Patriots @ Broncos Sunday Night Football 11/29/2015

[BigKen]

Broncos are a bit dinged up, the Patriots are a lot dinged up but a few bodies appear to be healing. Looks like Jamie Collins will be back to help patrol the 7-10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. I think the defense will be fine.

The offense is the biggest question. I trust Brady to carry a huge part of the load but I'm worried that he won't the relief valve of Edelman or Amendola to get those open short passes the often result in a first down. Harper has to step up and do the dirty work. Bill will have to make a decision to add an outsider or go with what he has. The offensive line has to really crank it up a notch because Denver's defense isn't just fast, they come to play.

 

[ohiopatsfan]

Broncos are the #1 defense in the NFL right now. Dobson and Amendola are definitely out. Hopefully, Wright's hamstring injury is healed to the point that he can play. If not, BB will almost certainly need to sign another receiver. Don't even want to think about trying to put Slater out there.

 

[BigKen]

Amendola has been declared as out for Sunday night.

The entire corps of wide receivers is Brandon LaFell, Chris Harper, Keeshawn Martin and Matthew Slater.

$100 says Slater has a freak game and gets the game ball.

 

[cdumler7]

Hey Pats fans just wanted to say thanks for keeping things civil this week. Always enjoy reading on here as you guys have some great posters who actually know football. As for the game this one is such an unknown. Obviously Patriots pretty beat up on the offensive side of the ball but for the Broncos they have such an unknown at the QB position. Really could go either way.

Now I will say BigKen while I do think the Patriots are a little more beat up than the Broncos I do think the Broncos are pretty beat up right now as well. More so than your first post let on. I mean we are on our 3rd string LT, 2nd string QB, missing 2 of our 3 actual team captains with Manning and Ware out. There are more than that but those are the key ones. I would say the lack of leadership on the field for the Broncos kind of balances things out a bit. Anyway hopefully both teams can stay healthy through this one and we can see a great defensive battle with 2 of the better defenses in the NFL playing on that field.

 

[redseat]

Martin is healthy and will be playing?

 

[redseat]

Hey Pats fans just wanted to say thanks for keeping things civil this week. Always enjoy reading on here as you guys have some great posters who actually know football. As for the game this one is such an unknown. Obviously Patriots pretty beat up on the offensive side of the ball but for the Broncos they have such an unknown at the QB position. Really could go either way.

Now I will say BigKen while I do think the Patriots are a little more beat up than the Broncos I do think the Broncos are pretty beat up right now as well. More so than your first post let on. I mean we are on our 3rd string LT, 2nd string QB, missing 2 of our 3 actual team captains with Manning and Ware out. There are more than that but those are the key ones. I would say the lack of leadership on the field for the Broncos kind of balances things out a bit. Anyway hopefully both teams can stay healthy through this one and we can see a great defensive battle with 2 of the better defenses in the NFL playing on that field.

Did not know that... Thought it pretty much was just Ware. Osh probably will be fine with the offense and the Broncos defense will be ready and will triple team Gronk because they really don't have to worry about the receiving core of the Patriots imo, except for Gronk that is

 

[cdumler7]

Did not know that... Thought it pretty much was just Ware. Osh probably will be fine with the offense and the Broncos defense will be ready and will triple team Gronk because they really don't have to worry about the receiving core of the Patriots imo, except for Gronk that is

The Wildcard to me is the underrated Pats defense. I think they showed this past Monday that even when the offense is having a very off night the team can still win. I think this game stays close and well I do think when it comes to close games usually coaching makes the biggest difference and I don't think anybody would argue the Pats always have the best coach on the field every week. I do think the Broncos stand a very good chance in this one but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Broncos lose.

Yeah the Broncos are actually pretty banged up. OL wise we never know week to week who is starting. Our best OL player didn't even practice hardly this week in Evan Mathis. He is a game time decision and even if he plays how effective will he be? We have others at the Center and RT position that have only started a handful of games. Then you throw in a QB making his 2nd start behind that OL against a great defense and it could be a recipe for disaster. I'm hoping that is not the case and Oz can look like he did last week and maybe even just a hair better but it wouldn't surprise me to see him have a really bad game either. Defensively we have had 3 of our DL guys on the injury list for the past few weeks with some of them missing some game time. Our linebacker core is pretty much intact other than Ware. In the secondary they have for the most part been very healthy. So really it is the DL that has me a bit worried to see how healthy they are for this one.

All in all we had 11 guys on the injury report from Friday with 8 of them being starters.

 

[redseat]

I was assuming this would be a defensive battle anyway but I really think it could easily come down to the final play where either sides defense has to step up to win the game.

 

[TxHeat]

Time to lean heavily on the defense. Which they should be able to do. 11-0!!

 

[Rex Racer]

I'm not psyched to stay up until midnight to finish this game, but I will do it. Should be a good test for New England with the Broncos' fans whoopin it up and their D looking to cause mayhem.

I guess we'll get to see the quality of the depth BB has stocked his roster with

 

[ohiopatsfan]

With Hightower down and the offense severely depleted, this could be the night the perfect season comes to an end. Probably a good thing overall, but will the Pats have enough functioning bodies to finish out the season and go deep into the playoffs? A return to the Super Bowl is looking more like dream than a reality right now. If they do somehow go all the way, BB should win the coach of the year by a unanimous vote. Heck, they should put him in the Hall Of Fame right now.

 

[TP76]

House of horrors complete with hometown refs. No way a depleted team could overcome both. Hope Gronk is ok, because without him, this team is going nowhere.

 

[BigKen]

Broncos played a good game, but they had a shitload of help from the officials. Calls were not even across the board. At the end, the holding call on Chung was pure bullshit.

The Pats tying the game to send it into overtime was pure Bradyism. The play that the Broncos ran to win it was genius. Pats were expecting a pass and Anderson got outside the containment and broke a tackle to make an outstanding run.

Again, another nobody (Stewart) takes out Gronkowski's knee on hit when he didn't even have the ball. Personally, I've said this before, those low hits on receivers are cheap shots.

 

[Duffman]

Again, another nobody (Stewart) takes out Gronkowski's knee on hit when he didn't even have the ball. Personally, I've said this before, those low hits on receivers are cheap shots.

Did you even watch the Gronk play? Stewart doesn't know if Gronk caught the ball or not he's just going for a tackle. And also you have to tackle Gronk low because if you go high it's either a personal foul or he shrugs it off.

Gronk is the only player I like on your team but there was nothing cheap or dirty about it.

 

[Orange Crush77]

Broncos played a good game, but they had a shitload of help from the officials. Calls were not even across the board. At the end, the holding call on Chung was pure bullshit.

The Pats tying the game to send it into overtime was pure Bradyism. The play that the Broncos ran to win it was genius. Pats were expecting a pass and Anderson got outside the containment and broke a tackle to make an outstanding run.

Again, another nobody (Stewart) takes out Gronkowski's knee on hit when he didn't even have the ball. Personally, I've said this before, those low hits on receivers are cheap shots.

That nobody is our starting Safety, and there was nothing cheap about that hit. It was an unfortunate injury and I hope it's nothing serious

 

[cdumler7]

Broncos played a good game, but they had a shitload of help from the officials. Calls were not even across the board. At the end, the holding call on Chung was pure bullshit.

The Pats tying the game to send it into overtime was pure Bradyism. The play that the Broncos ran to win it was genius. Pats were expecting a pass and Anderson got outside the containment and broke a tackle to make an outstanding run.

Again, another nobody (Stewart) takes out Gronkowski's knee on hit when he didn't even have the ball. Personally, I've said this before, those low hits on receivers are cheap shots.

Did you listen to Brady after the game? He said that the rules of the NFL have made it where defensive players have to go low like that. He said that is just where the game has gone and he doesn't consider those type of hits dirty at all. Throw in when you have a guy of Gronks size compared to a guy like Stewart of course they are going to go lower because they get trucked by the offensive player if they go high. I was a smaller player compared to those around me for playing on the DL in high school and I remember our coaches telling us all the time against bigger RB's especially to go low to make the tackle. It was our best chance to actually get them on the ground. It wasn't meant to injure them in any way but it was meant to make the play.

 

[PatsFan2003]

That nobody is our starting Safety, and there was nothing cheap about that hit. It was an unfortunate injury and I hope it's nothing serious

I don't think it was a cheap shot as much as him throwing his body into the play.The last report had Gronk walking to the bus under his power without much fanfare so lets hope. i.e. its not because the tendon is completly detached.

 

[Yankee Traveler]

Did you even watch the Gronk play? Stewart doesn't know if Gronk caught the ball or not he's just going for a tackle. And also you have to tackle Gronk low because if you go high it's either a personal foul or he shrugs it off.

Gronk is the only player I like on your team but there was nothing cheap or dirty about it.

Going low is cheap and dirty know matter the play or the player or the team.
Most receivers will say they would rather bhave the defender go high than low.

 

[redseat]

All I know is that was a terrible holding call on Chung. If anything that should have been offensive pi (IF ANYTHING....) to me that's a no call, period. Besides Os was sacked before the call even happened. Such crap

 

[cdumler7]

Going low is cheap and dirty know matter the play or the player or the team.
Most receivers will say they would rather bhave the defender go high than low.

The Broncos are the most fined team in football right now. Coaches have been emphasizing staying away from the upper body as it has lead to a ton of penalties for illegal hits. So it is go low and have a legal hit and not be fined or go high and get fined plus have a crucial penalty. This to me is a league issue not a is this play dirty issue.