Broncos vs. Patriots: Does Josh McDaniels Give New England an Unfair Advantage?

From the moment Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas connected on the game-winning touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the abundance of storylines headed into their rematch against the New England Patriots were evident.

What wasn't evident was the stance that people would take on them.

At least one Broncos columnist, Mike Klis of the Denver Post, posited on Saturday that the Patriots have violated "the spirit of fair competition" by adding former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels to their staff for the playoffs.

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No coach outside of the Dove Valley building knows the 2011 Broncos better than McDaniels. He may know Tim Tebow better than John Fox knows Tebow.

People around here and St. Louis might not think much of McDaniels’ coaching ability. But I’m telling you this is a smart football coach. This is a talented person. He may not be a leader of men, but he is good enough as a coach/talent evaluator to give the Pats a decided competitive advantage against the Broncos, if it should come to that.

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The argument makes McDaniels sound less like the guy Denver columnists ran out of town last season and more like a secret agent picked up by overlord Bill Belichick to give insight about the Broncos with foreknowledge of their meeting.

Never mind that at least one of Klis' statements is ludicrous and probably fabricated—I'll let you figure out which one—but the argument overall holds about as much water as a spaghetti strainer.

The post column ends with a cry to commissioner Roger Goodell to put a stop to it, but as Comcast Sports Net's Tom E. Curran points out, the move is completely within the rules. Whether those rules are fair or make sense is another argument, but to go all Mike Silver and insinuate that there should be separate rules for Belichick and McDaniels, who are "linked to cheating scandals," is all kinds of ludicrous (not to mention admittedly bias).

Of course, McDaniels is better positioned than most to help the Patriots prepare for the game. Quarterback Tom Brady acknowledged on The Dennis and Callahan Show on WEEI that McDaniels knows the Broncos personnel, despite some changes at a few positions.

Regardless, head coach Bill Belichick and de facto defensive coordinator Matt Patricia did well enough on their own last time to stop the clock on Tebow time.

The Patriots won that meeting by a wide margin for two reasons:

1. The Patriots offensive line was able to slow down Denver's pass rush, which gave Brady time to expose weaknesses in their secondary.
2. The Patriots defense made adjustments in the second quarter to shut down Tebow and the Broncos running game.

Neither of those, you'll notice, have anything to do with any "inside knowledge" of the Broncos offense. 

The most important thing to point out is that the Patriots offense bludgeoned the Broncos defense for 41 points at a period in time when they were playing very well. 

The same defense that generated 46 sacks in 17 games picked up just two against the Patriots. And although the Broncos stampeded out of the gates with 167 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, the Patriots defense settled in nicely to allow just 85 yards rushing for the remainder of the game.

As far as insight on Tebow, he is what he is, and there are no secrets about his game. He is a skilled runner with the ability to make down field throws if the coverage is right. No amount of perceived insider trading by the Patriots would unravel anything that they wouldn't find watching 14 games worth of tape—and as Brady points out, they've already watched all but three games worth of tape on the team.

McDaniels might be able to give the Patriots a nugget or two of knowledge on the Broncos personnel, but it's not information the Patriots wouldn't have likely gleaned from studying tape anyway. 

But to say that the Patriots could win or lose solely based on McDaniels' insight is preposterous. Brady had one of his best games of the season against the Broncos without any help from McDaniels, posting his fifth-best passer rating of 2011.

Simply put, the Patriots picked up enough knowledge preparing for and playing against the Broncos that any additional insight McDaniels could provide would be more akin to extra credit than cheating on the test.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter.