7 lead. From there, the game just snowballed for the Broncos.

3)    After the Broncos offense stalled, which happened quite often in the game, Edelman returned the ensuing punt for a touchdown to make it 20-7. That really put the Broncos in a bind. That kind of took the Broncos out of their gameplan and turned the game in the Patriots favor for good.

4)    From there, the Broncos seemed to implode. Brandon McManus is a real question mark at kicker, and I have been saying this for the last three weeks, and he screwed us once again in this game. His 41 yard field goal was wide right, and that would have made the game 20-10. His miss was huge, and I think that the Broncos have to start to think about replacing McManus. Plus, he had the freaking wind at his back and he still missed it.

5)    First, they miss the field goal, then they have to go for it on 4^th and 6 from the Pats 34 because we have no faith in our kicker. A sack on Manning killed the drive, and then the Pats stick another touchdown in the end zone on a Brady and Shane Vereen hookup. At 27-7, that late sequence near the end of the half completely changed the game and affected the outcome.

6)    Down 27-7 at the half, you knew that the Broncos were going to at least get back into the game at some point. They got a pick of Brady to start the half, and Manning hit Julius Thomas on a fade route for a touchdown to make it 27-14. You hoped that Denver would start the comeback at this point. Of course, our defense can’t get a key stop, and New England kicked a field goal to make it 30-14. The Broncos defense got worked by the Pats. They couldn’t cover Rob Gronkowski which always happens. Edelman and Brandon Lafell won the matchups against the Broncos corners. The Pats offensive line neutralized the Broncos pass rush. Von Miller and Demarcus Ware had trouble getting pressure, and the Pats completely dictated the pace of the game.

7)    The game was officially over when Manning’s pass for Wes Welker bounced off Welker’s shoulder and Brandon Browner intercepted it and returned all the way down to the Broncos five yard line. The next play Brady hit Lafell for a touchdown and that made it 37-14. The game was over at that point. The Broncos offense seemed uncoordinated, inconsistent, and just sloppy in this game. On the road, the Broncos has really struggled this year, and Sunday was no different. Manning played okay, but he needed to be great in this game and not just good or okay. They abandoned the run after the first quarter, and it just seemed like something was off with the offense in general.

8)    The Pats were simply the better team on Sunday. They did everything they had to do, and the Broncos simply got beat. Plain and simple: The Pats were better in every phase of this game. It doesn’t mean that will be the case if they meet up in January, but for this game, the Pats looked remarkably better than the Broncos.

9) Here is what has the Broncos fans up in arms after Sunday's loss: It seems like the team was no ready to step up to the plate in the second biggest game since February. Sunday's loss reminded a lot of us of the Super Bowl against Seattle. Of course there is no reason to jump off the ship, but it could be a bad omen for the Broncos going forward-especially in a big game in the playoffs. Do you have any faith in Denver winning a huge game on the road in the playoffs? I don't and Sunday's blowout loss to the Pats did nothing to encourage me on that fact. The sky isn't falling and at 6-2 the Broncos are still in good shape in the AFC, but the confidence in them of producing in the big spot is very low at this point. The vaunted defense generated no pass rush, got beaten consistently in one-on-one matchups, and there seemed to be no adjustments by John Fox and Jack Del Rio on that side of the ball. On offense, it looked like a team that gave up on the run too early, didn't win one-on-one matchups consistently, make silly and sloppy mistakes, and it looked disjointed at times. Overall, it was a bad day for the Broncos and their fans. Let's hope we get a chance at the Patriots one more time in the playoffs, and let's just hope that the result is different next time around. At this point, it is hard to believe that it will be.