DENVER – By the time the game ended, Santa Claus was somewhere between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, according to NORAD, the popular Christmas Eve Santa tracker.
So you can’t point to Father Christmas as the reason for what happened at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. With two seconds left in what had become a wild finish, rookie Chad Ryland, who has had a very uneven season (and an uneven game this evening), drilled a 56-yard field goal dead center to give the Patriots a Christmas Eve 26-23 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday night. In a city which is usually grinchly to the Patriots, the visitors will be the ones with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads on the joyous flight back to Boston.
The Patriots were offensively inept for most of the first half, but Denver led only 7-3 at the intermission. Because the Patriots were allowed to hang around, they were eventually able to forge ahead and take a two-score lead into the fourth quarter. The Patriots dropped 20 points on the Broncos in the third quarter alone.
But the Broncos were able to come back in the fourth quarter when the Patriot defense went into prevent nothing mode, and allowed Russell Wilson to find open receivers underneath. The Patriots stopped rushing Wilson and instead tried to focus on covering the receivers, but as is often the case in late game zone defenses, the scheme fails more than it succeeds.
This point is made thanks to the final offensive possession for the Broncos (not counting the final play of the game), which forced them into a three and out and gave the Patriots the ball back for the game winning drive.
The Patriots struck for three third quarter touchdowns. After Denver went three and out to begin the third quarter, the Patriots scored quickly, going 70 yards in five plays. Pop Douglas hauled in a deep left sideline pass for 41 yards, then later caught a 13-yard pass to put the Patriots at the Denver 15. Bailey Zappe then hit Ezekiel Elliott in the right flat, then the large back leaped over a Denver defender and lunged past the pylon to make it 9-7 Patriots. Ryland missed the PAT, doinking it off the left upright.
After an exchange of punts, the Patriots had the ball at the Denver 42-yard line. On second down, DeVante Parker made a terrific leaping grab of a left sideline lob pass for 30 yards. Despite a holding call on Atonio Mafi, on third down and nine, Zappe was able to find Mike Gesicki at the back of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass and the Patriots led 16-7.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Patriots got perhaps the break of the game. Marvin Mims Jr. fumbled the kickoff at the 4-yard line, then fumbled it again after he picked up the ball. Cody Davis fell on the ball in the end zone and suddenly it was 23-7 Patriots. This exchange might remind fans of a certain age of the 1985 AFC Divisional Game at Los Angeles, where the Patriots scored a touchdown against the Raiders to tie the game at 20, then Sammy Seale fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Jim Bowman recovered in the end zone for a 27-20 Patriot win.
The teams exchanged punts, and Denver had to do something with just over 13 minutes left in the game. The Patriots, with a 16-point lead, went conservative on defense, figuring that Wilson didn’t have the offensive weapons to pull off a comeback. On this possession, the key play was a 47-yard right sideline pass to Mims, the same player who fumbled the kickoff earlier. The play was challenged by Bill Belichick because it looked like Mims juggled the ball as he fell to the ground even though his hands were underneath the ball. Replay upheld the call, and Denver was in business at the Patriot 12-yard line. Three plays later, Wilson hit Lucas Krull for a 3-yard touchdown, and Brandon Johnson caught a quick screen pass for a two-point conversion. It was now 23-15 Patriots, and Denver scored far too easily on this drive.
Predictably, Denver tied the game on their next possession, going 78 yards in 11 plays. Wilson found receivers open underneath and almost no pass rush, moving the chains and eventually hitting Johnson from 21 yards out for the touchdown, and Javonte Williams caught a two-point conversion pass to tie the game at 23.
By now, the Bronco defense was throttling Zappe and the Patriot offense. Denver got the ball back at their 39-yard line, needing only a field goal to win the game. 1:42 remained in the game at this point.
Finally, Belichick went back to what worked in the third quarter and sent the masses after Wilson. Denver lost three total yards on three plays and had to punt. New England got the ball back at their 19-yard line with 58 seconds left and one timeout. Denver had all three of their timeouts.
On first and second down, Elliott ran twice for seven yards, burning two of the Denver timeouts. It seemed that overtime was inevitable, that Belichick was just trying to run out the clock to take his chances in an extra session.
But the Patriots changed course and surprised everyone in Denver, and most likely, in New England. On third down and three, Zappe hit Parker on the left sideline with a miracle 27-yard pass to get the Patriots into Denver territory. The Patriots were able to get to the Denver 38, when Ryland came out with seven seconds left to try and win it.
The ball placement was dead center, and that’s exactly where the kick went. The inconsistent rookie kicker from Maryland whacked the ball dead center, and it would have been good from 60 yards. Denver got the ball back with two seconds left, but a Hail Mary failed and the Patriots had their win.
Zappe finished 25 of 33 passing for 256 yards, two touchdowns and a 117.7 passer rating, which is a terrific evening by anyone’s standards. Douglas had 74 receiving yards, while Elliott led the team with nine catches. Wilson, the former Seattle quarterback, was 25 of 37 passing for 238 yards and also two touchdowns and a 103.2 rating. Neither side had any sort of effective running game.
The win by the Patriots actually hurt both teams. Denver’s playoff chances took a major hit now that they are 7-8. The Patriots improved to 4-11, almost guaranteeing that Carolina (Chicago) will get the top pick in the 2024 Draft. But any win is a good win, and the Patriots might just take some momentum into Buffalo next week as the Bills fight for their playoff lives and try to exact revenge for an earlier defeat at Foxborough.
At press time, Santa is heading for Tupelo, Mississippi. He will be in Denver very soon, but for the Patriots, they may tell Santa that they’re good.
For the rest of us, enjoy The Reason if so choose to do so, and may all of us be peaceful on this wonderful night.
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Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139
