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Snap Judgments: Patriots hold on to beat Peyton Manning and the Broncos 10.07.12 at 7:30 pm ET
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FOXBORO — The anticipated duel between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning never materialized Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium, as the New England defense held Manning in check through the early going while the Patriots offense built 31-7 lead and held on in the second half for the 31-21 win. Here are a few notes:

WHAT WENT RIGHT

• When it comes to slowing Manning, the game plan Sunday was the same as it was in 2003: keep him off the field. The Patriots executed that part of the game plan to perfection, as for the second consecutive week, the Patriots were able to run the ball consistently, grinding out the clock and controlling the tempo throughout the contest.

As a result, Manning spent large parts of the game cooling his heels on the sidelines as New England put together multiple scoring drives of 10-plus plays on the afternoon. (Between the 5-minute mark of the second quarter and the 5-minute mark of the third quarter, the Broncos ran six plays.) On the day, New England was 11 of 17 when it came to third-down conversions, and set a new franchise record with 35 first downs in the game.

• The Patriots got another impressive performance from their running game, as Stevan Ridley finished with 151 yards on the ground. (Sunday marked the first time since 1978 that the Patriots have had back to back 200-yard rushing games — they had 247 last week against the Bills.) Meanwhile, fellow backs Brandon Bolden (14 carries, 54 yards) and Danny Woodhead (7 carries, 47 yards) performed nicely in complementary roles.

• Again, with no Aaron Hernandez in the lineup, Brady and Wes Welker were in terrific sync throughout the afternoon. Welker — who was matched up on defensive back Chris Harris for much of the game — had nine catches in the first half alone, and ended up with 13 catches for 104 yards on the afternoon. The Patriots also got excellent performances in the passing game from Rob Gronkowski (4 catches, 35 yards) and Brandon Lloyd (3 catches, 34 yards). On the afternoon, Brady ended up 23 of 31 for 223 yards and one touchdown.

• Defensive star of the game? Let’s go with defensive end Rob Ninkovich, who has 10 tackles, three forced fumbles (two against the Broncos) and a pair of sacks (one Sunday against Denver) in his last two games. He talked after the win against Buffalo about stepping up and improving his game — he’s certainly done that the last two weeks.

WHAT WENT WRONG

• Even though it was fairly obvious for much of the afternoon the Broncos were all about passing the ball, there were a handful of occasions where the New England defensive backs struggled to contain Manning and the Denver receivers. Manning ended the day 31 of 44 for 345 yards and three touchdowns, with the bulk of the passes going to wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (9 catches, 188 yards).

• One guy who did struggle at times in coverage was cornerback Devin McCourty, who yielded a touchdown pass on a nifty catch by Eric Decker in the third quarter, was flagged for a pass interference call that set up Denver’s first touchdown of the game at the start of the second quarter and allowed a big fourth-quarter pass play to Thomas that got the Broncos into the New England red zone.

• At various times, the Patriots lost the services of several difference players, including McCourty, linebacker Tracy White and offensive linemen Logan Mankins and Sebastian Vollmer. None of the injuries appeared to be serious, but White and Mankins were among those who were unable to finish the game.

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  • HawaiianSox

    Ummm…Aceves’ 15 save don’t lead the American League…He’s fourth behind Perez, Rodney, and Johnson…

  • http://profiles.google.com/nikcomp Tony Nicholas

    A win is a win but we sure worked hard to lose this one.  We need more than just Gronk and Welker.  Is there any other receiver.  Who is Brandon Lloyd?  Thank God we can run.  Last year we had the year of tightends this year its the backs.

  • Mcnally

    McCourty needs to be benched.  All he does is give up big play after big play.  He must think he covers so good that he doesn’t even have to turn around and look for the damn ball.  Dennard played well today, they should try him more and see how he does.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ZVFM2HRNC5CTO2OUXD4XTX65O4 Dennis

     The Pats passing defense still sucks. 

  • Anonymous

    He wasn’t bad tonite. i was ready to string him up after Baltimore, but i think you’re being hard on him this week and he had a pretty good week last. The idea of benching him is way too prematiure untill you can prove he singlehandedly lost a game. I’m a tough critic on him, but not all that poor tonite.

  • Anonymous

    how can you say that after tonite’s game? Watching two good breakup plays by Dennard and a great strip by Moore?????

  • Bvbdan1

    Man oh man, can we just get it in the 4th quarter. Run the ball, Run the Ball, it’s the key to our succsess. 200+ running back to back, very impressive, Ridley, Woodhead, Bolden, Vereen. Never seen a Patriot team run so well, use your strength. Ridley made a mistake late, let’s hope he pay’s more attention especially late in game. Mcgahee laid an egg also so no harm. Welker get’s the game ball in crunch time this time. I’m dissapointed in the 4 and 5 call, poor judgement again coming from the coaching staff and they paid for it dearly. I love the no huddle execution all game. Hey, our corners will get beat now and then and it was Manning so i’m cool.  Defense had some more turnovers, excellent. Last thing is i’m hoping this team is learning early in the season the things that cause you to loose games.

  • Mcnally

    Many times he has decent coverage but he fails to turn his head and look for the ball usually leading to a pass interference call or the receiver making the catch.  If he would just turn his head to the ball he would have a bunch of interceptions or at the very least, be able to break up the pass and avoid the penalties.  It might not be to the point of benching him yet, but Dennard looked steady tonight so I think he earned himself more playing time in the weeks ahead.  He is a rookie and its a small sample but tonight he was doing things that McCourty doesn’t consistently do and thats look for the ball

  • Chuckchamp

    Like the ending a win for the good guys and unlike all of the wannabe analysts bottom line is we won. I don’t care about all of the intrinsic banter about what the team did wrong,what tthey did right was control the games pace with yet another dominating ground game. Hopefully Ridley gets to carry the ball around all week during practice with guys swiping at it when least expected so he realizes he must hold onto the ball… 251 yards on the ground combined with last weeks 247 and its starting to look like the Patriots don’t have to rely on the arm of TB to win games!

  • Chip

    Hernandez will be back and Lloyd has had some good catches.  

  • Qstylezz

    McCourty’s number on his back touches more balls than his hands… turn your damn head around you’ll get picks… maybe even pick 6′s

  • Okcolrain

    It makes you wonder about the defensive backs coach… McCourty is going backwards, the whole secondary is not very good but they have 1st and 2nd round picks back there. Why aren’t they getting better?

  • Anonymous

    Are you guys honestly mad that the pass defense got torn apart by a Peyton Manning playing from behind?   Did you all suddenly remember how good that goofy looking dude is?   The Steelers supposedly have the best pass defense in the league and they only held him to 253 and 2 scores (in a loss, by the way).  The Pats holding him to 345 and 3 touchdowns, while not great, is acceptable considering the who the guy is and that he dropped back to pass 44 times (which is 18 more times than the Steelers had to defend).   If they give up 300+ to Russell Wilson next week then you can talk, but to be mad about Peyton Manning getting his scores?   C’mon man!

  • Severino133

    i don’t know about being benched, but yea it was nice to see Dennard play well.  Who knows what the secondary will look like towards the end of the year if guys like Dennard and Dowling.

  • Mcnally

    Dude, have you watched the pats secondary specifically the last 2 years?  They are pretty bad and its not all because we got up big and the teams were coming from behind.  Nevermind Russell Wilson next week, its not hard for any QB to throw for 300 hundred against the pats secondary.

  • RobDX

     Who is Lloyd, Gets them to the one yard line where Vereen runs it in, catches a huge third down pass in the RZ to keep another TD drive alive.

  • Anonymous

    I have, and I go nuts ever time I see someone like Joe Flacco in week 2 putting together a great game against them.    But Peyton Manning isn’t Joe Flacco.   He’s one of the greatest to ever play the position.    Basically if “Peyton Manning week” was the week you were expecting the D to hold an opposing team to 189 yards and 2 picks, then you’re crazy.

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