Patriots Pregame Thread Pre-Game thread - 2025 AFC Championship at Denver Broncos

denverpatsfan said:

For those of you that think Sean Payton is overrated. He directly impacted the game on Saturday.
The Winners and Losers of the NFL’s Divisional Round

This is twofold. The Broncos beat the Bills on Saturday in large part because of head coach Sean Payton’s offensive creativity and his ability to draw up the right play at the right moment for quarterback Bo Nix to exploit the weaknesses in Buffalo’s defense—particularly a banged-up secondary.


In the final minute of the first half, Bills safety Cam Lewis headed to the locker room early because of cramping in his legs. He was replaced by Darnell Savage—and the Broncos immediately took advantage. Nix rolled out of the pocket to his right, planted his feet, and launched a pass deep for receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who went streaking down the right seam and caught Savage out of position just outside the end zone. Savage could only dive at Humphrey’s feet as the receiver hauled in the touchdown.

Late in regulation, the Bills’ most experienced cornerback, Tre’Davious White, briefly left the game after getting pancaked by a Denver offensive lineman during a Nix scramble, and he was replaced by Dane Jackson. Payton determined it was the perfect time to dial up a pass play for Marvin Mims Jr. that the receiver ran to perfection earlier in the week in practice against Pat Surtain II, beating Denver’s best corner and last season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year with a double move. Payton added the play to the call sheet Friday night and asked his assistants to remind him to call it in the game. “When we did our video the night before and we put the practice clip up, I said, ‘You’re beating the no. 1 corner in the world. All right? I don’t care who they put over there in the game tomorrow, we’re running this play,’” Payton told reporters Sunday morning.

That moment came as soon as White left the game. Mims motioned from the right side of the formation to the left to get lined up opposite of Jackson. A stutter-step about 6 yards into his route froze Jackson just enough for Mims to burst past the corner and get a step ahead as Nix laid the pass over Mims’s shoulder in the end zone. That 26-yard touchdown gave the Broncos a 30-27 lead with 55 seconds remaining.

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I mean, even Romo saw this and called it out before the play. He said Payton is going to throw this at Savage, you watch,

jimnance said:

Jokic is hands down the best player on the planet- and has been for several years.
Nuggets are always a threat to win it all.
Which is good for you because I honestly done give Broncos much of a chance vs Patriots- and that's if Nix was actually playing.
Pats are not the Bills- for one thing we also have a top 5 defense. But a far superior offense. Patriots D was missing several key players for much of the season, notably Milton Williams who was one of the best DTs in the NFL when he played. When he played, Patriots had # 1 rushing defense in the league and top 5 D overall.
When Williams and Christian Gonzalez both played this year? Patriots are 16-0.
But Denvers D is legit and you're at home.
Payton is very good coach. Those things keep you from getting blown out.(probably)
But I see Patriots controlling this game, winning by 10 pts or so

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You a Boston sports fan, across the board? Red Sox fan?

I think the Pats need to rediscover the run game. Dominate TOP so the D isn't gased at the end. That and play solid D.

I want to see a tight end lined up left of Campbell helping out in pass protection.

jmt57 said:

I want to see a tight end lined up left of Campbell helping out in pass protection.

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Henry or Hooper? Really wish they made a plan to have a blocking TE. When they had a Dwayne Allen that was such a positive

denverpatsfan said:

For those of you that think Sean Payton is overrated. He directly impacted the game on Saturday.
The Winners and Losers of the NFL’s Divisional Round

This is twofold. The Broncos beat the Bills on Saturday in large part because of head coach Sean Payton’s offensive creativity and his ability to draw up the right play at the right moment for quarterback Bo Nix to exploit the weaknesses in Buffalo’s defense—particularly a banged-up secondary.


In the final minute of the first half, Bills safety Cam Lewis headed to the locker room early because of cramping in his legs. He was replaced by Darnell Savage—and the Broncos immediately took advantage. Nix rolled out of the pocket to his right, planted his feet, and launched a pass deep for receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who went streaking down the right seam and caught Savage out of position just outside the end zone. Savage could only dive at Humphrey’s feet as the receiver hauled in the touchdown.

Late in regulation, the Bills’ most experienced cornerback, Tre’Davious White, briefly left the game after getting pancaked by a Denver offensive lineman during a Nix scramble, and he was replaced by Dane Jackson. Payton determined it was the perfect time to dial up a pass play for Marvin Mims Jr. that the receiver ran to perfection earlier in the week in practice against Pat Surtain II, beating Denver’s best corner and last season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year with a double move. Payton added the play to the call sheet Friday night and asked his assistants to remind him to call it in the game. “When we did our video the night before and we put the practice clip up, I said, ‘You’re beating the no. 1 corner in the world. All right? I don’t care who they put over there in the game tomorrow, we’re running this play,’” Payton told reporters Sunday morning.

That moment came as soon as White left the game. Mims motioned from the right side of the formation to the left to get lined up opposite of Jackson. A stutter-step about 6 yards into his route froze Jackson just enough for Mims to burst past the corner and get a step ahead as Nix laid the pass over Mims’s shoulder in the end zone. That 26-yard touchdown gave the Broncos a 30-27 lead with 55 seconds remaining.

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You gonna write a novel every time you post?

Edit: I took care of the problem.

denverpatsfan said:

J.K. Dobbins to start practicing | 9news.com https://share.google/eICO0xTCtlydM7am6

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Who cares, he'll hurt himself walking to the bathroom.

jmt57 said:

I want to see a tight end lined up left of Campbell helping out in pass protection.

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They tried to help him like that against Myles Garrett and it made the issue worse. Campbell's main problem with edge rushers is that he lacks the reach to get to them when they run the arc off the edge. It makes it hard for him to disrupt them with contact so they're able to go full speed around him and get to Maye's backside if he doesn't step up in the pocket. When you put a TE to his side, you widen the DE out even further making it even harder for Campbell to reach him. It does buy a little extra time just by widening the arc the DE has to run, but that cushion gets eaten up if Maye doesn't throw the ball immediately on his drop back because now Campbell is going to struggle even more to reach the DE.

jmt57 said:

I want to see a tight end lined up left of Campbell helping out in pass protection.

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or a 6th OL.

Kargetina said:

The sheer insanity surrounding Stidham is something else. You would think we're talking about some former All-Pro caliber QB that has had a couple of bad years, not an absolute nobody, someone Patriots fans would never have heard of, if he wasn't drafted by the Pats.

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Have I missed said insanity?

Most of what I see is along the lines of, "He's probably not going to be as bad as a lot of you think," followed by, "What the hell? Stop saying this guy is going to be in Canton! Dumbass!" (And the one guy who seems to end all his posts with hahahahahahaha - he's a peach.)

I think a lot of you read what you want to read, see what you want to see, and hear what you want to hear. Broncos fans generally feel as if they have something of a puncher's chance in this game. If Maye puts the ball on the ground, and we protect it, we can win. If Bo Nix played, I'd feel differently. But in all likelihood, our season essentially ended when they took the x-ray of his leg. But honestly, a lot of you sort of remind me why it would be really cool to see Stidham come out, throw for 4 TDs, and make Patriots fans go back to being generally miserable about life. (Hey, no offense - I feel the same way about Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox fans - don't take it personally. But I digress. I'm digressing.)

I kid. Sort of. Some of you seem delightful.

All of this talk about Stidham being no different than Nix and there is no drop off etc etc and the Broncos can easily win this game with him at QB....is that just some high end copium and just plain old anti-NE sentiment creeping in for another week?

People are twisting themselves into knots trying to rationalize the Broncos beating the Pats. It's quite odd.

ViperGTS said:

All of this talk about Stidham being no different than Nix and there is no drop off etc etc and the Broncos can easily win this game with him at QB....is that just some high end copium and just plain old anti-NE sentiment creeping in for another week?

People are twisting themselves into knots trying to rationalize the Broncos beating the Pats. It's quite odd.

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Imagine hating a franchise for 20 years, living through an era of winning 6 Super Bowls, while 12 teams in the league have never won one. The dynasty ends, everyone associated with the dynasty is gone, two consecutive seasons of 4-13. The Pats are done, and they're never getting back.

Fast forward a year, the team has won 15 out of their last 16 games, they have a coach-QB combo that seem poised to create mental breakdowns for 31 fanbases in the next 10 years, and people can't accept it. The Patriots being back as SB contenders is the worst nightmare of the entire league sans Pats fans.

Just notice how much Brady's popularity and likability have skyrocketed since he left the Pats, both as a player and a public persona. People loathed Brady, or at least they thought they do. As soon as he was wearing a different jersey, their perspective changed.

It cannot be more obvious how much people hate the Pats, and have done so since 2001. People lost their minds during Spygate, and then used it as proof until 2015 that they couldn't win without cheating. They completely went bananas during Deflagate and anchors on freakin CNN were lobbying for the Pats to be suspended in the Super Bowl. Even the laws of nature were deemed a part of a giant conspiracy against the 31 teams.

The ''easy schedule'', refs, luck, people would believe ANYTHING that justifies their hatred, their conviction that the Pats couldn't really be great again and their desire to see the Pats lose. They would even convince themselves that a QB that has won one game in his career in 7 years is not a drop-off from a QB that outplayed Josh Allen in a playoff game TWO DAYS AGO, and won 24 games in two years.

SVN said:

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They only sort of legit one here is Hill. The other were starters and high draft picks for several years before they became backups.

If the Pats D gets carved up by Stidham we have some big, big problems.

Mack Herron said:

Don’t ask about the other side.

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Glad Will Campbell stayed away from the cameras. Will Anderson made him look like Vederian Lowe. I thought Campbell would have put up a little more resistance but he was No Match!

DomCasual said:

But honestly, a lot of you sort of remind me why it would be really cool to see Stidham come out, throw for 4 TDs, and make Patriots fans go back to being generally miserable about life.

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Oh, yeah, the misery... All those three year old fans that have never experienced the playoffs, the second graders that haven't experienced a superbowl win. Just downright awful.

jmt57 said:

I want to see a tight end lined up left of Campbell helping out in pass protection.

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I don't know what Josh McDaniels was thinking last game: leaving Campbell on a deserted Island. Almost single handedly cost us the game.

raduray said:

When do they fly out? Don't they need some time to get acclimated to the altitude?

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They leave on Saturday, normal travel day. Buffalo left on Friday for the Saturday game. 24 hours is fine, it takes 1-2 weeks to acclimate fully. I think the oxygen on the sideline makes a big difference.

Hugepatsfan said:

They tried to help him like that against Myles Garrett and it made the issue worse. Campbell's main problem with edge rushers is that he lacks the reach to get to them when they run the arc off the edge. It makes it hard for him to disrupt them with contact so they're able to go full speed around him and get to Maye's backside if he doesn't step up in the pocket. When you put a TE to his side, you widen the DE out even further making it even harder for Campbell to reach him. It does buy a little extra time just by widening the arc the DE has to run, but that cushion gets eaten up if Maye doesn't throw the ball immediately on his drop back because now Campbell is going to struggle even more to reach the DE.

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100% ********.