5 takeaways from the Patriots’ 41-16 win over the Broncos
COMMENTARY
Five takeaways from the Patriots’ 41-16 triumph over the Broncos, as New England exorcised some demons at what’s historically been a house of horrors, and won its fifth straight…
SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS
On a cold night in Denver a couple years ago, the complexion of a Broncos-Patriots clash changed dramatically when a rookie returner fumbled a punt deep in his own territory. That happened again Sunday night, when a miscue from Denver’s Isaiah McKenzie gave New England a chance to seize control from the start – and also initiated about as impactful a special teams performance as the Patriots have enjoyed in recent memory.
The Pats converted McKenzie’s miscue into a touchdown just two plays later, then got seven more points directly from their special teams before Tom Brady even touched the ball again when Dion Lewis fielded a kickoff three yards behind his own goal line and raced up the left side all the way to the opposite end zone.
That would qualify as a banner day for most units, though four minutes into the second quarter New England’s specialty group struck again. Rex Burkhead (who’d scored the game’s first touchdown earlier) busted in off the edgae and blocked a punt to give his club the ball at the Broncos’ 30 yard line. The Pats capitalized on that opportunity with a chip-shot field goal, and had thus opened up a 20-6 lead with only one of their first four offensive possessions picking up more than 24 yards.
It marked the first time since 1979 the Patriots had a blocked kick and a kickoff return touchdown in the same game, and, nearly as impressively, it marked the third consecutive contest in which New England blocked a kick. Cassius Marsh knocked down a field goal against the Falcons, then Lawrence Guy got a piece of one against the Chargers, so Burkhead’s stuff Sunday just further confirms that complementary football is in full effect for the team from Foxborough.
OFFENSE IN SYNC
New England scored more than 24 points for the first time since the Oct. 1 loss to Carolina, with the four victories following that forcing the Patriots to win in a relatively low-scoring fashion. Sunday night also marked the first time this season the club has surpassed the 40-point plateau, though the point total isn’t necessarily even a true indication of how well the Pats offense played at Sports Authority Field.
Instead, look at what Tom Brady’s attack did after his team’s heroics in the kicking game spotted it a 20-6 lead. It went 75 yards in nine plays in a near-perfect scoring drive that finished the first half. It came out of intermission and answered a Denver touchdown with another 75-yard march, this one in seven snaps. Next time out it went 94 yards on 16 plays, that one capped by Brady’s third TD pass of the night – James White following on the heels of Rex Burkhead and Dwayne Allen.
Including two Stephen Gostkowski kicks, the Patriots produced points on six straight possessions, with the streak only interrupted when Bill Belichick opted to try and convert on fourth down rather than add insult to injury with a tack-on field goal. They converted four of six red-zone trips into touchdowns, and by the fourth quarter were feeling so comfortable offensively that even leading by 18 points they threw the ball on 13 of 16 plays during their final legitimate drive.
On prior visits to Denver — where Brady had previously won just three of 10 starts while posting rather mediocre numbers – such an approach might have been unfathomable. On the road, with a three-score lead, and running the ball fairly effectively, a reasonable expectation would have been that the Patriots would take the safe route and keep the ball on the ground. But clearly they felt good about their ability to throw, and to protect, and in the end Brady wound up finding nine different receivers en route to a passer rating of 125.4.
OFFENSIVE LINE SHINES
Both Von Miller and Derek Wolfe have been terrors for the Patriots offense in the past, and so, particularly with starting right tackle Marcus Cannon missing, the Broncos’ defensive front figured to be New England’s biggest issue in Week 10. But that wasn’t the case.
Ultimately the Patriots didn’t really have any problems, and especially not in the area of protecting the quarterback. Brady was sacked just once, and he was even hit just four times despite dropping back to pass 35 times. Miller got to him once, while Wolfe didn’t lay a hand on the passer, and the Patriots didn’t appear to have any issue dealing with the absence of Cannon – thanks to LaAdrian Waddle – or a Denver crowd that has caused trouble in the past.
Rather, the Patriots seemed to be in control from start to finish as they opened a stretch of five road games in six weeks with their 12th consecutive road win.
BACKS AND TIGHT ENDS KEY EVERYTHING
With Chris Hogan out, the Patriots dressed only three true receivers, and within that group there’s a significant gap in trustworthiness and talent from Brandin Cooks and Danny Amendola to Phillip Dorsett. Yet that personnel shortage didn’t hurt the Patriots in the least, thanks to their backs and tight ends.
Here’s what that group amassed: 16 catches on 20 targets, 177 receiving yards, 99 rushing yards, three receiving touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, one kickoff return touchdown, a blocked punt, and a fumble recovery.
Burkhead led the way with 63 yards from scrimmage and a score, while Lewis scored twice ran for a team-high 55 yards. Rob Gronkowski matched Cooks for the team lead with 74 receiving yards, but he also took three defenders with him to clear the space Burkhead seized to score the Pats’ first touchdown, and (for maybe the first time this season) he wasn’t forced to carry the entire load at his position.
Allen’s first catch as a Patriot went for an 11-yard touchdown. Martellus Bennett’s busted shoulder was healthy enough to make three catches for 38 yards, including a 27-yarder. And even rookie Jacob Hollister made his mark, getting down the field and into position to pounce on McKenzie’s fumbled punt.
With Chris Harris and Aqib Talib at corner for the Broncos, many expected the Patriots’ plan of attack would be to go after the hosts using their backs and tight ends. Denver had to be expecting it, too – yet New England still had its way in those matchups.
GILMORE LOOKS GOOD, BUTLER GETS PICKED ON
The Broncos’ lone touchdown on the night came against the coverage of Stephon Gilmore, with Demaryius Thomas snagging the ball after beating the Patriots cornerback on an in-cut just beyond the goal line. But for most of the night, Brock Osweiler and the Broncos appeared to be targeting Malcolm Butler on crucial downs. And for the most part they had success with that strategy.
Butler was in single coverage on Emmanuel Sanders for most of the night, with Sanders collected 137 of the Broncos’ 221 receiving yards, and five of his six catches coming on third down. All five of those grabs moved the chains, and a couple times Butler appeared to get completely lost by the quickness of Sanders as he tried to keep up in coverage.
However, though the Broncos seemed to feel they could challenge Butler, Gilmore held his own for the most part against Thomas. The big receiver hauled in five passes for 44 yards, but in his return from a concussion that cost him more than a month, Gilmore gave the Patriots the type of play they expected when paying him in free agency last spring. If nothing else, there were no painfully apparent breakdowns in communication, indicating a step forward for the corner and the secondary at large after being plagued by such uncharacteristic killers early in the season.
As those miscues have been curtailed, so have the troubles of a Patriots defense that has allowed less than 14 points per game during its current five-game winning streak, and is down to 22.2 points per game for the season – ranking 16th league-wide, right in the middle of the pack, even after an historically bad start.
