New England Patriots’ Defense Shocks Everyone

Going into the playoff matchup between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, all eyes were on, surprise, Tim Tebow. Despite less-than-stellar numbers more often than not, Tebow showcased (yet again) that the Broncos unorthodox style still had some life in it. In defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, everyone —including all of Tebow's detractors—were wondering how far this unlikely run would take Denver. I suppose it was only fitting that Tebow would have to go through the Patriots to move ahead. Unfortunately for Denver, the Patriots were ready. Looking at the final score, it's easy to say the Patriots dominated this game. And yes, they entirely did. However, the stat sheet doesn't tell the whole story. While Denver looked terrible all game, I don't know how much I should pin on them for the disaster. I think the Patriots would have beaten anyone the way they played this game. The dangerous thing about the whole scenario is that the Patriots look entirely capable of making a run. Their defense has been much maligned this season, and was a major concern going against the option-happy Broncos offense. I don't know if someone flipped a switch, the Broncos were that bad, or New England just got lucky, but the New England defense put on an unbelievable performance. When you see the gaudy 45-10 score, it's easy to point to Tom Brady's six touchdowns and the beautiful flow of the offense. While the offense entirely deserves this credit, we've seen Brady light up the scoreboard too many times to count. What we haven't seen is a dominant New England defense. Denver couldn't do anything. Combined with falling behind early, Denver couldn't effectively run their option. The Patriots seemed in on every huddle. At my last count, they Patriot defense had something like 14 tackles for loss. That is an absurd number. I don't know what kind of player Tim Tebow will develop into as his career progresses, but he deserves a certain amount of credit for helping spark the run that he did. He just ran into the best quarterback of this generation and had no answer. Brian is a lifelong football fan, specifically of the Chicago Bears, having lived in Illinois his entire life and having followed the NFL throughout.