What To Watch For: Biggest Challenge Yet For Patriots
BOSTON (CBS) -- We've digested out feasts from earlier this week, and with Thanksgiving out of the way, now is when the football season really begins for those teams eyeing a postseason run.
Two of those teams will square off Sunday night in what could be the game of the season, as the 10-0 Patriots visit the 8-2 Denver Broncos.
No, we won't get the Peyton Manning vs. Bill Belichick & Tom Brady storyline that we've enjoyed for the last 14 years, but this game will pit one of the NFL's best offenses against one of the league's best defenses. Going against the Broncos' D will be New England's biggest challenge of the season. Without Manning, the Patriots' defense (also one of the best units in the NFL) will go against quarterback Brock Osweiler, who is making just his second career start under center.
For the first time in a long time, this one will be about the defenses and not the two quarterbacks.
Even without Manning in the fold this has all the makings to be the game of the year, as Patriots-Broncos games usually do. Brady has struggled in the Mile High city throughout his career, sporting a 2-5 record in Denver, and his offensive line will have their hands full with a dangerous Broncos pass rush. New England heads into the game as three-point favorites, but they'll have to be nearly perfect if they want to remain unbeaten on the season.
Here's what we'll be watching for when the Patriots and Broncos square off Sunday night.
Best Offense vs. Best Defense
Brady and Company are averaging 32.3 points per game, good for second in the NFL behind Arizona's 33.6 points per game average. The Broncos defense is giving up just 18.3 points per game, second to New England's 18.2 points per game average. But Denver isn't giving opposing offenses much to work with, letting up just 284.3 yards per game -- tops in the league.
Brady and Belichick have had worlds of success against Denver defensive coordinator Wade Philips, but it's not going to be easy to continue that Sunday night. It's unclear if Brady will have Danny Amendola, who has emerged as his go-to guy with Julian Edelman on the shelf. Without Edelman, teams have been able to key-in on Rob Gronkowski, who was held to just two catches last week against Buffalo. Gronk has seven catches on 14 targets over the last two weeks, and if Amendola (questionable for Sunday) is absent from this game, the Denver D can focus on the All-World tight end even more (and please, look out for T.J. Ward while you're at it, Gronk). It doesn't help that they have a pair of shutdown corners in Aqib Talib (who could be half of Denver's equation against Gronk) and Chris Harris Jr., who aren't going to make it easy for any of Brady's targets to get open.
If Amendola can't go, it may be best for the Patriots to let LeGarrette Blount carry the load in this one.
Can Patriots Protect Brady?
No. 12 took some very, very hard hits Monday night, and now has to face off against another fast and hard-hitting defense with one less day to recover.
The Bills only sacked Brady once on Monday night, but recorded 10 hits on the QB -- and that's just what made the stat sheet. New England's offensive line struggled throughout most of the game, and Brady spent most of his night on the ground because of it.
With Sebastian Vollmer and Marcus Cannon returning Monday night, the Patriots went back to their rotation of Brady protectors, using four different offensive line combinations. The combo of Cannon-Shaq Mason-Bryan Stork- Josh Kline-Vollmer got the most run, and will likely be the line that is tasked with stopping a Denver pass rush that has accumulated 34 sacks this season. While DeMarcus Ware won't play, we know that Von Miller is a beast who can get to Brady (he has four career sacks in five games against New England). Miller has been seeing a lot of double teams this season, but that just opens up holes for other guys to get after the quarterback.
Keeping the quarterback upright is always important, but Sunday night will be the offensive line's toughest challenge since the Dallas Cowboys sacked Brady five times back in Week 5.
Brock Star
The big downside to Manning not playing, aside from the guaranteed turnovers, is there will be no "Manning Face" Sunday night. He might be on the sidelines or up in a coaches box, but it won't be the same.
Instead, we settle for what Brock Osweiler has to offer.
We really don't know too much about the fourth-year QB, who was a 20-of-27 for 250 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Bears in his first start last week. One thing he didn't do was turn over the football, which Peyton was doing at an alarming pace until he went down with that pesky "foot injury." It was the first game all season the Broncos didn't hand over a gift to their opponents.
The Patriots have limited the points scored against them but they've been prone to aerial attacks this season, allowing 252.5 passing yards per game. Sunday night they'll have to deal with Demaryius Thomas and the return of Emmanuel Sanders in Osweiler's receiving corps. And if the New England secondary doesn't have their hands full with that duo, add in the dual tight end threat of Owen Daniels and Vernon Davis, who combined for 10 receptions and 137 yards against the Bears.
It will be a lot to ask Osweiler to beat a Bill Belichick defense, which will likely bring the pressure on the young QB, but he has some solid offensive targets to help his cause. If Gary Kubiak decides that screen passes and bootlegs from his 6-foot-8 quarterback isn't the way to beat the Patriots, he could turn the keys over to his duo of running backs in C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman.
Mile High Mayhem
There is just something about Patriots-Broncos games that brings out some wackiness. You really never know what can happen when these two teams square off.
There was Ben Watson sprinting after Champ Bailey in the 2006 postseason, with the tight end demolishing the corner at the one-yard line after he nearly pick-sixed Brady (I'll go to the grave thinking that should have been a touchback, but I digress). And we'll never forget Wes Welker taking out Talib in the 2013 AFC Championship, which led to some rare soundbites from Belichick.
Want some more wackiness? In Belichick's first two wins at Denver (in 2000 and 2003), he took intentional safeties in the second half of each game to help secure a New England win.
And while it happened in a game in Foxboro, don't forget about Gronk's amazing one-handed catch against Denver last season.
Get ready for something wild to happen Sunday night. Let's just hope it has nothing to do with inadvertent whistles.
Tune in to Patriots-Broncos on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage begins at 5:30pm, with three hours of postgame coverage following the game. WBZ-TV kicks off their coverage at 11:30am on Sunday with Patriots GameDay, and following the game catch Bill Belichick and Tom Brady's postgame press conferences on Patriots 5th Quarter!
