Sweet 16, Brady and the Patriots Steamroll Denver, Manning 43-21
 Julian Edelman celebrates with Tom Brady in the endzone after he returned a 84 yard punt return for a TD. (USA Today photo) |
"We saw a weak team. The New England Patriots, let's face it...they're NOT good anymore. They're weak." - Trent Dilfer
In the end, the much ballyhooed weather script was much ado about nothing as Quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady threw for more than 750 yards as the New England Patriots manhandled and rode roughshod over the Denver Broncos. And the Patriots came out with a big 43-21 win over their AFC rivals.
With the win, the Patriots head into the bye week at 7-2 and the top seed in the AFC.
What a difference a month makes, just a few short weeks ago, the team was thought soft, dead-in-the-water and an after-thought in the AFC. But on Sunday night, Bill Belichick dusted off a game plan from the 2001 Super Bowl.
With those SB players in attendance, the Patriots defense contested every pass; every route ran by the talented Broncos receivers. And when they did catch the ball, they played physical, pounding the Denver offense and stopping them time and again.
Defense Impressive: The Patriots defense played a fantastic game, and while Peyton Manning threw for over 400 yards, much of those were just empty numbers. The bottom line as Belichick says is points and holding the Broncos to 21 was outstanding.
Look no farther than the third down numbers, Denver was 3 for 11 on third down, and 0-4 on fourth downs. They showed a lot of nickel coverage and just like last year, the Broncos tried to make them pay with the running game.
But not this time, this time the Patriots defensive line set the tone and stuffed the run early and forced Manning and the Broncos into becoming one-dimensional. Although they only got one sack, the Patriots picked off Manning twice. Outstanding game plan and execution by Belichick’s defense.
Sweet 16…Brady Outduels Manning…Again: in the 16th installment of the endless Brady – Manning debates, Brady came out on top for the 11th time against five defeats. Tom Brady and the Patriots offense was going against the much improved Denver defense.
The one constant in the recent rivalry is Jack Del Rio, and Brady continues his torturing of Del Rio's defenses. The Broncos defensive coordinator got the better of Brady in January, but Brady wasn’t throwing to Matthew Mulligan, Austin Collie and Matthew Slater on Sunday. Brady’s final numbers were 33-53 for 333 yards for 4 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Brady won for the 155th time in 200 starts and in doing so stopped Manning from going over 100 wins more than losses. Brady remains the only QB to have done so. Manning will do so eventually but on this day it was Brady.
To add insult to injury, Brady passed John Elway for career yardage in the game and continues a hot streak since KC. Both QBs had an interception that bounced off their receivers hands. But since that bad outing on Monday night football, Brady has thrown 18 TDs against 1 interception and most importantly, the Patriots are 5-0.
Remember the hue and cry that Brady wasn’t spreading the ball around? He threw four touchdowns to four different receivers on Sunday.
Gronkowski Immense: The Patriots with a healthy Rob Gronkowski are a very, very difficult team to stop. The much improved Denver defense was gashed for 43 points and this is with the Patriots basically in keep-away mode for the entire fourth quarter. And that has a lot to do with Gronkowski. He’s basically un-coverable when he’s on his game and he was instrumental in getting and keeping the Patriots offense going.
Gronk caught nine passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, none bigger than his one-handed 20-yard grab that put the Patriots on the one. On the next snap, Brady had him split wide in single coverage on Von Miller and Gronkowski easily beat him to the inside for the touchdown.
Gronkowski tied Randy Moss for grabbing his 50th touchdown pass in just his 59th career game, good for second all-time in the NFL, behind only Lance Alworth.
Edelman Gives a Boost Again: Julian Edelman, also had a big night in the passing game catching nine passes for 89 yards and a touchdown but his punt return in the second quarter broke the game wide open.
Edelman hauled in a Denver punt on the Patriots 16 yard line and breaking to the right sideline blew right by the Broncos coverage and then cut back into the middle of the field before heading into the left corner of the end zone for an 84 yard punt return for a touchdown.
That set a new team record as this was Edelman’s 4th punt return for a touchdown in his career.
Ninkovich Plays Big In Big Games: It seems every time the Patriots have a big game, especially against Manning and the Broncos, Rob Ninkovich steps up in a big way. And on Sunday he did so again.
Dropping into coverage, Ninkovich fooled Manning by sliding inside after getting caught shading on outside coverage on an earlier play and was in perfect position to pick off a Manning pass and set the Patriots up in great field position.
Ninkovich also had good QB pressure all game as he was a factor coming off the edge, throwing off Manning’s timing countless times.
Revis/ Browner Pay Dividends: As we stated earlier, throw out the yardage Manning threw for on Sunday, at crunch time the Patriots defense really stepped up and the secondary, led by Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner put their physical stamp on things leading to Denver being a 3-15 on third and fourth downs.
Browner got a ticky-tack pass interference call after he made a great play on the ball, which led to Denver’s first touchdown. But his interception on the tipped ball off the hands of Wes Welker he returned to the 10 and Brady hit LaFell for a touchdown on the next play.
Revis provided tough man coverage all game long, and when you challenge talented receivers, they will make some plays. But that is the way you have to play to beat a talented team like Denver, and they did. Manning and the Broncos were held to 21 points for just the fourth time since he came to Denver. The second time, New England has done so. This is the reason the Patriots brought these guys on-board in 2014….And they’re paying off.
The Patriots go to the bye week at 7-2 and winners of five in a row. It wasn’t perfect, but it will do. And it definitely wasn’t weak.
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