Denver is trying to keep their playoff hopes alive at all costs.
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Denver is second in the National Football League in sacks with 38, one behind Carolina but is the most efficient pass rush team. The Broncos haven’t been good against the run this season and Blount and Dion Lewis will bear most of the heavy lifting there. Brady has only won two games in his career in Denver, and the Broncos are the ONLY team that Brady has a losing record against in his career. For one, the Broncos D is not as dominant as previous year.
Since 2001, the two teams have played each other 16 times, and it’s Denver, not New England, with the winning record (9-7), including playoff games. The weakness of this Denver defense is clearly against the run. Instead, I’m presenting three things the Patriots should be concerned about heading into this game.
Clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC, the Broncos will have to get through New England, Kansas City, and Oakland, who are a combined 31-8, for that chance. With a win in Denver on Sunday they would become the first team in National Football League history with eight consecutive division titles.
While the Broncos have been struggling on offense with using new quarterbacks to replace the retired Peyton Manning, their defense is playing better than a year ago which bodes well for playoff contender teams. We’ve been in some tough games and come out on top, and we’ve been on the bottom of some tough games. When these two teams play you can nearly always throw out their records. One game was close. A bounce-back game is no guarantee, as the Buccaneers’ surging defense might be one of the least welcome matchups in the league right now for opposing quarterbacks. The Patriots are nearly a divisional game. And the Broncos still have that strong defense. Out of their last five games, two have been decided in overtime, while a third – last year’s AFC title game – was decided by two points.
If you were sitting around debating whether or not to fire up that free one-week trial of CBS All Access, the Patriots-Broncos game should put an end to the discussion. But allowing plays like last week’s 61-yard catch-and-run touchdown could be devastating for a Lions team that has already had to engineer eight fourth-quarter comebacks this season.
With the offense having trouble moving the chains, the Broncos’ vaunted defense has been on the field for longer periods and under more sustained pressure. This will be the second consecutive game he will miss after being inactive last week against the Tennessee Titans. Even though the Titans had a tough time moving the ball through the air, their rushing attack more than made up the difference. A dominating pass-rusher who could affect the outcome of a game, as Miller is doing now. McCourty will have a big say in how effective their strategy will be with his performance this week. That’s what we’re going to try to do again. He should see some coverage on TEs Virgil Green and A.J. Derby and it wouldn’t be surprising if he blitzes a few times up the A-gap as they mix things up with their pass rush against Siemian.
McCourty won’t get any argument on Brady from the Broncos. With Aqib Talib (a former Patriot himself) and Chris Harris in the secondary, there are some serious challenges for the Pats’ wide receivers.
FAST FACTS: In the past 10 games vs. Denver, Patriots QB Tom Brady has 2,814 passing yards, 21 TDs and two interceptions.
This is a rematch of last season’s AFC championship.
“He’s a very hard guy to block”, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. The Chiefs do lots of things well, but not one thing that jumps out. He’s explosive. He’s fast. Sure, it’s on Brady’s line to protect him, but the veteran passer needs to get rid of the ball and not allow potential early hits to derail him from his game plan. “He’s an outstanding player”. The focus for both teams should be Von Miller, who had 2 1/2 sacks and four hits in the last meeting.
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On the defensive line, Sylvester Williams and Derek Wolfe are playing roughly the same amount of snaps as they were in 2015, while Brandon Marshall remains a vital player at linebacker.
