MHR’s Christopher Hart provides his analysis on this big game that has significant implications in regard to the playoffs.
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With Peyton Manning officially listed as out for Sunday’s game, this will be a different Broncos team than the ones New England has faced in the past. Davis hasn’t caught a pass from Manning in three games with his new team. New England is also 5-1 SU and ATS in its last six games against the Broncos per the OddsShark NFL Database. A loss renders obtaining that advantage impossible.
Can it be done?
Quarterback Tom Brady: When is Tom Brady not hot?
Ponder started 36 games with the Vikings across four seasons, but failed to live up to expectations, throwing 38 touchdown passes and 36 interceptions while completing under 60% of his passes. His completion percentage of 66.7% is seventh best among National Football League quarterbacks and passer rating of 107.4 is second only to Carson Palmer of the Arizona Cardinals. 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. He’s talking me through all of his past experiences going against the Patriots and whatnot.
One thing going the right way for the Broncos, though, is that Osweiler has proven in his last game that he is more than capable of leading his team to victory.
St. Louis at Cincinnati (-9): The Rams’ forte is their defense, but if they can lose to the weak Ravens in Week 11 they likely won’t fare too well against the Bengals. The Patriots are typically excellent in terms of ball protection, though their turnover margin is negative-one over the past three games, and Tom Brady has been intercepted in each contest.
Danny Amendola could be back at receiver, which should help. “We didn’t protect him very good in the first half, had to take his lumps in a couple situations but kept his composure (and) would come back to make the next play”.
That’s exactly what the Broncos can and need to do against Brady. No team has clinched earlier.
In their last five games played in Week 12, the New England Patriots are 5-0 SU and ATS.
“I think the first start – just getting that first one under your belt”, Osweiler said, playing nice, but then the guy turned cold. Denver is 6-0 SU when taking a lead into halftime. He now expects that the Broncos will bring that kind of physicality on Sunday.
Denver’s D versus Rob Gronkowski: My biggest match up to watch this weekend is how the Broncos defense will approach Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots now have no wide receivers on the practice squad. My preliminary guess is that he will be shadowed often by cornerback Aqib Talib, who was used that way against Jimmy Graham and shut him down when he played with the Patriots.
With notable injuries across the board on the offense, including receiver Julian Edelman, running back Dion Lewis and tackle Nate Solder, the Patriots are still finding ways to win. “Denver can score whether they have the ball or not”. Eliminate him from their passing attack and the path to victory becomes much clearer.
Brady and Belichick have had worlds of success against Denver defensive coordinator Wade Philips, but it’s not going to be easy to continue that Sunday night.
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Still, when Brady leads his undefeated Patriots into Denver on Sunday night, the game will have plenty of significance. Without a true threat at quarterback, the -3 favored Patriots can focus on stopping running backs Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson, who combined for a 161 yards rushing last week. “I think guys have stepped up and played well, and I think we’ve continued to understand that we had to get better each week if we wanted to have a chance to win games”. Will it be a blowout? The Patriots are scoring an average of 32 points per game and the Broncos are averaging 22 points scored per game.
