slides: What to Watch For: Patriots vs. Broncos

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team

 

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The Patriots are 9-19 all-time in Denver

The New England Patriots (10-0) travel to Denver to take on the (8-2) Denver Broncos tonight on Sunday Night Football. With a win and a loss by the Jets, the Patriots can clinch the AFC East. 

"Denver has been an impressive team to watch this week as they usually are. Coach [Gary] Kubiak does a great job. We've competed against him many times and he always has his teams ready to go. Offensively they have a lot of weapons. Defensively they are pretty much at the top of the league in every category. Very good in the kicking game, got a lot of team speed, good specialists, made a lot of big plays on defense and special teams this year," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. 

Historically, the Patriots struggle in Denver. In the Brady-Belichick era, New England is 5-5 against the Broncos with all five losses coming at Mile High. The Broncos are the only team Tom Brady does not have a winning record against. Overall, the Patriots are 9-19 in the 28 games played in Denver all-time. 

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No Peyton Manning 

A little bit of the buzz was taken from this game when it was announced early this past week that Peyton Manning would miss his second straight game due to injury. This means that football fans will be robbed of another Brady vs. Manning matchup. 

"I mean, there's nobody that has more respect for Peyton than me outside of probably his parents and his brothers. If anybody can appreciate what he's accomplished it's me, so he's just been remarkable in every part of his career. He's been a tremendous player. It's unfortunate. Everyone deals with injuries at different times, so it just happens to be this week. They won last week with the guy that they had in there," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. 

Instead, the Patriots will deal with quarterback Brock Osweiler and a Denver defense that is arguably the best in the league. 

Keeping Brady Upright 

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Can the Patriots O-Line keep Brady on his feet?

The number one priority in this game for the Patriots is to keep Tom Brady on his feet and not on the ground. 

Last week, Brady was pressured on exactly half of his drop backs and was hit about 15 times. This week, the Patriots face a Broncos team that leads the league in sacks with 34 and pressure opposing quarterbacks almost 40 percent of the time. 

"I think they're very aggressive, so the coach wants them to know what they're doing so they can just tee off on the quarterback, and they all do. So every team has a different style. I think when you're the first-ranked defense in the league obviously you're doing something right. And they can get to the passer, so those guys are in a good position when the ball is snapped. They are very aggressive. I don't think there's anything the offense can really do to dictate what they do defensively. They just call their defense, and then they try to tear your head off," said Brady. 

Kick off for tonights game is at 8:30 p.m. 

 

Related Slideshow: What to Watch For: Patriots vs. Broncos

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Brock Osweiler

No Peyton Manning means the Patriots will see Brock Osweiler, who?  

Exactly. 

Osweiler was drafted in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and has started one game, last week, in his entire career. 

Last week, Osweiler went 20 of 27 for 250 yards and two touchdowns on the road against the Chicago Bears. 

In the 15 career games that he has played, Osweiler's totals are 51 completions for 551 yards and four touchdowns. 

The Patriots are currently the number one scoring defense in the league. 

 

Photo courtesy of Jeff Beal/flickr

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Scott Chandler

Tight end Scott Chandler has been a bit of a disappointment so far this season for the Patriots after coming over from Buffalo. 

On the season, Chandler has 14 catches for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 23 total targets. Chandler only averages 1.4 catches per game.

Coming into the season, Chandler on one side and Gronkowski on the other was supposed to give New England a dynamic tight end combination and it has been anything but.

Now, with the injuries to the receiving core, the Patriots need Chandler to step up.  

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Malcolm Butler

Last week, Butler was able to shut down Sammy Watkins and this week will be matched up against Emmanuel Sanders. 

Sanders missed last weeks game with a head injury but is expected to return this week for Denver. 

On the season, Sanders has 46 receptions for 639 yards and four touchdowns. Sanders averages five catches and 71 yards per game for the Broncos. 

Denver's other receiver is Demaryius Thomas, but given his size, 6'3", I'm not sure he is a good matchup for Butler. Look for New England to double him throughout the game. 

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Running Game

The Denver Broncos rank as the eighth best rushing defense in the NFL coming into this game. 

But the Patriots don't have a whole lot of other options on offense with the injuries and are going to have to make the running game work. 

Coming into this game, the Patriots are one of the worst rushing offenses in the league, ranked 28th, averaging 3.9 yards per attempt. 

LeGarrette Blount has 133 rushes for 569 yards and six touchdowns on the season, averaging 15 rushes and 63 yards per game. 

James White is the Patriots other running back and he averages 1.3 rushes and 4 yards per game. The Patriots are more likely to use him as a pass catcher out of the back field. 

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O-Line

The Patriots will catch a small break in this game as the Broncos will be without DeMarcus Ware but that is it, only a small break. 

New England will still have to deal with Von Miller who has six sacks on the season, Malik Jackson who has four sacks and Shaquil Barrett who has 3.5 sacks on the season. 

Last week, the Patriots offensive line nearly got Tom Brady killed and are in for a much tougher challenge on the road this week. 

 

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