slides: What to Watch For: AFC Championship - Patriots vs. Broncos

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

AFC Championship

The New England Patriots are set to battle the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game this afternoon in Denver. This is the second time in three years the teams have met in this game with Denver winning two years ago. Kick off is set for 3 p.m.

"We know how tough Denver is, and they're a very resilient team. I know they've been through a lot of tough situations this year, a lot of close games, three overtime wins, been down, came back like they did against us a couple of the times, so we know they're physically and mentally tough. They're led by a lot of great players on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game, so a lot of challenges for us here," said Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, earlier this week.

See What to Watch For in the Slideshow Below

Jon Heath, the managing editor at Broncos Wire said "I'm a lot more confident than the national media. I think 78% of the national media pick the Patriots to win the game."

If the Patriots are to win, they will have to go through a familiar face on the other side of the ball, Peyton Manning.

Brady vs. Manning

Brady and Manning meet for the 17th time

One of the greatest rivalries in the NFL and in sports renews today as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning meet for the 17th time and for the third time in the AFC Championship.

"I think playing someone 17 times is pretty cool; especially someone as great as him. To play against those Peyton Manning-led teams, you know you've got to play 60 minutes, and you're going to be in for a tough game. They're going to take advantage of opportunities that they get, so we're going to have to do a good job of taking care of the football, because you don't want to give it to these guys on a short field. So, it's going to be a big challenge for us," said Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady.

The seemingly annual Brady vs. Manning game almost didn't happen, as Manning got injured and then essentially lost his job to Brock Osweiler, who went 4-2 in his time as a starter. Osweiler was pulled from the final game of the season with the team struggling and replaced by Manning.

"I didn't see any reason for him to come back in. Generally I didn't think Osweiler was the reason for the team's struggles. The offensive line wasn't blocking and receivers were dropping passes. But when they did put him in, he did give the offense a spark," Heath said.

Tom Brady is 11-5 all-time against Peyton Manning, however, Manning has won the last two AFC Championship games over Brady.

Understanding What's at Stake

The Patriots are looking to get back to the Super Bowl for the second straight season and the 9th time in franchise history, which would be an NFL record.

New England would also appear in the Super Bowl for the seventh time in the Brady/Belichick era (15 years).

Getting back to the Super Bowl means that Tom Brady will have a chance to become the only quarterback in NFL history to win 5 Super Bowl titles.

Bill Belichick would also have a chance to become the only coach to win five Super Bowl titles, passing Chuck Noll.

Needless to say, there is a lot riding on this game.

See What to Watch For in the Slideshow Below

Related Slideshow: What to Watch For: AFC Championship - Patriots vs. Broncos

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Denver Ghosts

As GoLocal highlighted earlier this week, the Patriots always struggle in Denver. Tom Brady is 2-6 in his career, with one of those wins coming against Tim Tebow.

Denver is where Brady suffered his first playoff loss after throwing an interception to Champ Bailey on the Denver 1 yard line in 2005.

Last game in Denver, the Patriots were up by 14 in the fourth quarter before a Chris Harper fumbled punt return that led to a Denver score completely turned the game upside down.

New England is on the road for this game because they lost 4 of their final 6 games, in large part due to some strange coaching decisions by Bill Belichick.

If the Denver ghosts come haunting in this game, a game in which the Patriots are favored, those losses will be talked about all off season and maybe beyond.

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Edelman & Gronk Matchup

Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola did not play in the regular season game with the Broncos and Edelman's return last week made the Patriots offense look a whole lot better.

The Broncos secondary is a bit banged up (who isn't at this time of year?) but still more than capable of causing problems for the Patriots receivers.

Chris Harris said earlier this week that he would be covering Edelman. Harris was listed as a game time decision earlier this week but it seems like a sure thing that he will play.

In the meeting earlier this season, it was TJ Ward who covered Rob Gronkowski and limited him to 6 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Also wouldn't be surprised if former Patriot Aqib Talib sees time on Gronkowski. Talib has covered big tight ends before. Remember when he was in New England in a game against the Saints he covered Jimmy Graham and shut him down.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Beall/flickr

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Pats Secondary Matchups

Peyton Manning is not a deep ball thrower anymore, not that he won't attempt it a couple of times if it is there, but that is not his game. Expect the Patriots to try and crowd the middle of the field to take away space.

Denver's two big receivers are Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas.

In the regular season matchup, Sanders had 6 catches for 113 yards while Thomas only had 1 catch on 13 targets.

Malcolm Butler will likely get the job on Emmanuel Sanders while Logan Ryan will likely get another shot at Demaryius Thomas.

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Offensive Line

Last week the offensive line looked much better against Kansas City with the return of Sebastian Vollmer but the fact that Brady was getting rid of the ball in 2 seconds or less was a major reason.

The Broncos defensive line comes in sporting two world class players in Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, who are an upgrade from what KC had in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston.

Ware did not play in the last matchup between the two teams while Von Miller had one sack in the game.

How well the offensive line looks in this game is tied into how quickly receivers can get open.

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The Denver Broncos offense very much revolves around their running attack. Denver uses two running backs, CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman, both who are capable.

"Running game is the biggest factor on offense. Peyton Manning is not what he used to be, he is not able to make some of the throws he used to so running game as well as the offensive line are the biggest factors on offense. The Broncos want to control the game, control the clock and keep Brady on the sidelines," said Jon Heath, managing editor at Broncos Wire.

In the regular season matchup, the Broncos ran for 179 yards, CJ Anderson had 113 of them.

The Patriots will have Collins and Hightower playing in this game, which they didn't have in the last game against the Broncos, show that should help them stop the run and force Manning to throw.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Beall/wikipedia