Monday Re-Watch - Denver
Every Monday, win, lose or draw, I go back and take a second look at the game. I do my best to separate the passions of Sunday from the retrospect of Monday. In taking a second look, I've got to give most of the credit for this win to the Defense. At first glance, I wasn't incredibly impressed with the Defense. However, if I was told before the game that the Defense would hold Manning's Broncos to 21 points I would have been happy with the result. In fact, I said that 3 TDs / 1 INT would give The Pats a great chance to win. Instead of an INT, Ninkovich had a strip sack, which is just as good.
Really, the Defense did everything I could have asked of them. There were a few breakdowns in deep pass coverage, but they held The Broncos to 70 yards rushing (14 carries for 51 yards by McGahee). Moreover, The Broncos could not run the ball when they needed it. The majority of Denver's rushing yards came in big chunks (but on stalled drives). The Broncos abandoned the run when they fell behind, making Manning's attack one dimensional.
The Patriots pass Defense was spotty at best. McCourty's P.I. penalty made for an easy TD from the 1 yard line. Also, McCourty got beat deep by Demaryius Thomas on 4th and 1 late in the game. McCourty will continue to be a jump-ball/back-shoulder target if he doesn't get his head around. Sterling Moore just wasn't fast enough to keep up with Thomas, and he got beat on verticals twice (luckily forcing a fumble on one of them). The coaches' decision to insert Alfonzo Dennard worked out well, and he came up with two big passes defended.
Despite an up and down performance, the Defense executed the game plan to a T. Demaryius Thomas got most of the production because The Patriots LBs and Ss did a good job defending the middle of the field. A few times Tavon Wilson bit down on the inside routes, and Manning beat him deep, but Wilson clearly prioritized the inside route runners. Wilson played a nice game, but it was not without misreads and pitfalls. I will take a closer look at Tavon's performance later in the week.
All in all, The Defense only gave up 21 points, and that's a win against Peyton Manning. They forced 3 turnovers to help their cause, but the most impressive feat was their ability to make Denver one-dimensional.
Offensively, there is a lot to love. Still, there were quite a few missed opportunities and there are things to improve all around. The late fumble by Ridley was the lowlight of the day, but Ridley's running was probably the highlight. Ridley not only looked explosive, he turned a lot no-gainers into 4 yards. Credit goes to the guys up front for executing their blocks, but Ridley benefitted more from the overall tempo of the Offense. Brady kept the Defense off-balance, which made it easy for Ridley and Bolden and Woodhead.
Danny Woodhead may have made the two biggest plays of the game with his 3rd and 14 conversion on a catch and run, and his 3rd and 17 conversion on a sprint draw. The Patriots managed to convert quite a few 3rd and longs on the day. I am remembering a beautiful play to Deion Branch, and another nice pitch and catch with Brandon Lloyd. The Patriots won this game with their ability to sustain drives, even when confronted with improbable 3rd down yardage. Also, Wes Welker was phenomenal, catching 13 balls on 15 targets.
It was strange to see Belichick opt to go for it on 4th and 5, and it certainly did not make him look smart when The Patriots lost 20 yards on a sack-fumble. I would have punted or tried a long (55+) FG, but I think Bill was using the old 4th and 2 logic. A first down there takes another 2 minutes off the clock, and probably results in at least 3 points. A first down would have won the game, but instead a loss of 20 gave Manning a short field, leading to 7 points. I suppose this decision did not hurt, but it kept Denver in it.
Obviously there were many things that could have been better on Sunday, but I lack the time and energy to get into all of them in this article. Instead, I'd like to see how The Patriots performed in the 5 keys to victory that I set for them heading into this game: well, 4 out of 5 ain't bad.
1. Win Turnover Battle - The Patriots certainly won the turnover battle, forcing 3 fumbles by The Denver Offense. Brady and Ridley fumbled the ball in critical moments, both leading to turnovers (Brady on downs, Ridley lost fumble). Nevertheless, The Pats were +2 on the stat sheet. All three forced fumbles were good plays by Patriot defenders to knock the ball free. Sterling Moore's poke on The Demaryius Thomas fumble was a huge play in deciding the outcome because it sapped Denver's momentum, and squandered a promising opening drive. Also, Rob Ninkovich was a beast in this game, forcing McGahee's late fumble with a perfect shot to the ball with a powerful fist. Likewise, Ninkovich's strip sack of Manning came on the next play after a Patriots TD, and the turnover led to 7 more points.
2. Force FGs in the Red Zone - Although The Patriots did not force any FGs in the red zone, both Thomas' and McGahee's fumbles came inside the 20. However, on Denver's three TD drives, The Patriots did not do very well to hold Manning. Stokley's TD was too easy after Arrington got caught looking in the backfield. Also, McCourty's P.I. put Manning too close for comfort. The Patriots still need to improve in the red zone, and the game could have been even more decisive with a bit of improvement in forcing FGs.
3. Run The Ball - Obviously they did this, going over 200 yards on the ground for the second straight week. Ridley's 28 carries show that he is capable of handling a heavy workload, but his late fumble resurfaces last year's ball-security concerns. Overall though, the running game got nice contributions from all 4 RBs: Ridley 151 yards, TD, Bolden 54 yards, Woodhead 47 yards, Vereen 1 yard TD. Also, its worth noting that Ridley was split out wide more often than he was in past weeks. Its seems as if Ridley and Bolden continue to progress, and expand their roles week to week. Shout out to the O-line for giving an exhaustive effort in a fast-paced no-huddle that played 94 snaps. Marathon effort by the big guys.
4. Defensive Disguise - Having only seen the broadcast angles, its hard to speak liberally on the Defensive disguises employed by Belichick, but a few things did stand out. Chandler Jones was utilized a bit more in coverage this week, and he also rushed the passer effectively from his two point stance. Ninkovich did similar things on the other side, but we are used to seeing Nink as a hybrid, so its good to know that Jones has some of the same versatility. Also, another thing that stood out was the use of Ras-I Dowling as a "money" LB/S. Usually, it is Tavon Wilson in this role, but he started at Safety for the injured Gregory. Dowling is the Patriots biggest CB, and seems to matchup on TEs better than the smaller Sterling Moore or Alfonzo Dennard. Also, The Patriots disguised and executed 5-man pressures quite a few times, but other than that, I would need to look at the all-22 tape to see the full story. Overall though, the Defense had a lot of success against Manning.
5. Convert on 3rd Down - The Pats set a team record for total first downs with 35, but only faced 17 third down situations. The no-huddle Offense runs smoothly when Brady and company can move the chains with only 2 downs, and 18 of the 35 first downs came on either 1st or 2nd down. However, The Patriots did manage to get themselves into some impossible-looking 3rd downs. Nevertheless, Brady made accurate throws to pick up the conversions. Most impressive was Danny Woodhead picking up a 3rd and 17 on the ground, which extended a TD drive. All told, The Patriots were 11/17 (65%) on third down. That kind of efficiency will win you a lot of games.
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| Round 13 goes to Brady and The Patriots |
Really, the Defense did everything I could have asked of them. There were a few breakdowns in deep pass coverage, but they held The Broncos to 70 yards rushing (14 carries for 51 yards by McGahee). Moreover, The Broncos could not run the ball when they needed it. The majority of Denver's rushing yards came in big chunks (but on stalled drives). The Broncos abandoned the run when they fell behind, making Manning's attack one dimensional.
The Patriots pass Defense was spotty at best. McCourty's P.I. penalty made for an easy TD from the 1 yard line. Also, McCourty got beat deep by Demaryius Thomas on 4th and 1 late in the game. McCourty will continue to be a jump-ball/back-shoulder target if he doesn't get his head around. Sterling Moore just wasn't fast enough to keep up with Thomas, and he got beat on verticals twice (luckily forcing a fumble on one of them). The coaches' decision to insert Alfonzo Dennard worked out well, and he came up with two big passes defended.
Despite an up and down performance, the Defense executed the game plan to a T. Demaryius Thomas got most of the production because The Patriots LBs and Ss did a good job defending the middle of the field. A few times Tavon Wilson bit down on the inside routes, and Manning beat him deep, but Wilson clearly prioritized the inside route runners. Wilson played a nice game, but it was not without misreads and pitfalls. I will take a closer look at Tavon's performance later in the week.
All in all, The Defense only gave up 21 points, and that's a win against Peyton Manning. They forced 3 turnovers to help their cause, but the most impressive feat was their ability to make Denver one-dimensional.
Offensively, there is a lot to love. Still, there were quite a few missed opportunities and there are things to improve all around. The late fumble by Ridley was the lowlight of the day, but Ridley's running was probably the highlight. Ridley not only looked explosive, he turned a lot no-gainers into 4 yards. Credit goes to the guys up front for executing their blocks, but Ridley benefitted more from the overall tempo of the Offense. Brady kept the Defense off-balance, which made it easy for Ridley and Bolden and Woodhead.
Danny Woodhead may have made the two biggest plays of the game with his 3rd and 14 conversion on a catch and run, and his 3rd and 17 conversion on a sprint draw. The Patriots managed to convert quite a few 3rd and longs on the day. I am remembering a beautiful play to Deion Branch, and another nice pitch and catch with Brandon Lloyd. The Patriots won this game with their ability to sustain drives, even when confronted with improbable 3rd down yardage. Also, Wes Welker was phenomenal, catching 13 balls on 15 targets.
It was strange to see Belichick opt to go for it on 4th and 5, and it certainly did not make him look smart when The Patriots lost 20 yards on a sack-fumble. I would have punted or tried a long (55+) FG, but I think Bill was using the old 4th and 2 logic. A first down there takes another 2 minutes off the clock, and probably results in at least 3 points. A first down would have won the game, but instead a loss of 20 gave Manning a short field, leading to 7 points. I suppose this decision did not hurt, but it kept Denver in it.
Obviously there were many things that could have been better on Sunday, but I lack the time and energy to get into all of them in this article. Instead, I'd like to see how The Patriots performed in the 5 keys to victory that I set for them heading into this game: well, 4 out of 5 ain't bad.
1. Win Turnover Battle - The Patriots certainly won the turnover battle, forcing 3 fumbles by The Denver Offense. Brady and Ridley fumbled the ball in critical moments, both leading to turnovers (Brady on downs, Ridley lost fumble). Nevertheless, The Pats were +2 on the stat sheet. All three forced fumbles were good plays by Patriot defenders to knock the ball free. Sterling Moore's poke on The Demaryius Thomas fumble was a huge play in deciding the outcome because it sapped Denver's momentum, and squandered a promising opening drive. Also, Rob Ninkovich was a beast in this game, forcing McGahee's late fumble with a perfect shot to the ball with a powerful fist. Likewise, Ninkovich's strip sack of Manning came on the next play after a Patriots TD, and the turnover led to 7 more points.
2. Force FGs in the Red Zone - Although The Patriots did not force any FGs in the red zone, both Thomas' and McGahee's fumbles came inside the 20. However, on Denver's three TD drives, The Patriots did not do very well to hold Manning. Stokley's TD was too easy after Arrington got caught looking in the backfield. Also, McCourty's P.I. put Manning too close for comfort. The Patriots still need to improve in the red zone, and the game could have been even more decisive with a bit of improvement in forcing FGs.
3. Run The Ball - Obviously they did this, going over 200 yards on the ground for the second straight week. Ridley's 28 carries show that he is capable of handling a heavy workload, but his late fumble resurfaces last year's ball-security concerns. Overall though, the running game got nice contributions from all 4 RBs: Ridley 151 yards, TD, Bolden 54 yards, Woodhead 47 yards, Vereen 1 yard TD. Also, its worth noting that Ridley was split out wide more often than he was in past weeks. Its seems as if Ridley and Bolden continue to progress, and expand their roles week to week. Shout out to the O-line for giving an exhaustive effort in a fast-paced no-huddle that played 94 snaps. Marathon effort by the big guys.
4. Defensive Disguise - Having only seen the broadcast angles, its hard to speak liberally on the Defensive disguises employed by Belichick, but a few things did stand out. Chandler Jones was utilized a bit more in coverage this week, and he also rushed the passer effectively from his two point stance. Ninkovich did similar things on the other side, but we are used to seeing Nink as a hybrid, so its good to know that Jones has some of the same versatility. Also, another thing that stood out was the use of Ras-I Dowling as a "money" LB/S. Usually, it is Tavon Wilson in this role, but he started at Safety for the injured Gregory. Dowling is the Patriots biggest CB, and seems to matchup on TEs better than the smaller Sterling Moore or Alfonzo Dennard. Also, The Patriots disguised and executed 5-man pressures quite a few times, but other than that, I would need to look at the all-22 tape to see the full story. Overall though, the Defense had a lot of success against Manning.
5. Convert on 3rd Down - The Pats set a team record for total first downs with 35, but only faced 17 third down situations. The no-huddle Offense runs smoothly when Brady and company can move the chains with only 2 downs, and 18 of the 35 first downs came on either 1st or 2nd down. However, The Patriots did manage to get themselves into some impossible-looking 3rd downs. Nevertheless, Brady made accurate throws to pick up the conversions. Most impressive was Danny Woodhead picking up a 3rd and 17 on the ground, which extended a TD drive. All told, The Patriots were 11/17 (65%) on third down. That kind of efficiency will win you a lot of games.
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