Why I'm not worried

[NEPettyOfficer72]

While some may be fixiated on the fact that our defense gives up alot of yards, I stand firmly on my beliefs that all of the "bad defense" crap is just a bunch of talk. Especially the fact that both the Saints and the Packers defenses give up more yards, and touchdowns than ours. Not only that, but we've improved in that aspect the last couple of weeks, and we've done it with a banged up defense and moving parts. This defense that we have now is smart, instinctive, mentally tougher than the last and has a nose for the ball. They create and force turnovers at the right times and always manage to tighten up in the redzone, preventing teams from scoring almost better than anybody. And when they do it, they do it in a variety of different ways.

With players like Jerod Mayo, Vince Wilfork, Rob Ninkovich, Mark Anderson, Brandon Spikes, Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, and Patrick Chung with additional talent on the rise like Sterling Moore, Dane Fletcher, Antwaun Molden, the multitalented Julian Edelman, and Kyle Love this unit will end up with the ball more often than what some may think.

 

[ALP]

if this O-line holds, the defense wont matter much...they will either benefit from lucky breaks, or the opposing offense will commit self-inflicted mistakes

for the record though, i believe it is much better than the minimum i stated above

 

[ausbacker]

The Patriots are better than the Broncos and we just signed another inside weapon to the ranks of offensive assistant.

 

[Bostonian1962]

While some may be fixiated on the fact that our defense gives up alot of yards, I stand firmly on my beliefs that all of the "bad defense" crap is just a bunch of talk. Especially the fact that both the Saints and the Packers defenses give up more yards, and touchdowns than ours. Not only that, but we've improved in that aspect the last couple of weeks, and we've done it with a banged up defense and moving parts. This defense that we have now is smart, instinctive, mentally tougher than the last and has a nose for the ball. They create and force turnovers at the right times and always manage to tighten up in the redzone, preventing teams from scoring almost better than anybody. And when they do it, they do it in a variety of different ways.

With players like Jerod Mayo, Vince Wilfork, Rob Ninkovich, Mark Anderson, Brandon Spikes, Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, and Patrick Chung with additional talent on the rise like Sterling Moore, Dane Fletcher, Antwaun Molden, the multitalented Julian Edelman, and Kyle Love this unit will end up with the ball more often than what some may think.

The "bad defense" is just talk? Have you watched any of our games this year? It's alot more than talk. Our hope now has to be that the return of Spikes and Chung make a difference, and that playing McCourty at safety on man defense does the trick. There is hope.

 

[Bostonian1962]

The Patriots are better than the Broncos and we just signed another inside weapon to the ranks of offensive assistant.

Not only that, but the Broncos will be without Decker, their leading receiver for the Patriots game, more than likely.

 

[goheels22002]

The "bad defense" is just talk? Have you watched any of our games this year? It's alot more than talk. Our hope now has to be that the return of Spikes and Chung make a difference, and that playing McCourty at safety on man defense does the trick. There is hope.

For once, I feel like the defensive backfield is a competitive group given the Broncos passing attack for the playoffs. The group of Chung, McCourty, Moore and Arrington is unbelievably young but have speed, if not experience going for them in this match-up. These guys close on the ball quickly and if they keep the Broncos' receivers in front of them, they can track down anybody on that team.

The Broncos are young at WR as well, so the match-ups look pretty even, for once. Thomas is the main threat but the Pats can match his speed. You can bet they get a few looks at that TD in OT last night and keep Thomas in front of them all night.

These guys should be hungry with lots to prove - none has ever won a playoff game.

 

[Triggerfish]

Well, if nothing else, the Steelers just gave you the blueprint on what NOT to do against that offense. You can NOT over-commit to the run, especially with your "suspect" secondary. Their O-line is good, and the NE pass rush is not. So, why bother banging your head against that wall all game? Rush three, contain Tebow, and allow your safeties to roam the middle of the field.

The Steelers were committing their safeties to stop the run and often putting 10 in the box, most of the time bringing 4. They were able to contain the running game fairly well, but when the pass rush didn't get there, Tebow was able to just move around a little in the pocket and wait for pass coverage to break down.

Hey, I give the guy his props. he played a good game. But all the media ball-washing is way overdone. He did what he was supposed to do. He took what the defense gave them, which was the deep stuff and the crosses and slants. He didn't do anything particularly special in my opinion, other than hit some wide open receivers. He also missed on many wide open receivers.

Again, I'm not taking anything away from Denver. They earned that win. We were outcoached and outplayed. The Denver coordinator did a good job of recognizing the mismatches that Pittsburgh was giving them all night. **** Lebeau, as much as I admire him, did little or nothing to adjust during the game. I mean, in OT where a TD ends the game, he chooses to put 10 guys at the LOS? BAD mistake....which resulted in an easy TD for Denver.

Good luck this weekend. I really think your Pats will destroy them again, but as we've seen...stranger things have happened. At least you have plenty of film to look at, so to NOT make the same mistakes we did.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

... They create and force turnovers at the right times ...

Though their record is impressive, not sure how much it could be replicated, especially since the Broncos are pissed off with the # of turnovers they had the last time they played us.

Also, I am pretty sure Brucshi mentioned that it is dangerous for a team to be depending on turnovers; think he also pointed out that GB prided itself with the same and couldn't get it done against KC.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

And oh, I am always nervous against any opponent.

 

[neuronet]

Whenever there is a thread like this, the Patriots lose.

I'm thinking:
Giants 2008
Steelers 2011

If they lose to the Broncos, I blame the OP.

I am worried, expect a tough game. Remember the Broncos during the first quarter last time? What if it is like that the whole game?

 

[RodThePat]

Whenever there is a thread like this, the Patriots lose.

I'm thinking:
Giants 2008
Steelers 2011

If they lose to the Broncos, I blame the OP.

I am worried, expect a tough game. Remember the Broncos during the first quarter last time? What if it is like that the whole game?

Yeah, what if they run for 620 yards on us and we don't make any sort of adjustments during the game? Let's be reasonable.

 

[Bostonian1962]

For once, I feel like the defensive backfield is a competitive group given the Broncos passing attack for the playoffs. The group of Chung, McCourty, Moore and Arrington is unbelievably young but have speed, if not experience going for them in this match-up. These guys close on the ball quickly and if they keep the Broncos' receivers in front of them, they can track down anybody on that team.

The Broncos are young at WR as well, so the match-ups look pretty even, for once. Thomas is the main threat but the Pats can match his speed. You can bet they get a few looks at that TD in OT last night and keep Thomas in front of them all night.

These guys should be hungry with lots to prove - none has ever won a playoff game.

Agreed, and like I said earlier, it won't hurt that Denver will likely be without their leading receiver due to injury. Note, I didn't say their best receiver, just their leading receiver.

 

[letekro]

Whenever there is a thread like this, the Patriots lose.

I'm thinking:
Giants 2008
Steelers 2011

If they lose to the Broncos, I blame the OP.

I am worried, expect a tough game. Remember the Broncos during the first quarter last time? What if it is like that the whole game?

I'm pretty sure nobody was concerned about the Jags either of the times we played them in the playoffs recently, and with good reason. Anything can happen, but the Broncos, wiht the benefit of perhaps the greatest homefield advantage in all of sports, scraped by a Pittsburgh team that was Pittsburgh in uniform only due to the mass injuries (in the past month they were winning 13-9 and 13-6 classics against Cleveland and Tyler Palko-led Kansas City), and needed a 200 yard game from Demarious Thomas to do it. I expect a similar result as the first time around. Broncos may hang around for a while, but they just don't have the offense to keep up with the Patriots, nor the defense to stop them.

 

[goheels22002]

Agreed, and like I said earlier, it won't hurt that Denver will likely be without their leading receiver due to injury. Note, I didn't say their best receiver, just their leading receiver.

Is Eric Decker definitely out? He caught just one ball against the Pats in December but was Tebow's binkie early in the season. Thomas had a very good game against the Patriots and will be more of a focus for the defense.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

...perhaps you should be.

Hope the Patriot players aren't taking the Broncos as lightly as many fans and media are.

~Denver has seen how this "limited" Patriots D contained Tebow after McGahee was lost with an injury and will adjust
~Willis McGahee is healthy and will play
~Denver knows the Patriots O-line is vunerable up the middle. Look for Denver to unleash their D studs to rush the inside and not the edge on the O-line which is the blueprint for messing up Brady's game.
~Keys to the game are turnovers and Brady staying upright.

I expect the Patriots to win this game but the well being of TB is a major concern.

 

[celticboy04]

Well, if nothing else, the Steelers just gave you the blueprint on what NOT to do against that offense. You can NOT over-commit to the run, especially with your "suspect" secondary. Their O-line is good, and the NE pass rush is not. So, why bother banging your head against that wall all game? Rush three, contain Tebow, and allow your safeties to roam the middle of the field.

The Steelers were committing their safeties to stop the run and often putting 10 in the box, most of the time bringing 4. They were able to contain the running game fairly well, but when the pass rush didn't get there, Tebow was able to just move around a little in the pocket and wait for pass coverage to break down.

Hey, I give the guy his props. he played a good game. But all the media ball-washing is way overdone. He did what he was supposed to do. He took what the defense gave them, which was the deep stuff and the crosses and slants. He didn't do anything particularly special in my opinion, other than hit some wide open receivers. He also missed on many wide open receivers.

Again, I'm not taking anything away from Denver. They earned that win. We were outcoached and outplayed. The Denver coordinator did a good job of recognizing the mismatches that Pittsburgh was giving them all night. **** Lebeau, as much as I admire him, did little or nothing to adjust during the game. I mean, in OT where a TD ends the game, he chooses to put 10 guys at the LOS? BAD mistake....which resulted in an easy TD for Denver.

Good luck this weekend. I really think your Pats will destroy them again, but as we've seen...stranger things have happened. At least you have plenty of film to look at, so to NOT make the same mistakes we did.

Greetings,
I honestly think the scheme and failure to adjust the defense had a bigger outcome on this game than all of the injuries Pittsburgh had for the game. I kept watching the game just amazed Pittsburgh kept daring him to throw deep, what he does best and also giving their Cornerback's little to NO Safety help. Especially a potential homerun runner such as Thomas.
Celticboy04

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

broncos fans not worried about pats at all...

Honestly, any of you really think they can beat the Pats? - Broncos Country Message Boards

i wonder if the pats will even show up

 

[VrabelJr]

Just as NFL offenses have adapted so have NFL defenses. A couple of the golden metrics of defensive efficiency, yards and time of possession, have noticeably meant less in regards to the overall outcome of games. This year I believe there was a record of teams losing the time of possession battle and still winning the game.

 

[PatsDeb]

We should always be worried and never look past an opponent (Hello, Pittsburgh?). That said, with our playoff woes the last two years, I don't think lack of worry or preparation will be a problem on Saturday. Execute like we know we can and we'll win. Get down 21 points in the first half and who knows what will happen.

 

[VrabelJr]

Why I'm worried: Denver is coming in here with the same swagger that Baltimore and NYJ did. If this team really has matured and turned the page like BB says then our young players will not take the Broncos lightly and outmatch their intensity.