What to Watch For: Patriots at Broncos
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
What to Watch For: Patriots at Broncos
See What to Watch For in the Slideshow Below
However, the Patriots have lost six of their last seven games in Denver, including two games last season.
“They're good. I would say that's the biggest thing. I mean, every time we go there, we're playing against a good football team. Defensively, there's no noise, but their crowd is into the game. There might be 15 Patriot fans in the whole stadium. I mean everyone is there for Denver,” said Patriots safety Devin McCourty in his press conference earlier this week.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThis year’s Broncos team enters the game having lost three of their last five games and with a record of 8-5, their chances of winning the AFC West are slim. Denver is currently holding on to a wildcard spot by virtue of having tiebreakers over Miami.
A Patriots win would not only win the AFC East, but also push the Broncos closer to missing the playoffs a year after winning the Super Bowl.
Kick-off is set for 4:25 p.m.
See What to Watch For in the Slideshow Below
What to Watch For: Patriots at Broncos
Michael Floyd
On Thursday the New England Patriots signed former Cardinals receiver Michael Floyd off of waivers and released Griff Whalen. Floyd did make the trip to Denver with the team.
He was released by Arizona on Monday after being arrested on charges of driving under the influence and failure to obey a police officer.
"We're aware of the situation that came up earlier in the week. We'll let that legal situation play itself out, but really we'll just see how it goes," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in his press conference on Friday.
Floyd has 33 catches for 446 yards and four touchdowns so far this season.
LeGarrette Blount
Blount is one rushing touchdown away from breaking Curtis Martin's Patriots record of 14 rushing touchdowns in a season.
He will also be critical in neutralizing the crowd noise and the Broncos pass rush. Remember Blount did not play in last year's AFC Championship game and the Patriots did nothing on the ground.
While the Broncos defense is scary, they have struggled against the run over the last few games. In the last two weeks, the Broncos have given up 334 yards rushing and allowed 218 yards rushing to Oakland four games ago.
Punt Returns
Cyrus Jones had another punt returning disaster in last week's game against Baltimore that ended up leading to a Baltimore touchdown.
It is hard to imagine Jones getting yet another chance at a punt return this week.
Look for Julian Edelman to handle the majority of the punt returning duties with Patrick Chung back there as well.
Patriots Defense
Can the Patriots defense duplicate what they did last week against Baltimore?
The Broncos offense has struggled this year, only putting up 10 points last week in a loss to Tennessee. Without CJ Anderson, they have no running game, having only averaged 3.7 yards per carry over the last six weeks. They had two yards per carry against Tennessee.
This means that it is all about first-year quarterback Trevor Siemian and his two weapons Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas.
"It's a lot easier when you only have to worry about one guy, but when you have two guys like that it definitely puts a lot of stress on the defense," said Belichick.
Expect Malcolm Butler to get Sanders while Thomas will see a combination of Logan Ryan and linebacker Dont'a Hightower in coverage.
Offensive line
After having success last week against Baltimore, the offensive line faces a big challenge this week.
In last year's AFC Championship game, the Broncos were able to get 23 hits on Tom Brady, completely dismantling the offensive line.
This season, Von Miller, Demarcus Ware, Shane Ray and Derek Wolfe have combined for a total of 29 sacks.
"This is a great defense, a lot of outstanding players at all three levels. They do a good job of taking the ball away. Turnovers - they've capitalized on those turnovers and turned them into more points than anybody else in the league, so ball security and decision making will be really important for us there," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
With the crowd noise, expect the Patriots to work on a silent count and look for quick passes to Dion Lewis or James White to neutralize the Broncos rush.
