The Broncos have made a living recently late in games. During their six-game winning streak, Denver was trailing in the fourth quarter in four of those games.
“We’ve been involved in some comebacks that were in the fourth quarter,” Head Coach John Fox said. “It wasn’t like we designed it that way. A lot of these games are won and lost in the fourth quarter.”
Many players and coaches will point out that it’s more about how you finish games than start them, and rightfully so. However, with the New England Patriots — who have scored at least 31 points in each of their last five games — coming to town this week, the Broncos know they might have to strike early and often.
“We came in today and our offensive coordinator (Mike McCoy) was saying we need to help our defense out more by scoring,” receiver Demaryius Thomas said. “Last week we had a couple chances to score, but we just missed some plays. I feel like as an offense we need to come out and play four whole quarters instead of just the fourth quarter.”
Indeed, the Broncos offense has scored 50 points in the fourth quarter or overtime during the six-game win streak, almost double of what they have put on the board in the first halves of those games (27 points total).
“I always say we can’t start slow in whatever game we’re playing,” running back Willis McGahee said. “For some strange reason we come out slow and sluggish and then come the second half we tend to pick it up. Hopefully that can change this week. It’s something the coaches have been stressing — we need to start fast. I’d love to get out early on a team but it doesn’t work like that. I just roll with the punches.”
GETTING TO BRADY
The Broncos go up this week against one of the premier quarterbacks in the NFL in New England’s Tom Brady.
Brady has won three Super Bowls in the last decade and continues to put up numbers among the league leaders. He’s currently second in the NFL in passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating.
The Broncos know they have a tough task in trying to limit the veteran quarterback, but they’re up for the challenge.
“Oh, it’s a big challenge,” linebacker Joe Mays said. “The guy, he knows what defenses that have been run against him. He knows every single look out there. It’s going to be important for us to give him different looks, different disguises. Just try to do our best out there to get him jumbled a little bit so we can get some quarterback pressure on him.”
Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen will no doubt try to dial up pressure on Brady as he has done with other quarterbacks. The Broncos are fourth in the NFL with 37 sacks on the season and hope to pressure Brady into some errant throws.
“I’m going to have a fanatical pursuit to the ball, relentless effort,” said linebacker Von Miller, who leads the team with 11.5 sacks. “I’m going to try whatever it takes to get there. He’s a great quarterback. Hats off to the whole Patriots organization and they’re a great team. I’m just looking forward to going against them.”
INJURY REPORT
Here is Wednesday’s injury report.
For the Broncos:
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: Safety David Bruton (Achilles), safety Brian Dawkins (neck), cornerback Andre’ Goodman (concussion).
LIMITED: Wide receiver Eddie Royal (concussion).
FULL: Fullback Spencer Larsen (hamstring), linebacker Von Miller (thumb).
For the Patriots:
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: Safety Patrick Chung (foot), offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer (back/foot).
LIMITED: Cornerback Kyle Arrington (foot), quarterback Tom Brady (not injury related), wide receiver Deion Branch (groin), center Dan Connolly (groin), wide receiver Julian Edelman (back), linebacker Dane Fletcher (thumb), safety James Ihedigbo (shoulder), cornerback Devin McCourty (shoulder), wide receiver Matthew Slater (shoulder), linebacker Brandon Spikes (knee), running back Shane Vereen (hamstring), wide receiver Wes Welker (knee), center Ryan Wendell (calf), defensive lineman Vince Wilfork (not injury related), running back Danny Woodhead (abdomen).
Below are some photos from Wednesday’s practice.
-Kenny Legan
Tags: Injury report, New England Patriots, Notebook, Week 15
DJ has never been vocal and always done whats asked of him… he got in trouble a few times but he has great character he gets overshadowed far to often. He is a great team guy
No true broncos fan has even come close to forgetting about doom.
I said before the season began that Von Doom would combine for 30 sacks. I haven’t given up on that yet.
Yeah I was SHOCKED when I saw Bay bad-mouthing DJ earlier this season. That guy has been one of our best players since we drafted him. DJ gets no where near as much league wide recognition as he should.
Bay is usually pretty sharp, but he missed on his DJ assessment by about 5,000 miles.
Bay has never liked him idk why and fom what I know of bay it suprised me because like i said DJ is a team guy does whatever is asked I would have been extremely sad to see him leave or be traded as bay suggested. and he is 28 or 29 still has plenty of footall left especiallt=y since he has great spee and athleticism
He was swinging from beijing on that one…
Now that hillis went all diva in Clevland, the player that McD got rid of that I currently miss most is Alphonso Smith.
Always like that guy, and he is doing great things for that Lions defense now. Great things that he should be doing for us.
i hope we can get goodman and dawkins back, i dunno if we want to have a secondary of rookies (except champ) facing off against brady.
DMT, over the course of this season, has begun to fill Marshall’s shoes nicely. And without all the fumbles and attitude.
There has been a lot made about who we have to have covering who in this game.
In my opinion, that is missing the point. If Brady has time it doesn’t matter who his receivers are or who we have in coverage. He will beat us.
We need to play man-on-man, press coverage, and try to delay the receivers by a few steps. If we can force Brady to hold it for just a second or two longer on average, that will add up to a lot more sacks, hits, incompletions, and interceptions.
The number one thing DMT has done to win me to his side this year is toughen up.
His rookie year he was a little faster, and more explosive. But every time he went down he looked hurt.
This year he is just a tad slower. But he is bigger, he is dragging guys around, and he looks like he is just shaking off hits like an NFL player should.
It was a great deal of fun to hear Tebow through the game. One thing for certain that we learned? Tebow does have limitations! Yep – you know it – that boy can’t sing. He may have a song in his heart – but he might as well keep it there. LOL
I enjoyed most of the comments on the blog after the game. Alex/ Weimin/ LAX and all good comments.
I thought Bay got hammered pretty hard for comments about DJ. I wasn’t here too early in the season – but I don’t recall Bay really saying anything except DJ hadn’t been playing up to his potential. On the whole my impression was that DJ was one of his favorite defensive players. I don’t know – Bay will have to clarify.
I suppose I ought to apologize for approximately 200 some odd posts between Alex and myself, the other night. Mostly to Bay because he has to wade through them to pick out the one or two predictions. I do regret putting Bay to the extra labor – but I can’t really feel sorry about getting to know Alex a little better. I care about people. I like to find out what people are about. What they think, believe, and how they tick. Alex is an amazingly intelligent, articulate, and transparent young man. Although the conversation went long – I got a lot of writing done that night, other than on the blog. I commend Alex to you, and that conversation is a good way for you all to get to know Alex better!
The football guru’s are all against the Broncos this week. They all think the Patriots will win. The increase in the adversity makes me more confident that the Broncs will win.
This is it!!!!!!!!! Tim will do his part now the defense has to play 110% the WHOLE game if they can do that Broncos win going away
Bay just felt that yes he wasn’t playing to his potential but also was not a fan of his DUI which lost him his captaincy and the fact that one offseason he stayed in Florida instead of coming out to volunteer workouts and stuff i believe … which I suppose is not the trait of a captain. So Bay wanted him gone in hopes of younger more dedicated talent because DJ woulda gotten us a pretty good draft pick. He goes unnoticed in the NFL but thats only because since coming in the league, he has pretty much played on Defenses year in and yr out that pretty much stunk. Hard to be talked about when no one sees the point in talking about your unit other than the fact that ur unit is stinking up the joint lol … but Bay is coming around … at the time he had some justification for his trade desire.
I hope the Analysts keep choosing us to lose, same way I dont mind Elway not commiting completely to Tebow … keeps the kid fired up — no as if he really listens or pays attention to stuff like that anyway lol.
TRB
It’s really too bad some bloggers go on here blabbing away at others while they don’t follow the blog day in day out like I do, because if they did they would know exactly where I’m coming from. As is some of you guys just constantly take things out of context, picking one thing said on a given month and another here and there and make your whole opinion of a blogger point of view relying on certain posts without knowing the whole story, like speaking in ignorance sort of speak.
This posted from my game impressions on Monday:
DJ. That man was a one man wrecking crew with no less than half a dozen GIGANTIC plays. I knew all along that moving him to weakside would be the best chance for him to get back to tapping his potential, and boy has he done that in the last month. But it’s way more than just the weakside thing and I got it figured out. DJ is happy again. DJ did not like McD whatsoever. DJ had a terrible last two years under him. DJ missed all the off season OTAs under McD, he was depressed under McD, he got a DUI under McD, he was hitting football rock bottom. And now he is a different man, DJ likes Fox and Allen, he likes life again, he has fun, he loves the game once again, and it shows tons. A happy DJ is a force on the field and I couldn’t be happier about it even so I kept calling him out here because he deserved to be called out. I always said he did not give it 100% whatsoever, now you guys can see what I meant. He is giving it 100% now and earning his paycheck.
I would think that fully speaks for itself as to my reasons for having disliked DJs effort in the past.
But I get it going after me is extra fun, LOL.
Watch it, since alex and LAX usually post at night, they’ll miss out on this post and keep on going to town with me and the DJ thing ad nauseum, at least LAX probably will, alex may be too smart for that, I have seen him check morning comments to find out reactions to his night posts.
bay………aren’t you supposed to be busy blogging on all the other teams websites? LMAO
My biggest concern is how this team reacts IF, and that’s a big if, the wheels come off in this game and we get smoked.
How will this effect the remaining two games, which are crucial to win.
I’m hoping they’ll ride the momentum of winning this game into running the table…………..
Legwold about the Goodman injury situation:
Goodman was dazed after a collision in last weekend’s game against the Bears and will have to pass a battery of exams just to return to practice, let alone to play in a game. The Broncos are so concerned about not having Goodman available for the New England game, they signed cornerback Tony Carter off their practice squad Tuesday. To make room for Carter on their 53-man roster, the Broncos (8-5) waived safety Kyle McCarthy.
Goodman gets challenged a lot because he plays the cornerback position opposite from veteran Pro Bowler Champ Bailey. Goodman gives up receptions at times, but he rarely gets rattled. That’s one reason he rarely gets beat for a big play.
If Goodman can’t play Sunday, Chris Harris likely would be the Denver starter at right cornerback. Jonathan Wilhite would play in the nickel package. If the Broncos match Bailey, their left cornerback, against Wes Welker , the Patriots’ star slot receiver, that means Brady will always know where Bailey is. Brady is more interested in looking for matchups he can win.
I wonder how may people might end up saying how much we missed Goodman if he doesn’t play, you know, the same guys who always say Goodman is awful, LOL.
This is the look on the other side of the ball from the AP press in N-E:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Week after week, the New England Patriots have kept strong pass rushers away from Tom Brady . Now here come the Broncos.
If Von Miller doesn’t get the sack, chances are Elvis Dumervil will.
“Von Miller, he’s a phenomenal player,” Brady said Wednesday. “And then with Elvis on the other side, they’ve really got two guys that can rush the passer. I know I stand up here every week and talk about how good of a pass rush we’re going to face and we seem to continue to face them.”
Four weeks ago, it was Tamba Hali of the Kansas City Chiefs. Then came Jason Babin of the Philadelphia Eagles. And in their last two games, the Patriots had to keep Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis of the Indianapolis Colts and Ryan Kerrigan and Brian Orakpo of the Washington Redskins off Brady.
His protection was superb. Hali had the only sack in that group and Brady was sacked just six times in those four games. And the Patriots have allowed just 22 sacks all season, tied for fifth fewest in the NFL.
Left tackle Matt Light gets another chance in Denver on Sunday to protect his quarterback’s blind side. He’s been doing it since 2001 so he’s used to facing dangerous pass rushers in most games.
“From my point of view,” Light said, “it’s been that way for roughly 11 seasons.”
But he’s never blocked Miller.
The Broncos took Miller with the second pick of this year’s draft from Texas A&M and he has sacks in 10 of the 12 games he’s played. His 11 1/2 sacks lead all NFL rookies, a total that’s second overall in the AFC.
“Occasionally, they line him up inside and he really presents a problem for the centers and guards in there because of his quickness. Normally, he’s on the outside,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “He can run the edge. He can come inside. He’s very quick and athletic but he’s got good power and he’s a really strong player too.
“You just can’t sit back and wait for him to make some kind of athletic move. He’ll run them over. He’s very good in pursuit. He makes a lot of plays downfield after the ball is thrown. He’ll chase a guy down, for (a) 5-, 6-, 7-yard gain and try to strip the ball as he’s tackling him. He’s not out of a lot of plays.”
Then there’s Dumervil.
He has 7 1/2 sacks and, like Miller, had at least a half sack in each of the four games they played in November. Dumervil has been a danger to passers longer, leading the NFL with 17 sacks in 2009 before missing all last season with a torn pectoral muscle.
This season, the Broncos are fifth in the league in sacks per pass play.
“We kind of changed defenses from a 3-4 to a 4-3 which is fairly drastic with no offseason,” Denver coach John Fox said. “Our guys are understanding what we’re doing better and they’re not thinking, so they’re playing faster.”
We are definitely not under the radar anymore….
This all bodes well for our team on paper:
The Patriots, a team with defensive shortcomings, are 10-3 because they have scored at least 30 points 10 times. They have struggled to win in the second half of games, especially the fourth quarter. The Bills scored 24 points in the second half against New England in Week 3 and beat the Patriots 34-31. The Giants beat the Patriots 24-20 last month after scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter and 24 in the second half. And the winless Colts scored 21 points in the fourth quarter two weeks ago against the Patriots, who escaped with a 31-24 victory. Third-string quarterback Dan Orlovsky passed for 353 yards against New England’s defense.
Overall, the AFC East-leading Patriots have given up 108 points in the fourth quarter. That’s an average of 8.3 points per fourth quarter. Also, the Patriots have allowed 1,522 yards passing yards in the fourth quarter (36 percent of the total yards passing they have given up this season).
In the New England secondary, cornerback Devin McCourty has been a frequent target of quarterbacks — and he has none of the defense’s 18 interceptions.
Probably the two best moment of the mic’d up thing last night by Klis:
Tebow is sitting on the bench next to quarterbacks coach Adam Gase. “Why do we have to do it this way?” Gase asks Tebow, referring to how the team is forced to continually rally from behind late.
Tebow smiles, put his right hand around Gase’s shoulder and says: “It’s all right. We’ll figure it out, man.”
Another moment comes after Demaryius Thomas lets a long Tebow pass slip through his fingers. Thomas then, and later, said he short-armed the ball and he should have caught it for a touchdown. After the incompletion, a bummed Thomas is on the bench. Again Tebow is sitting to the left.
Tebow puts his arm around Thomas and says: “You’re good. Hey, no big deal. It just makes it closer for a little bit longer. You’re about to catch the game-winner. And then you’ll be the hero of the game.”
I’ve bashed on Goodie pretty harsh this season, but I’ve also given props when due as he has made some game changing plays. He had seemed to elevate his play as of late, and we will def miss him out there this weekend. You can bet that Harris will see a lot of action his way…………..let’s hope he’s up to the task!
Our secondary injuries may not be as bad as originally thought?:
The Broncos were missing half their starting secondary at practice Wednesday, the first session in preparation for the Patriots. Safety Brian Dawkins (neck) and cornerback André Goodman (concussion) were held out because of injuries suffered against the Bears.
Dawkins previously missed practice time this season, but has yet to miss a game. Goodman appears close to being cleared to return to practice, and he did some light jogging and stretching before watching practice.
No word about Bruton…
Yep, here is a little news about Bruton:
Safety David Bruton (Achilles tendon) sat out practice Wednesday. He aggravated the injury vs. the Bears. … Wideout Eddie Royal (con- cussion) returned to practice.
man, concussion and sports are so synonymous with one another these days………….it’s crazy. It’s a really hot topic with my two favorite sports, football and hockey.
The same McCourty who so much noise was made about last year as he made the playoffs … this year another random patriot has alot of INTs … interesting.
Most interesting part is that they maybe SOOO busy covering Doom and Miller, that my man Dj willl probably get in on the sack game.
Im sure I will be one of those people who miss Goodman … doesn’t change the fct that he gets torched …. but the devil u know is better than the one u don’t but I believe in Chris Harris … he was talking big on the sideline when wired up ion bears game … “We’ve been here before”.
Hopefully before th season is up … we will have 3 people with 10 sacks or more. TRB
I’ll suffer the rest of my life for the major one I got skiing, it can happen many ways but the odds in football certainly are worse than anything.
I think it’s been an issue for a long long time……….and it’s only now that we’re actually being educated about it.
McCourty even made the pro bowl over Bailey last year, LMAO!!!
Oh, I’ve been educated, unfortunately, LOL.
I mean, look at Sidney Crosby………..the guy was out almost a year, came back, took a small hit, and is now out again indefinetely……and that is a shame cause he’s hands down the best player in the entire NHL. Who knows, his career might be over.
That’s why you can never say this player or that player will be in the HOF until the bulk of their career is in the history books, one bad hit and sayonara HOF.
WE might have to worry about Hernandez more … because Gronk is the better blocker and that pass rush will be coming. If that happens … Gronk will be neutralized> Should truly be a great game. TRB
Just got done catching up on the blog.
Not only does bay hate DJ and Goody I heard he also hates babies, puppies and kittens!!! Just kidding bay, I saw some were going after you so I thought I would be a smart mouth!
I’m not so sure we haven’t seen the last of Peyton Manning. They are awfully cryptic about his injury and his return to play.
New blog btw
Thanks Bay as usual you got the stats right and as much as I hate to say it daddyBroncs right that we would have got a good pick in the draft for him, But I ‘m glad he’s back and didn’t he make the game saving play in the jets game? I could be wrong but DEEEEG JAYYYYY WILLIAMS IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WE HAVE BEEN COMPETITIVE FOR AS LONG AS WE HAVE. I think you are right Bay The Broncs definitely have the advantage in this one and we have had Bradey’s number for years and no one on that line has hit Tom more times than Deeege!!! And I would like to point out that the first win and the first game the Broncos ever played was against the BOSTON PATRIOTS!! GO BRONCOS!!! 34-27 OVER THE PATS..OH AND MY MAGIC PREDICTION FROM WEEK 4…….FIRST TO 9 WINS,WINS THE WEST