Defensively obviously I understand they struggled to stop them but the other problem, especially in the first half, was the fact they couldn't move the chains themselves and keep the defense off the field and score points. The time of possession was 60/40 in favor of Denver and if you read the piece I wrote you'll also see that New England ran just 56 plays this game, their lowest total since week five when they ran just 60 in Cincinnati. Part of that comes from Denver keeping the ball, but the other comes from them not doing the same when they had it.
They were, but not to the extent many are making it out to be. This was a game where everyone knew coming in they wouldn't be able to completely shut down Denver and were going to have to at least score a bunch of points to win this game, and as I wrote they seemed poised to do it after scoring over 30 in each of their recent contests. New England needed to be at the level the Broncos were at offensively in terms of their execution and unfortunately just weren't. The people who are all over the defense are correct to a point, but the expectations are unrealistic compared to what they were at least able to do, especially considering they lost Talib early on. They held Denver to 13 in the first half, and 13 in the 2nd. Scoring just 3 points in the first three quarters, regardless of the number of possessions, isn't going to win a Conference title or a Super Bowl ring for that matter.
If the Patriots had been able to put up points, get a lead, and force Denver to play from behind, I doubt we would have seen the same methodical approach that they were able to run in terms of their play-calling which allowed them to eat up the clock. After re-watching it late last night there were so many plays to be had that they uncharacteristically missed, and by not making it competitive point-wise Denver was able to stay in control. Unfortunately we needed another big offensive performance, and it needed to happen long before they finally put up 13 in the fourth quarter.