wow, we really DO own Brady...
AP) ENGLEWOOD, Colo. The New England Patriots may be the barometer for success in the NFL, yet the Denver Broncos have owned them for years.
Since 1984, the Broncos are 15-3 against New England, including playoff wins in 1986 and last season when Champ Bailey picked off Tom Brady and returned it 100 yards in the divisional round.
The Broncos are 23-15 against New England and even own a winning record (8-7) on the road against the Patriots.
Coach Mike Shanahan, whose team travels to New England for a Sunday night showdown, has no explanation for Denver's dominance in the series.
"I really don't know," he said Wednesday. "All of the games have been great games. It is usually a very physical game and comes down to the last quarter. Hopefully we can sneak another one."
Lately, the series has pitted two of the brightest offensive minds in the NFL in Shanahan and Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Said Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer: "With these two coaches, it's like a chess match almost."
"Bill really keeps you off balance," Shanahan agreed. "He uses a three-man front, a four-man front. Over the last five or six years, I think that he has used every type of defense front that we could possibly see from eight-man fronts to wide-tackle-six to the straight 3-4s. He really makes you prepare not only in your base-offensive game plan but in the nickel game plan, as well."
Belichick is equally effusive in his praise for Shanahan.
"I think everybody knows how I feel about Shanahan. I think he's one of the best coaches in the league," Belichick said. "I felt that for a long time. He does a great job of preparing his team, giving a defense difficult looks, managing a game, making adjustments in the game when he sees what the other team is doing.
"I think he's a great football coach. He's had tremendous success and rightly so because he does as good a job as anybody. I have as much respect for Mike Shanahan as any coach I've coached against. Any coach in the National Football League."
