Patriots move to 2-12 history at Mile High
Bill Belichick disciples everywhere are wondering why they couldn't be the beloved protegee of the coaching legend. Of all the coaches that have developed under the tutelage of Coach Bill Belichick none have been looked at with higher regard by Belichick himself than Josh McDaneils.
In a day and age where the media has created an exorbitant amount of scrutiny around Belichicks post game handshake it was no surprise to see these two friends simply acknowledge one another with a wave after the game. In typical Belichick fashion him and Josh McDaniels were a step ahead of everyone. Before the game the two acknowledged one another and decided they wouldn't meet at mid field after the game.
Similar to the past, both Belichick and McDaniels' spoke in a office after the game. The only difference was this time the two were on opposite sides. After the meeting with Belichick, McDaniels was seen at the Pat's team bus talking with Tom Brady.
Eric Mangini's probably wondering how he fell out of grace so quickly......wait now I remember.
Let's look at the Keys to the Game and see where the Pat's faltered.
Take care of the football on offense. The Patriot's weren't terrible in this aspect of the game only surrendering one turnover on a forced fumble by Vonnie Holiday on Tom Brady. Other than this hiccup the Pat's took care of the ball well. What ended up hurting them the most was going 5-14 on third down.
Make Elvis Dumervil a non-factor. This has been a real strength as of late. The big men up front have only surrendered 5 sacks this entire season. Even better is they've done it against tough squads like the Jets, Falcons, Ravens and Broncos. People have knocked these guys for getting old but they remain one of the most serviceable units in the entire NFL.
Stop the Run. While rookie first-round pick Knowshon Moreno's line may not look spectacular (21 carries for 88 yards) he routinely gashed the Pat's D with key first downs through the air and ground. The Broncos didn't dominate us in the running game but they forced us to respect it and in doing so we became susceptible to leaving Brandon Marshall one-on-one on the outside.
Force Kyle Orton to beat you. Let's give some credit where credit it due. The Broncos came out throwing a lot on first down and Orton was making good reads and throwing with accuracy. Josh McDaniels has proven why he values the system over the player. Now that Jay Cutler's ego is off the team, Brandon Marshall is happy, the Cutler trade that got them two first rounders and a 3rd isn't looking to bad.
Take away #15. In the end, this is what really hurt the Patriots. In our Patriots Preview we mentioned "the Broncos will look to exploit the scenarios Belichick leaves Marshall one-on-one on the outside." That was the case in both of Brandon Marshall's touchdowns. He beat both our starting corners Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs in one-one-one match-ups in the redzone.
All in all the Patriots didn't get it done Sunday. Although they only had one turnover, key penalties, and poor play on third down really hurt the Pats. It's exactly like Coach Belichick said in his postgame conference, most NFL games come down to a few plays and this time it just didn't go in the Pats favor.
McDaniels beat Belichick this time around but I have a feeling these teams will meet again in what should become an even better rivalry.
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