I dunno, for me the only reason the loss sucked so much was because we rushed out to that 24-0 lead. I was fully expecting the Broncos to lose the entire way, just didn't expect the defense to start out so strong.
I mean, literally everything I thought to happen was completely opposite to start the game.
- Brady would style all over the secondary
- Denver wouldn't be able to establish a run game
- New England would force turnovers
And then seemingly right after kickoff, boom boom boom, tons of fumbles and scores by the Broncos. But it couldn't last, you can't count on turnovers to keep up a lead.
The real killer was the loss of DRC. The Broncos were playing man-D amazingly the entire first half. As soon as the second half started, the Pats just kept targetted Kayvon Webster over and over and over again. Making him defend slants, getting him on rubs where he end up setting picks on his own teammate. Those are the types of things you can target a rookie on because they don't understand how the offense is attacking them. The Denver pass rush (which played out of their minds, btw) started breaking down as soon the secondary couldn't hold and the top was blown off. Successful pass rushes NEED the secondary to hold in order to have time to get to the QB. Rarely can a pass rush get sacks where the line just collapses (you may get 1 or 2 sacks a game like that, but not often enough - its about getting sustained pressure throughout the game). That's when the Broncos started going zone and things started going down hill.
And about Peyton - I think people have a misconception about him. He's not really audibling into awesome plays. What he's doing most of the time is checking out of bad plays. I believe one of his early interviews he admitted as much. And he's a lot more conservative then many think. I absolutely believe he was all in for the kneel down in the playoffs last year to end regulation against the Ravens. Around the opponents 40-yard line he'll get aggressive on 4th and short, but otherwise he's usually pretty safe with that sort of thing too. He really does think just like an old-school coach.
The run was working, so they were going to it a lot BUT he still believes in trying to keep defenses honest. The problem is, you get situations where you get 3 yards on first down. They either run it (and in many cases get another 3-5 yards to set up 3rd and short) OR they pass it. In the situations where they passed it on 2nd down, the passes were rarely long, they were just there to maintain possession. Often times though, the passes couldn't be caught even when the ball was delivered on the right spot (stiff ball, tough wind, not sure), setting up 3rd and 6 or 7. At that point you're likely going to pass. You can't expect your run game to gain you 6 or 7 on 3rd down. I believe they were trying to mix it up at times by passing on second down so that the defense couldn't key in on a 'run-run-pass' pattern. Also, Knowshown was getting gased at 30+ carries, as much as you'd like to continue running him, and the other RBs continued to show a penchant for fumbling the ball.
That said, the defense played amazing in OT. And the offense was moving the ball pretty well in OT as well, almost getting into FG range a couple of times but stalling out on missed throws. I was really surprised the Pats couldn't get much offense going in OT. The way it was going, it was certainly looking more like a tie if you take out the muffed punt. It kinda sucks that you play better for some 2.5 Quarters + OT and you still lose but I guess the overall outcome is the same.
The Broncos need to run the table here on out though. I really hope they can sort out how to deal with adverse weather when it comes to timing, dropped passes and such. As for the defense, they're looking great as long as they can keep the secondary healthy. Hoping DRC can come back healthy soon.
