The Denver Broncos aren’t strangers to being underdogs. In fact, like their quarterback have seemed not only to relish in the role, but thrive in it. Their mission gets no easier this Saturday when they walk into Foxboro to take on the #1 seeded New England Patriots and one of the best quarterbacks of all time Tom Brady. The game will be seen all over the country in Prime Time.
A stage set for two of the NFL’s most popular players; One for his resume of huge wins and outstanding play, one who has become almost a cult leader with his devoted followers. I find it comical that a guy who has had no significant success is seemingly a larger story then his opponent who has cemented himself already as one of the 5 best at his position of all time. I put the Belichick/Brady coach quarterback tandem right up there with Montana/Walsh and Bradshaw/Noll as the three best of all time.
But this is not the Patriots of the past few years ? Or is it ? ( I’ll come back to that ) In fact when breaking down the Pats even if they get by Denver Saturday they will have made it to the AFC Championship without beating a team with a winning record ( If Denver looses they will finish 9-9 as well ) The Pats on paper according to many analyst have one of the worst defenses in the NFL.
The Broncos will not completely stop the Pats offense, but they will certainly hope to slow them down. Denver’s offense features a running game led by Willis McGahee. McGahee was tied for the NFL lead this year with 7 100 yard games. He was well on his well to his 8th when he suffered a game ending injury the first time these two teams met back in December; A game that the Pats easily handled the Broncos in Denver.
It will also be interesting to see if the Tebow/Thomas connection remains as effective as they were against a very stingy Pittsburgh Steelers Defense. In that game Tebow threw for a career high 316 yards on just 10 completions and Thomas caught a career best 204 receiving yards on just 4 receptions. The week before Tebow struggled mightily passing for only 60 yards on 6/22 passing. So many are asking which Tebow will show up ? My quick response, who cares ?
Has their ever been a more over hyped over rated player in the history of all sports ? It seems like we cheer his minor successes as we would Forrest Gump or Corky from the show “Life goes On” I mean the guy is a professional football player isn’t he ? Throwing a ten yard out route is not exactly a miracle ? Or is it with his limited skill set ? I am starting to see the reason for the cheering every time he doesn’t make a colossal mistake. Either way his work will be cut out for him as his team faces an offense that Is playoff tested and loves the bright lights.
Lets back track to that statement I said earlier about the Pats being the Pats of old. When I broke down the two teams I wasn’t shocked to see that there were differences in the two defenses. But is what those differences were that shocked me. Denver allowed 24.4 ppg during the regular season while the much maligned New England D allowed 21.4 Against the run Denver allowed a respectable 126 yards a game, New England 117 Much much different then one would have expected. On offense there was the separation I anticipated with New England averaging 32.1 PPG and Denver 19.2
As mentioned there were two approaches to this game the initial reaction on what I had seen all year vs. the prediction that I came up with after reviewing tape and examining and breaking down the numbers. This game was a bit closer then the first with the difference being in the total number of points.
Predictions:
First reaction New England 31 Denver 17 New England and under
After reviewing stats: New England 38 Denver 14 New England and over
Should be interesting to see how it all shakes out ……… It’s playoff football, is there anything better in all of sports ?
Please as the weather gets colder think of those less fortunate especially the animals out there who never asked to be put in that situation. Everyone who is reading this is fortunate enough to have a computer. That means you have 20 bucks to give to a local animal shelter. You have NO IDEA how far $20.00 goes Please give and save lives. Anyone who does please reach out and I will get you a mention on Gcobb.com .. Always remember how fortunate you are.. You cant imagine what its like not to have a roof over your head or a warm meal.. Thanks….
Tebow is better then Vick. Plus, saying he is overrated when everyone says he sucks is exactly why he has become so popular. My point is Denver was on the way to the first pick in the draft before starting him. Take a step back and look how he changed that team
The Tebow madness ends this weekend!
Zunky, Respect your opinion. That’s why I love Garry Website because it brings out the intelligent dialogue. But as much as I respect your opinion and for personal reasons do not like Vick, I disagree with you he is no t better them Mike Vick. Tebow has been a great story I will not deny that, but if I gave you a list of th eother starting qb’s and even a few back ups I think if you are honest he would be near th ebottom. I mean who would you really rather have Matt Flynn or Tim Tebow ?
Paulman’s Prediction
Patriots – 31 Bronco’s – 19
Also calling for GB Packer Back-up QB to sign a Free-Agent Deal with the Oakland Raiders to become their Future Starter.. Raiders new GM McKenzie is from the Packer Organization as well as their next new HC (Winston Moss will be named after the Packers playoff season) and are very familiar with Flynn
LMAO…who the *bleep* is this dumbass?
Zukny? go back to whatever whole you crawled from and continue smoking your pipe….
Zukny is my cousin. Needed to get him in here to pump up the fans anti-Vick sentiment. Gotta make sure 2011/2012 is the last season with that disaster at the helm.
As for who is better Vick or Tebow. How can you make a direct comparison at this point? One guy is 10 years in and the other is 10 games in.
The only thing that can be done is speculate. I speculate that I’ve seen the best of Vick, and its not good enough. I speculate that I have not seen the best of Tebow and am not sure if he’s good enough or not.
I suspect that Tebow’s “success” will tail off a bit as more teams watch film on what he does and how the Denver O runs. (Just like what happened with Vick after his 4 game initial suprise return last year – few games of film and that was the end of that)…will that happen with Tebow?….probably, but who knows? We’ll have to see him next year.
The only thing to possibly compare is to look their early careers.
The two players are practically identical:
Tebow year 1: 41 of 82 for 654 5 tds and 3 ints
Vick Year 1: 50 of 113 for 785 2 tds and 3 ints
Tebow year 2: 126 of 271 for 1730 12 tds and 6 ints (in 10 games)
Vick Year 2: 231 of 421 for 2936 16 tds and 8 ints (in 16 games)
Rushing pretty close too
Tebow year 1: 43 for 227 and 6 tds
Vick year 1: 31 for 289 and 1 td
Tebow 2nd year 122 for 660 and 6 tds (10 games)
Vick 2nd year 113 for 777 and 8 tds (16 games)
So at this point the two were just about exactly the same on the field….off the field, perhaps not so much………
The only difference is that VIck pretty much leveled off (same the 4 games) for the rest of the year….it remeains to be seen whether or not Tebow will do the same, though my suspicion is that he will.
The last line was supposed to read:
The only difference is that Vick pretty much leveled off (save the 4 games) for the rest of his career….it remains to be seen whether or not Tebow will do the same, though my suspecion is that he will…..
Broncos will keep it close early by running the ball 90% of the time….keeping Brady and the offense off the field….however, turnovers and big plays by the NE offense will put the Pats well ahead….final score Denver 10, Patriots 24