how so?... Sly Williams has been a top end NT all year, TJ Ward is a pro bowler and so is Luis Vazquez and on an oline that already has issues... those losses were huge... also, Demarcus Ware missing is the biggest loss of all for Denver, he's been our best player on D... all that said, i still will give you the edge once Gronk went down... to me Gronk is perhaps the most important player in the league that's not a QB...
That's 4 injuries you listed. Compared to:
-Jamie Collins (our best defensive player and one of the top LBs in the league)
-Julian Edelman (best slot receiver in the league and has proven to be as valuable as Gronk, because he allows us to execute our short/quick passing game with near flawlessness)
-Danny Amendola (had 117 yards the week before when he took over as our #1 WR, and has played extremely well since last year's playoffs)
-Justin Coleman (our #3 CB who has played very well this year)
-Oline has been banged up for most of the season
Then you have the guys that went down during the game:
-Dont'a Hightower (probably our second best defensive player, and an integral part of our run defense - your team wasn't able to run the ball with him on the field)
-Gronk (nothing needs to be said)
That's 6 of our top players on both sides of the ball, including a very banged up Oline. With Hightower in the game, your team had 0 points and averaged 2.9 yards per carry. And even with Hightower out, we were still leading and moving the ball down the field, until Gronk went down. With Gronk down, we went from having 1 weapon on offense, to having exactly 0.
I also disagree with two other statements you made.
Your defense did not perform well in that game. Allowing 24 points and 300+ yards of offense to an offense playing with all backups/guys that were just called from the practice squad, is a terrible performance. Your defense has declined considerably in the last 4 or so games - both statistically and through the eye test. You may get a boost from Ware returning, but the boost we'll get with Edelman, Amendola, and Gronk will outweigh that, as that will allow Brady to get the ball out in under 2 seconds. TJ Ward and Sly Williams will be irrelevant, because their strengths are against the run game, and we don't run the ball often. We use the short quick passes to Edelman/Amendola/RB as a substitute, and we've been doing this successfully for over a year.
I also disagree that we desperately need HFA. Last Sunday's game proved we could very easily win in Denver once we get healthy. Your team isn't scaring anybody, and neither is playing in your stadium in a rematch. Just saying.