The 2013/14 AFC Championship Game: NE at DEN

brdmaverick · Jan 22, 2016

I rewatched the 2013 AFC Championship game with the Pats at Denver (ok, so I watched the condensed version on NFL game pass).

Some interesting notes, our current receiving core of Gronk/Edelman/Amendola/LaFell/White/Martin is far better than the2013 group of Edelman/Amendola/Dobson/Collie/Vereen/Mulligan, but our offense wasn't nearly as ineffective in that game as I remember. They had some productive drives (in terms of yardage) that didn't result touchdowns (1 ended in a FG, 1 a turnover on downs, 1 with a sack that pushed them out of FG range).

The issue was that they didn't have the ball as many times as they'd like. Despite having a video game-like, record setting offense, the Broncos went on long drive after long drive. Chewing up clock, dinking and dunking all the way down the field. It wasn't the long ball that kept the offense alive, no, it was consistently just getting enough yards to get first downs.

Sure the Manning of this year is FAR FAR inferior to 2013's version, but he can still dink and dunk, right? I think it will be like playing the Chiefs again. Despite giving up many third downs last week, we still ultimatley made the plays keep them out of the end zone. Hopefully the same is true this week. After, if you look at last week's game you could easily see the game going differently if the Chiefs convert some of their goal line chances and we miss on one of ours. The adage is true that there will be a couple plays that end up deciding the game.

I don't mean to send anyone into a panic, I think we'll still win. I'm just not sure it will be as easy as everyone thinks.

I know comparing teams is very dangerous......after all......the 2012 Pats were better than the 2011 Pats, but the 2011 Pats beat the Ravens in the AFCCG but the 2012 ones did not.

Hopefully we won't see any long balls in Slater's direction.

goheels22002 · Jan 22, 2016

Perfect attendance at practice on Friday before the team departs for Denver for the AFCC per MassLive. All good. I feel bad for Mayo. Go get 'em, guys!

jah · Jan 22, 2016

I agree that we're going to see them come out dinking, dunking, and running again. CJ Anderson killed us in November, but hopefully Hightower and Collins have something to say about that. The defense needs to play better than they did last week--I see the Broncos offense as similar to the Chiefs but with much better big play ability due to guys like Thomas, Sanders, and the running backs. I think we can move the ball on their defense and put up 24 to 35 points, so it's up to our defense to hold them to less than that.

RobertWeathers · Jan 22, 2016

brdmaverick said:
I rewatched the 2013 AFC Championship game with the Pats at Denver (ok, so I watched the condensed version on NFL game pass).

Some interesting notes, our current receiving core of Gronk/Edelman/Amendola/LaFell/White/Martin is far better than the2013 group of Edelman/Amendola/Dobson/Collie/Vereen/Mulligan, but our offense wasn't nearly as ineffective in that game as I remember. They had some productive drives (in terms of yardage) that didn't result touchdowns (1 ended in a FG, 1 a turnover on downs, 1 with a sack that pushed them out of FG range).

The issue was that they didn't have the ball as many times as they'd like. Despite having a video game-like, record setting offense, the Broncos went on long drive after long drive. Chewing up clock, dinking and dunking all the way down the field. It wasn't the long ball that kept the offense alive, no, it was consistently just getting enough yards to get first downs.

Sure the Manning of this year is FAR FAR inferior to this year's version, but he can still dink and dunk, right? I think it will be like playing the Chiefs again. Despite giving up many third downs last week, we still ultimatley made the plays keep them out of the end zone. Hopefully the same is true this week. After, if you look at last week's game you could easily see the game going differently if the Chiefs convert some of their goal line chances and we miss on one of ours. The adage is true that there will be a couple plays that end up deciding the game.

I don't mean to send anyone into a panic, I think we'll still win. I'm just not sure it will be as easy as everyone thinks.

I know comparing teams is very dangerous......after all......the 2012 Pats were better than the 2011 Pats, but the 2011 Pats beat the Ravens in the AFCCG but the 2012 ones did not.

Hopefully we won't see any long balls in Slater's direction.

Pats offense is MUCH better. Pats D is MUCH better. DEN O is MUCH worse and DEN D is MUCH better

I watched a little bit of that game earlier this week and what was also incredibly noticeable was PM's lower body movement. In 2013 he was on his toes and moving quickly. He moves much slower now. It was night and day.

dales804 · Jan 22, 2016

robertweathers said:
In 2013 he was on his toes and moving quickly. He moves much slower now. It was night and day.

Probably stopped taking the HGH a bit after that.

SammyBlueCat · Jan 22, 2016

Did Edelman & Amendola both play in that game? (I believe Amendola was hurt but he may have suited up.)

RobertWeathers · Jan 22, 2016

dales804 said:
Probably stopped taking the HGH a bit after that.

I'm sure it was!

Hes 39 years old. Only non-human life forms like Brady move faster when they get older. The rest of get slow and bones creek when rolling out of bed.

brdmaverick · Jan 22, 2016

SammyBlueCat said:
Did Edelman & Amendola both play in that game? (I believe Amendola was hurt but he may have suited up.)

Both definitely played. Edelman was effective, Amendola was not.

PatsGirl2011 · Jan 22, 2016

The first thing I thought watching the game was that Denver was the better team and Manning was definitely on HGH or something.

everlong · Jan 22, 2016

You also had to defend the deep ball leaving all the underneath stuff open. The defense wasn't as good at any of the three levels as it is this year. Gregory was one of the starting safeties. Dennard was a starting corner. Talib didn't play the entire game. Siliga and Jones were the starting front middle. There was no VW or Mayo who were the studs of the defense at the time. Hightower and Jones are far superior players now.

BelichickFan · Jan 22, 2016

brdmaverick said:
Sure the Manning of this year is FAR FAR inferior to 2013's version, but he can still dink and dunk, right? I think it will be like playing the Chiefs again.

The Chiefs but with a QB who can't run. Take Alex Smith's runs - and the threat thereof - out of the game last week and it's a much easier game.

That's that piece, there are some negatives in this game like being on the road and their edge rushers being healthy as opposed to KC's whose weren't.

Sicilian · Jan 22, 2016

everlong said:
You also had to defend the deep ball leaving all the underneath stuff open. The defense wasn't as good at any of the three levels as it is this year. Gregory was one of the starting safeties. Dennard was a starting corner. Talib didn't play the entire game. Siliga and Jones were the starting front middle. There was no VW or Mayo who were the studs of the defense at the time. Hightower and Jones are far superior players now.

If nothing else, this post shows that you can pretty much throw the 2013 game out the window as an indicator. This isn't a case of looking at a similar past game, tweaking a couple players and saying here's what should happen now. These are both completely different teams, both in personnel and health/age/effectiveness.

Wheelman · Jan 22, 2016

I disagree that it will be like the Chiefs. The reason the Chiefs are so good on 3rd and short is because of Alex Smith threat to scramble and run. Manning can't do that. There will be less trying to keep Manning contained in the pocket like we try to do vs mobile QB's.

The two things I remember about that game is the deep pass Brady overthrew to Edelman who was behind the entire defense. Does altitude affect his long ball accuracy? If so, How long does it take him to get used to it?

And after Welker took out Talib the floodgates opened and we couldn't stop the donkeys on their long drives. I remember twice thinking if Arrington turned around he could have had a pick, and if Dennard turned around sooner he could have had a pick. Letting them run it down our throats and convert a first down on runs to run out the time says it all about our poor run game in 2013.

Bill Belichick should have won Coach of the year for what he did that season. But as we all know the award is really just the "Surprise coach of the year". Too bad they don't have the #integrity to call it what it really is.

Stop the run and we win this game by a mile. If we struggle against the run it will go down to the wire.

aluminum seats · Jan 22, 2016

Glad this was posted, I've been meaning to bring it up.

I wasn't on the board around then, so I'm curious: what did you think before that game?

I thought the Pats were clearly overmatched. Outcome was zero surprise.

What was the consensus here?

RobertWeathers · Jan 22, 2016

Sicilian said:
If nothing else, this post shows that you can pretty much throw the 2013 game out the window as an indicator. This isn't a case of looking at a similar past game, tweaking a couple players and saying here's what should happen now. These are both completely different teams, both in personnel and health/age/effectiveness.

In addition 1/2 of the Patriots current roster was not playing in that game.

RobertWeathers · Jan 22, 2016

aluminum seats said:
Glad this was posted, I've been meaning to bring it up.

I wasn't on the board around then, so I'm curious: what did you think before that game?

I thought the Pats were clearly overmatched. Outcome was zero surprise.

What was the consensus here?

They were overmatched. If they had Gronk and Talib they would have had a real chance.

turkeyneck · Jan 22, 2016

Wheelman said:
The reason the Chiefs are so good on 3rd and short is because of Alex Smith threat to scramble and run. Manning can't do that. There will be less trying to keep Manning contained in the pocket like we try to do vs mobile QB's.

Watch for Osweiller going wildcat.

A man named Brady · Jan 22, 2016

Completely dominated

SVN · Jan 22, 2016

brdmaverick said:
I rewatched the 2013 AFC Championship game with the Pats at Denver (ok, so I watched the condensed version on NFL game pass).

Some interesting notes, our current receiving core of Gronk/Edelman/Amendola/LaFell/White/Martin is far better than the2013 group of Edelman/Amendola/Dobson/Collie/Vereen/Mulligan, but our offense wasn't nearly as ineffective in that game as I remember. They had some productive drives (in terms of yardage) that didn't result touchdowns (1 ended in a FG, 1 a turnover on downs, 1 with a sack that pushed them out of FG range).

The issue was that they didn't have the ball as many times as they'd like. Despite having a video game-like, record setting offense, the Broncos went on long drive after long drive. Chewing up clock, dinking and dunking all the way down the field. It wasn't the long ball that kept the offense alive, no, it was consistently just getting enough yards to get first downs.

Sure the Manning of this year is FAR FAR inferior to 2013's version, but he can still dink and dunk, right? I think it will be like playing the Chiefs again. Despite giving up many third downs last week, we still ultimatley made the plays keep them out of the end zone. Hopefully the same is true this week. After, if you look at last week's game you could easily see the game going differently if the Chiefs convert some of their goal line chances and we miss on one of ours. The adage is true that there will be a couple plays that end up deciding the game.

I don't mean to send anyone into a panic, I think we'll still win. I'm just not sure it will be as easy as everyone thinks.

I know comparing teams is very dangerous......after all......the 2012 Pats were better than the 2011 Pats, but the 2011 Pats beat the Ravens in the AFCCG but the 2012 ones did not.

Hopefully we won't see any long balls in Slater's direction.

I hope broncos are not converting 60% of their 3rd downs. No way win like that again on the road.

brdmaverick · Jan 22, 2016

aluminum seats said:
Glad this was posted, I've been meaning to bring it up.

I wasn't on the board around then, so I'm curious: what did you think before that game?

I thought the Pats were clearly overmatched. Outcome was zero surprise.

What was the consensus here?

We'd have to dig it up but I'm pretty sure there was confidence on this board.
After all, we beat them in the regular season and the Pats added a critical dimension to their game since that first meeting (Blount exploded down the stretch, including the prior week with a 4 TDs against the Colts).

The 2013/14 AFC Championship Game: NE at DEN

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