Patriots 31 - Broncos 21

Victoryyy!!! Bravo! The rest of the NFL better take notice because the New England Patriots are back, and looking stronger than ever. I discussed this with several of my friends today and I really think that this is the strongest and most balanced Patriots team ever. Even better than the 2007 team that went 16-0 during the regular season. Their passing attack is just as dangerous as in 2007, but now they have an effective running attack as well. Their defense is still playing the “bend but not break” type of defense but they have been able to force turnovers in key situations, something the team failed to do in the past few seasons. The defense is also full of young, athletic guys who will only continue to improve. Yea they allowed the Broncos to make a comeback late in the game but yet again the defense came up huge when they needed to and forced Willis McGahee to fumble inside the redzone with a few minutes to go in the 4th quarter.

The offense looked better than they did last week and honestly I didn't think that was even possible. Brady to Welker, Brady to Welker, Brady to Welker, over and over again. First down after first down for the whole game. It was actually unbelievable because Brady would go to him for 3 or 4 straight plays and Welker would be open every time. You would think eventually the Broncos defense would come up with some sort of gameplan to contain him but their personnel didn't allow it. Welker had 9 catches in the first half and finished the game with 13 grabs for 104 yards and a TD. Surprisingly, the rest of the receivers and tight ends had a fairly quiet game. Rob Gronkowski had 4 catches for 35 yards and Brandon Lloyd had 3 catches for 34 yards. Tom Brady has played awesome so far this year and this week was no exception. He finished with 23 completions out of 31 attempts with 223 yards and a touchdown. His passer rating was superb at 104.6 and he has not thrown an interception since the 1^st drive of week 2, a span of 153 pass attempts.

The running game continued to roll this week as they compiled 251 yards on the ground after gaining 247 yards last week.  The offense as a whole ended up getting 35 first downs, a team record, but even more impressive was that 18 of them came on the ground. Stevan Ridley continued to make his case that he is one of the top backs in the NFL as he gained 151 yards on 28 carries after gaining 106 yards last week. He has proven he has the ability to find the open holes and explode through them, break tackles, juke opponents and accelerate past defenders. He is the type of running back the Patriots thought they had when they drafted Laurence Maroney in the 1^st round in 2006. Maroney proved he didn’t have the heart or toughness to be a starting NFL running back, but thus far Ridley has shown he has what it takes to succeed in this league. Brandon Bolden received less carries this week but still gained 54 yards on 14 carries. He has shown that when it comes down to crunch time, he the back that Belichick trusts as Bolden was kept in the game late after Ridley fumbled. These two running backs have formed a great running tandem and have the ability to change the pace of a game. Ridley more quickness and finesse while Bolden will straight bowl you over. The running game also helped to contribute to the Patriots holding a 35:49 to 24:11 advantage in the time of possession. In a game featuring Brady and Manning, the team who can control the ball the most will more then likely win since each teams QB is so dangerous. This played a major factor in the Patriots victory on Sunday. 

The defense played fairly well considering who they were going up against in Peyton Manning. Manning finished with huge numbers (31-44 for 345 yards, 3 TD and a 116.2 passer rating) but a lot of those stats were padded late in the game when the Broncos were down 31-7 and were forced to pass the ball. He looked just like the old Manning, spreading the ball around to whoever was open and running the no-huddle offense to perfection. Demaryius Thomas had a big game with 9 receptions and 188 yards, but he also fumbled on the first drive of the game after catching a 44 yard pass. That was the first time the Pat’s defense came up big today. If Sterling Moore hadn’t poked the ball loose, the Broncos would have gained the lead 7-0 and the whole complexion of the game may have changed. Willis McGahee had a very quiet game running the ball as he had 14 rushes for only 51 yards. He also made a huge mistake in the 4^th quarter as he fumbled the ball inside the redzone as Denver tried to cut the Patriots lead to 3.  On the Patriots defense, Brandon Spikes had yet another big game. He helped to cause the McGahee fumble in the 4^th quarter and was laying people out all over the place. OLB Rob Nincovich had a great game as well. He had one sack on Manning and was a huge factor in 2 Broncos forced fumbles. Late in the game the defense was surrendering yards in huge chunks, something you never want to see, but when it came down to it, they were able to come up with a big turnover to seal the game. Devin McCourty, in my opinion, took a step back this week after getting 2 interceptions last week in Buffalo. He constantly gets caught out of position and when his receiver is targeted he never seems to get his head turned around to find the ball. This leads to him getting called for defensive pass interference constantly.

In terms of this team as a whole, they continue to make positive strides week after week and for the first time this season, we saw the Patriots dominate a good team.  They are also back in sole possession of 1st place in the AFC East, something I don't see them giving up for the rest of the season. This was the toughest stretch in the Pat’s schedule and from here on in they only have a few tough games. Next week’s game I think will be tough just because it is in Seattle, one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. This Seahawks team doesn't scare me at all, but they seem to play much better when they’re at home. If Russell Wilson is playing QB I think the Patriots will blow them out, if Matt Flynn plays, I think it will be a more competitive game but in either case, I don’t see the Patriots losing this game. Aaron Hernandez will be back and this offense will be even more explosive then we have seen in weeks past.   

P.S. - I will never get tired of seeing Peyton pout and complain on the bench in Foxboro. All he does is blame the other guys on his team for his team losing and feel sorry for himself. It's just classic Peyton being Peyton.