Has anyone rewatched the Patriots-Broncos AFC Championship Game?

A man named Brady said:

Our playoff losses the last half decade have had the same theme each time.

Overrated offensive line getting bullied
Defensive line getting little to no pressure

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With the exception of the choking dog game (Jets 2010), the themes are:

Injury, often recent, to big named player(s)
Luck, or bizarre officiating (or both) in favor of opponent

and even then, they've usually been close

2006: Defensive illness/injury impacts 2nd half, combined with invented "facequarding" call
2007: Brady injury, Neal injury, TE injuries, Hobbs injury, Holding non-calls on fateful throw, helmet catch
2009: Welker injury, early turnovers
2010: Choking dog impersonations by Brady (screen INT) and Crumpler (easy TD drop)
2011: Gronk injury, fumbles all returning back to Giants, defense can't get off the field
2012: Gronk injury, Pollard knocks Ridley out
2013: Boatload of starters on IR, Talib injury

I hate the bullied claim. It's such an easy thing to mention in an particular game, but it's just laziness to use it as an overall reason. The Jets, 2011 Giants and Broncos sure didn't win because they bullied the Patriots.

Bradyking12 said:

i honestly thought they had nothing to worry about when facing Denver.

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If you actually felt that the Patriots "had nothing to worry about" in this year's AFCCG out in Denver, I admire your optimism. I think we were playing on borrowed time at that point, although it was definitely quite impressive under the circumstances of injuries, etc.

We're all hoping for different results this time around if/when they meet up again in the postseason. It wasn't "just" going out to DEN in January that worried me, it was a combination of everything that happened AND being forced to go out west.

I truly think that Denver's thin air had very much to do with the long pass overthrows that game. Each one was just a few feet long, and exactly what one would expect if TB was not accounting for the extra air travel for that altitude. I think it would be very hard thing to do, take just a little off the throw, when your muscle memory says throw it a certain strength that you've done your whole career for the same pass. Another example of home field advantage at work. It's still just a working theory, but those incompletes all seemed so similar. This factor would account for it quite nicely and quite simply, so by Occums Razor it seems a good bet as a possible explanation.

pdangle said:

I truly think that Denver's thin air had very much to do with the long pass overthrows that game. Each one was just a few feet long, and exactly what one would expect if TB was not accounting for the extra air travel for that altitude. I think it would be very hard thing to do, take just a little off the throw, when your muscle memory says throw it a certain strength that you've done your whole career for the same pass. Another example of home field advantage at work. It's still just a working theory, but those incompletes all seemed so similar. This factor would account for it quite nicely and quite simply, so by Occums Razor it seems a good bet as a possible explanation.

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Came here to postulate the exact same thing. Both deep misses seem to be off by almost the same margin. As with almost everything in the NFL it is a terribly small sample size but if the shoe fits..

twnickels2014 said:

I was just wondering how many bad throws Brady actually had in that game.

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Wondering? I'm guessing it's likely you know exactly how many and have the Roman numeral tattooed on both your ass and forehead.

pdangle said:

I truly think that Denver's thin air had very much to do with the long pass overthrows that game. Each one was just a few feet long, and exactly what one would expect if TB was not accounting for the extra air travel for that altitude. I think it would be very hard thing to do, take just a little off the throw, when your muscle memory says throw it a certain strength that you've done your whole career for the same pass. Another example of home field advantage at work. It's still just a working theory, but those incompletes all seemed so similar. This factor would account for it quite nicely and quite simply, so by Occums Razor it seems a good bet as a possible explanation.

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That game should never have taken place in Denver.

The Patriots sealed their own fate December 15, 2013.

Anyone remember what the Patriots running game looked like down the stretch last year?

If only McDaniels/Brady hadn't decided to throw it 55 times (compared to only 22 run plays) against a weak Dolphins run D last December at a time when Blount/Ridley/Vereen were all healthy and on a roll.

The Pats big advantage was in the run game game and there was no Gronk, Thompkins or Dobson available. Yet SOMEHOW they decided to throw it 55 times and lost home field advantage for the playoffs that day.

I rewatched it.

Thing that really sticks out to me is how our OL got dominated on critical downs.

This year will be different. No major injuries and HFA thru playoffs.

I wonder how many bad pick plays Denver ran to take out the other team' stop CB? Using Welker as a battering ram?

And Manning wants to talk sh*t to Swearinger in preseason on a hard hit when his own team throws Wes around like a rag doll... I really hate those guys.

The hallmark of Patriots teams from the SB (winning) years was that however many guys went down, there was a next man up. They even went 11-5 with Matt Cassel, in later years.

The "Pats bullied in the trenches" concept is easy, and the "our guys get injured" excuse is difficult? Come on man.

Truth is, stuff happens, only one team can win, and they all get paid and are burning for the ring - at least the teams at the level we're talking about. You remember everybody saying the Pats were "lucky" during the SB years? Um okay. Just as unarguable, and unprovable, to say they got "unlucky" when they lost.

The beauty part is... it's time again!

My wife doesn't understand why I look forward to the season starting... its the bad taste of losses like that, as well as SB 42 SB 46.(uughh & shiver) Fresh start and kicking @$$ again. Amongst all of my friends/cohorts I am easily the most amped up about football starting again each year.

PatsFanInVa said:

...The "Pats bullied in the trenches" concept is easy, and the "our guys get injured" excuse is difficult? Come on man...

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Who said anything about it being difficult? It simply fits the fact a lot better than the "bullied" nonsense, which is a lazy theory because it only takes a cursory look at the past to see that it doesn't fit.

And, yeah, when officials are penalizing a team by making calls that aren't penalties and still calling them penalties, and fumble after fumble after fumble is ending up in the hands of the same team, and stiffs are able to hold a football against their helmet despite getting hit by a guy like Rodney Harrison, and a RB is literally knocked out on a hit, luck/officiating is obviously involved.

Good gracious, no. Never rewatch a Patriots loss, no matter how much I can learn from it (which wouldn't be much anyway - that's what they have coaches for!!).

Deus Irae said:

With the exception of the choking dog game (Jets 2010), the themes are:

Injury, often recent, to big named player(s)
Luck, or bizarre officiating (or both) in favor of opponent

and even then, they've usually been close

2006: Defensive illness/injury impacts 2nd half, combined with invented "facequarding" call
2007: Brady injury, Neal injury, TE injuries, Hobbs injury, Holding non-calls on fateful throw, helmet catch
2009: Welker injury, early turnovers
2010: Choking dog impersonations by Brady (screen INT) and Crumpler (easy TD drop)
2011: Gronk injury, fumbles all returning back to Giants, defense can't get off the field
2012: Gronk injury, Pollard knocks Ridley out
2013: Boatload of starters on IR, Talib injury

I hate the bullied claim. It's such an easy thing to mention in an particular game, but it's just laziness to use it as an overall reason. The Jets, 2011 Giants and Broncos sure didn't win because they bullied the Patriots.

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Would you prefer I used the word dominated? Because that's what tends to happen to our offensive line in the PS. Specifically the SB 42, Jets in 2011, Broncos 2014 losses.

And our defensive line got NO pressure on Peyton and flacco in our last 2 losses. It doesn't matter who is in the secondary if manning has all day to throw like he did the AFC title game

A man named Brady said:

Would you prefer I used the word dominated? Because that's what tends to happen to our offensive line in the PS. Specifically the SB 42, Jets in 2011, Broncos 2014 losses.

And our defensive line got NO pressure on Peyton and flacco in our last 2 losses. It doesn't matter who is in the secondary if manning has all day to throw like he did the AFC title game

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The Jets? They were getting smoked until Brady and Crumpler screwed up. Then, they laid back.

It doesn't matter what you call it. You can dress it up and call it "Belinda" if you want. It's still lazy, and it still doesn't fit the reality. Injuries and officiating/luck fits the reality, and it goes all the way back to 2006.