When Davis first arrived from San Francisco he spent a lot of time working with the second team as he got acclimated to a new offense, one much different than the 49ers ran. Going against the Broncos’ D will be New England’s biggest challenge of the season. The Patriots won. And New England fans might want to get accustomed to that sort of strategy, because it may be the Patriots’ best option as they travel to Denver this Sunday night to try and beat a Broncos squad that feasts on opponents’ mistakes. If/when Manning is healthy, there’s no way the Broncos will carry four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. Professional football requires a steely determination…an eyes-on-the-prize focus… a take-no-prisoners detachment… and, um, so on.
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That’s exactly what the Broncos can and need to do against Brady. We watched as Manning finally exercised his Patriot postseason demons with a 38-34 victory over Brady’s Pats in stunning come-from-behind fashion.
The difference this weekend is Osweiler will be playing chess with New England coach Bill Belichick, the mastermind behind the league’s No. 1 scoring defense (18.2 points per game). “But he’s been much involved, very engaged with the game plan, came out to practice at the end of our practices throughout the course of the week”.
Unlike last week, Manning is expected to take part in meetings and will be at Sunday’s game, but his role then is uncertain. “I mean, there’s nobody that has more respect for Peyton than me outside of probably his parents and his brothers”, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. The Broncos are now at 8-2 and are heading into this game with confidence after winning against the Chicago Bears last week in a tight one, 17-15. Their legendary quarterback is no longer an National Football League caliber player, and the rest of the team has not been playing up to the level that they have been used to. Buffalo, another one of the league’s top defenses, held New England to 20 points, but could only muster 13 of their own in the loss.
The Bills only sacked Brady once on Monday night, but recorded 10 hits on the QB – and that’s just what made the stat sheet.
Facing third down with Buffalo out of timeouts, and with the game heading toward the two-minute warning, New England could have ended the game right there.
With Sebastian Vollmer and Marcus Cannon returning Monday night, the Patriots went back to their rotation of Brady protectors, using four different offensive line combinations.
The Bears drove to the Denver 4 after Latimer’s touchdown, only to have Cutler’s fourth-down pass to Langford in a crowd in the end zone get broken up. While DeMarcus Ware won’t play, we know that Von Miller is a beast who can get to Brady (he has four career sacks in five games against New England).
“These guys, it’s a lot of tough, tight coverage”, Brady said. He might be on the sidelines or up in a coaches box, but it won’t be the same.
On the other side of the ball, the Broncos’ offense may struggle too without their starting quarterback Peyton Manning. LaFell missed the first five games of the season while recovering from a foot injury.
“I don’t know if anybody believed me, but I really was telling the truth – I have not wasted a single day sitting behind Peyton, ” he said.
Patriots CB Malcolm Butler vs. Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas: Butler is a bona fide No. 1 cornerback but the size-speed edge goes to Thomas. Or will the Broncos knock the Patriots from the ranks of the NFL’s undefeated teams this week?
There is just something about Patriots-Broncos games that brings out some wackiness.
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He said he’s ready for the big game, which he called “definitely a five-star matchup”. “11 guys are going to line up against 11 guys”.
