Hey Pats fans, back again to talk about this weekend's game. I'll be around until next Monday or Tuesday, so feel free to ask me any questions you've got about the Broncos or anything else.
I'm living in the New England area, so I've seen almost every Pats game in addition to all the Broncos games, I think I've got a good idea of what to expect this weekend.
Breaking down the Broncos:
Our strength is clearly our defense. Our secondary isn't that good; our safeties are about average. Dawkins brings a lot of heart and is great against the run, but his pass coverage is iffy. Our other safeties are average at best, making some good plays here and there and giving up some big plays at an equal rate. Champ Bailey's still a top 10 corner in football, great in pass coverage (although not quite lockdown like he was a few years ago), but Andre Goodman is not good. He's been getting beat consistently week-in-week-out, but he makes a big play every so often to keep teams thinking he's solid.
He's not. The pick-6 against the Jets was literally thrown right to him, as was Ponder's INT that won us the Vikings game.
If Brady stays away from Bailey, he shouldn't have much difficulty passing if he gets enough time.
That's what's going to be huge for us. Our linebackers and DLine are way above average. DJ Williams had a huge week last week and has consistently been an above average linebacker throughout his career. He's greatly benefitting from teams focusing on stopping Von and Dumervil.
The combination of Miller and Dumervil is pretty threatening to any QB. The one game Miller missed, we gave up 30+ to the Vikings. He impacts our defense that much, he's absolutely amazing. The problem is when the D focuses too much on them, the rest of our D-line is solid enough to be able to get through. We're finally getting pressure on the QB, which is helping out a lot. We don't force a ton of turnovers, our D has just been making stops.
Still, I fully expect the pats to score 24+, if we win this game it'll be because of Tebow and the offense.
Before you laugh...
Contrary to what you may believe, or what you may have heard, Tebow's improved tremendously from a passing standpoint. Some of the crappy numbers he's put up (3-16 first half last week) simply aren't his fault. And I'm not in love with Tebow or against Tebow, I'm just calling it as I see it. Our WRs are absolutely miserable. We had a handful of drops in the first half last week, on third downs, on potential touchdown grabs, on potential big plays...you name it, we dropped it. His one INT last week was on a fantastic defensive play, and before that he had only one all season.
His mechanics could not be any uglier still, but his accuracy has improved beyond belief. He has the occasional errant throw still, but he's definitely shown that he'll get better
Our running game is great. McGahee has played very, very well this year. A great run D can stop him, but the Pats don't have a great run D. He'll run it, our fullback will take some short-yardage carries, if Eddie Royal's back he could run it, Demaryius Thomas could run it, and of course Tebow will run it. It's a solid run game, top in the league in terms of average. I suspect we'll have some success on the ground.
What do I expect? I don't think we'll win this one. Not because our "luck" has run out, not because I think Brady and Co. will figure out Tebow and the Bronocs...just because I think the Pats are a better team.
That being said, as a Broncos fan I can't consider anything a surprise anymore. These last few weeks have been absolutely crazy. FOUR consecutive 4th quarter comebacks. Our last 6 game win streak came when we played you guys last and beat you in overtime with McDaniels leading us with out disgusting brown and yellow uniforms. It's been a while. We're just enjoying the ride, and while I would have marked this game down as the one I wanted to win the most 2 months ago, at this point we're just playing for the playoffs and we're in good shape.
Love him or hate him, it's hard to argue with 7-1 as a starter considering Orton was 1-4. I'll be happy with a close game.
Prediction: Pats 34, Broncos 24.
Feel free to stop by our forums to chat about the game... forums.denverbroncos.com
