New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos – NFL Preview
The New England Patriots, the top team of the American Football Conference (AFC) seed, gets ready to face the Denver Broncos in a game that would definitely be the most watched one this weekend.
The Tom Brady and Tim Tebow encounter will most likely generate the greatest media hype this time around.
The Patriots have a 13-3 record to boast as they get ready to drive a home field advantage.
Not having won a playoff game since 2007, they are eyeing the current opportunity with quite desperation.
New England's quarterback, Tom Brady has been at his best this season, throwing for his career best 5,235 yards.
When he last played for the Broncos, he threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns that helped the Patriots engineer a lead over the Broncos.
Brady can sure make a repeat of his performance and outsmart Tebow, as he has 39 touchdowns this season to his credit and his performance in the last game against the Buffalo Bills was impressive, coming forward with 338 yards and three touchdowns.
Brady no doubt is a better quarterback than Tebow and can prove this to be the case this weekend.
The performance of Tim Tebow apart from the last game has seen a slump in recent weeks.
Tebow came up with four interceptions against the Buffalo Bills of which two went for touchdowns while he completed less than 50 percent of the passes.
The next game against the Kansas City Chiefs saw Tebow failing in performance again.
Though Tebow recovered in the next game, yet whether he will be able to deliver again this weekend is yet to be seen.
The Patriots need to try and stop Tebow in both the running and passing game, which was something that the Pittsburgh Steelers were unable to do and ended up costing them the game.
The reason why the Patriots were able to get away 41-23 when they met the Broncos earlier in the season was that they were able to contain the Broncos and their superstar QB, Tim Tebow, from running.
At this stage, a 3-4 formation would better suit them than a 4-3 formation.
In the last game, when the Patriots had a 4-3 formation in the first half, the Broncos were able to run around, with not just Tebow, but also running backs, Willis McGahee and Lance Ball, doing the action.
However, when Patriots’ coach, Bill Belichick, changed it to 3-4, Broncos' running was well contained.
The Patriots would need to avoid the mistake Steelers made and keep a close eye on Demaryius Thomas and Eddie Royal, posing the biggest threat in the absence of Eric Decker.
Decker has been the leading receiver for the Broncos this season and his absence will put the pressure on Thomas who was impressive against the Steelers, managing 204 yards on four catches.
What is worrying for the Patriots is that they possess one of the worst pass defending line-up in the League.
It has proved to be the worst in the AFC and that turns out to be the biggest weakness that the Broncos are relying on.
Taking big strides in the passing game is exactly what has been helping the Broncos in winning all along, especially in the last game, and the Patriots need to be careful with that.
The positive note for the Patriots is that they recently hired former St. Louis Rams' offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, who has had a long working relationship with the Patriots, and Brady has also remained the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 2009,
helping Tebow get into the team.
McDaniel’s knowledge of Broncos' players, and particularly Tebow, may turn out to be a helping factor for the Patriots.
Brady had already announced his intention of capitalising as much as he could from McDaniel’s knowledge.
However, Broncos’ coach, Kohn Fox, has played down the threat that McDaniels poses, stating that both the teams have undergone lots of changes and therefore the Patriots do not have much to gain from him.
Having the Patriots take advantage of the Broncos through hiring an assistant who knows them around seems suspicious and a bit odd but there are no regulations against such hiring.
That point was cleared By the NFL spokesman.
“There is no league prohibition on the acquisition of players or coaches who have no contractual obligations elsewhere. Our tampering rules prohibit interfering with an employee under contract to a team”, NFL spokesman, Greg Aiello, said.
New England are the favourites this weekend as far as the game is concerned, making the contest even more exciting.
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