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Published on 12/30/2012 at Sun Dec 30 08:00.
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Week 17: Can the Broncos beat the Patriots?

Posted Sun Dec 30th by

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Can the Broncos beat the Patriots if when we meet them in the playoffs?

A few weeks back, I wrote an article diving into the all important playoff question… Can the Broncos beat the Patriots? Today, I’m re-examining that very question.

Eleven weeks ago, we played the Patriots in Foxboro, and after a rash of self inflicted wounds, we ended up in the 4th quarter with the chance to tie the game after we snared the game’s momentum into our favor. Our offense was still trying to find their way while Peyton Manning knocked the rust off after missing the entire 2011 season. Our defense was just plain horrible (ranked 30th) as Joe Mays and Tracy Porter were still in the starting lineup. Our special teams were vanilla and boring in every sense of the word. Yes my fellow Broncos fanatics, we were a middle of the pack team trying to find their way.

However, a strange thing started happening after that game; we started developing chemistry. When injury strikes a normal team, that team takes a hit. As strange and dreadfully wrong as this might sound, when injury struck the Denver Broncos, we got exponentially better. Out goes Tracy Porter, in comes Chris Harris and Tony Carter. Out goes Joe Mays, in comes Keith Brooking. Out goes Willis McGahee, in comes Knowshon Moreno. Yes, the injury Gods have been very kind to the Broncos indeed.

Today, we find ourselves sitting at 12-3 with the No. 2 defense and No. 4 offense in the NFL. Our special teams are once again a threat, and we are blazing a trail through the NFL. With the No. 2 Seed in the playoffs firmly in hand (and a very real possibility at the No. 1 seed), the Broncos are hitting the playoffs as the hottest team in the NFL. What’s even more frightening for opposing teams is that not only can the Broncos hang with every team in the league, but we haven’t even played our best football yet.

Onto the question at hand… Can the Broncos beat the Patriots? Yes! Emphatically, Yes! Not only can the Broncos beat the Patriots, but there is strong sentiment circulating around the media that the Patriots might purposefully tank the Dolphins game so that they can avoid playing the Broncos in the playoffs. There is also strong sentiment that the Patriots need the home field advantage in the playoffs more than the Broncos.

So let me get this straight, if a team needs home field advantage more, and might purposefully try to lose a game in order to dodge another team, how can there even be an argument saying that they can beat the Broncos? There simply can’t be such an argument. The Broncos are the most complete team in the league, and are the Vegas odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl. We don’t NEED to play in Denver in order to win, and we certainly won’t try to dodge anyone. Yes fellow Broncos fans, the Denver Broncos are THE team to beat in the NFL.

I can see it now, Moreno tearing up the off-balanced Patriots, and Peyton Manning carving them up through the air thanks to the ridiculously effective play action. As the game goes on, Tom Brady will get more desperate to make a play and start throwing picks. A few weeks ago, I said that no, we couldn’t beat the Patriots. Today however, yes, we can beat the Patriots. Not only can we beat them, we can beat them in convincing fashion. This game won’t come down to an end of game field goal, no, we can beat them by 10+. Make sure to bring the noise for our playoff game! Instead of picking holes in our game, lets ride this amazing ride and beat our chests like its 1998 all over again!

What do you think BT faithful? Agree? Disagree? Lets hear it in the comments below!

  • http://twitter.com/jheath_DEN Jon

    Not so sure about all that throwing the game today to not play Denver… and while I agree we can beat NE, I don’t think it would be as easy as you seem to think it would be.

  • Pete Baron

    Bilichick threw their last game in 2005 in order to avoid playing the Steelers in the playoffs. He did it then, and there’s speculation that he might do it again; this time to avoid Denver.

  • TheTroglodyte

    The Pats have had strange off games several times in the last 5 or so years. There is no way in hell Tom Brady EVER throws a game. Not going to happen. He was absolutely livid last week they barely beat the Jags (another example of a strangely off game for them).

    Since NE’s dst doesn’t really determine the win, Billy doesn’t have much control over this one.

  • Pete Baron

    In 2005, with playoff seeding on the line, Bilichick pulled all the starters after the 1st quarter and had nothing but backups in the game. If they won, they had the #3 seed and hosted the Steelers. Bilichick decided to lose the game (thus, pulling all the starters) so that they would have Jacksonville in the first round. It wasn’t that Brady threw the game, it was that Bilichick threw the game.

  • Pete Baron

    If the Ravens win, look for N.E. to treat this game as a bye week so they drop to the #4 seed. If the Raven’s lose, then it wouldn’t matter if the Pats won or lost, so look for them to actually play and win. That’s all I’m saying. New England and Baltimore want to go to Houston, not Denver. They might not say it publicly, but they are thinking it.

  • TheTroglodyte

    Different year, different team. Perhaps you are right it will happen again but I just can’t see Tom accepting getting pulled this time around especially after an off game like last week and 2 SB losses under their belt in the last what, 3 years?

    I’m also not so sure that NE would rather face Texans than Broncos. Texans may be better bulit to beat them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/EnderAzOphie Ender AzOphie

    I don’t know what kind of “luck” it is to have our best running back get seriously injured. McGahee fought for our team with heart, and he got injured because every play he pushed as hard as he could. But I can’t deny since the beginning of the season I had told all my mates that Porter was a Bum. Yee-haw GO BRONCOS!

  • Pete Baron

    Well, all I know is that the Patriots wouldn’t have beaten a still gelling Broncos squad if we didn’t make ridiculous mistakes (Thomas & Moreno fumbles, Moreno dropped gimme 4th down pass). That was when we were still playing pretty poor. We are now dominant in all 3 phases of the game, where the Pats are looking even more beatable.

    Added to that, the Patriots just roflstomped the Texans a few weeks ago. They know that the Texans pose no threat to them, whereas the Broncos are probably the only team who can beat them. Much like 2005 when they saw the Steelers as the only threat to them, they see us as their only threat. Back then they lost that game on purpose in order to benefit them in the playoffs.

    While Brady will want to win every game, he is a big picture guy as well as a team “yes man”. He’s smart enough to realize that they are 99% assured to be beat in the second round if they win today (and Baltimore wins), versus being 99% assured they beat the Texans in the second round if they lose today. The playoffs are single elimination, not the regular season. Losing this regular season game doesn’t send them packing…. losing in Denver will.

    Now, the Ravens losing will make this whole point moot, but I’m confident that if the Ravens win (early game), you’ll see the Patriots pull starters so that the Dolphins end up winning today, and thus, giving the Patriots the #4 seed and a trip to Houston with a win during wild card weekend.

  • AZDynamics

    Exactly, Jon. I believe the Broncos can beat the Pats, but I doubt that the Pats have the kind of fear that they would tank a game.

  • TheTroglodyte

    McGahee dropped that ball not Moreno and it’s pretty far fetched to say without those mistakes the Broncos would have won. We have no idea how the Patriots would have responded even if those mistakes didn’t happen.

    The Pats can drop 40 on any defense on any given night. The most damaging thing to them is a super strong running game that keeps their offense off the field. That’s the Texans not the Broncos.

    The Texans have every bit as dominate if not even more dominate pass rush too to keep Brady on his toes.

    To go so far as to say the Pats “fear” the Broncos so much more than the Texans they will tank the game just seems like some pretty hardcore homerism to me.

    That being said, you obvious did your homework here so I give you respect and I hope you are right!

  • Pete Baron

    Ack, I meant McGahee, not Moreno. haha. Just edited to correct.

    It may be homerism, but I try to keep a level head with how I see things playing out. I mean, would it be homerism in ’96, ’97, ’98 if I said we could beat Team X? Maybe, but it’s also a good bit of educated speculation. lol.

  • Pete Baron

    Coming into today’s games, NFL Strength of Schedule:

    Ravens 20th
    Broncos 21st
    Patriots 22nd
    Falcons 24th
    Texans 29th
    Bengals 31st
    Colts 32nd

    So as you can see, the Broncos have had a tougher strength of
    schedule than any of the teams we’ll face in the playoffs with the
    exception of the Ravens (who we obliterated 3 weeks ago IN BALTIMORE).
    So before anyone decides to play that card (I’m looking at you Patriot
    fans), stop, take a deep breath, and do some homework. Thank you!

  • Hawkeye321

    “we… we… we…”

    Hate to break it to you, dude, but you don’t play for the team… and not a single Bronco player would give you the time of day as they drove by your wannabe azz in their Escalade.

    Oh, and one more thing: Patriots 41, Broncos 13.

  • Cheyenne Kid

    Troll, Hawkeye 321. Big bad talk lost in unreality. We are a mucho improved team than the one you beat by only 10 points, whereas your Patriots are worse than they were then. We have been consitent, winning only a paltry 11 in a row. Prepare to be embarreseed in the AFC Championship game if they even make it that far! You will be #13 in a row after that game. This is our forum. Vamoose back to PatriotTalk or whatever you guys have!

  • jimmy abner

    The one element Bronco fans are missing is Peyton Manning, he will not lose from here on out, he has trained his players, they know what they have to do, Peyton gives each of them certain tasks they must learn, he is a specialist in the playoff’s—nut everyone has to do there part, if they do, bronco’s win no matter who they play—if they don’t and have a bad day–there always next year

  • Pete Baron

    Ah yes, nothing screames “scared shitless fan who knows the team they root for has no shot 3 weeks from now” more than the tired and overused “you are NOT the team” blah blah blah…

    Lets see… they play in OUR stadium. Yes, OUR stadium. OUR tax money paid for the place, so they are truly playing in OUR stadium. MY money pays for my 4 season tickets inside MY stadium supported my MY tax money.

    So you can take your “we…we…we…” back home. WE are the Broncos. We might not lace it up and play the game on the field, but WE most certainly are so intertwined with OUR team that they don’t exist without US.

    I kinda feel sorry for you, cause you are so terrified of the Broncos (and honestly, who can blame you) that you feel you have to troll on here and not actually attack anything actually written (because it’s all 100% true), but instead have to attack us talking as though we are one with the Broncos.

    Have fun watching your team lose by 10+ here in Denver.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=68704702 Michael Stendardi

    LMAO, DUDE the patriots defense is better then it was all year right now……we have AQUIB TALIB AND ALFONZO DENNARD, great and very good cover corners that were not in the starting lineup when the pats played the broncos in oct. McCourty settled down at safety, and we got a healthy GRONK AND HERNANDEZ……the oline is finally healthy, it wasnt most of the year. and the running backs are fresh and ready to roll…..and you will be formally introduced to the SEC SQUAD……..Dante HIGHTWER BRANDON SPIKES JEROD MAYO……and o yea, Patrick CHUNG might take off someones head

  • jimji

    The Patriots seem to me to be the one team that the Broncos fear the most. Not the other way around. It should be a great matchup that is assuming they both take care of business this week. I would hate to see either of the other bums limp further into the mix. Brady vs Manning will bring alot of viewers. I think New England will be favored by 3 points.