Broncos vs. Patriots: Why Tom Brady Will Have a Field Day Against Denver

This Saturday when the Broncos and Patriots face off in the first AFC Divisional game, New England quarterback Tom Brady will dominate, to say the least.

In the first game against Denver, Brady completed 23-of-34 passes for 320 yards and two TDs. The Broncos did sack him twice on top of three additional QB hits, however, based on the Pats' 41-23 win, the Orange Crush need to step up their game.

The problem though, is that Brady's pass protection is arguably the best in the NFL, unlike Ben Roethlisberger's. Plus, the Broncos have no one who can isolate both Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker in single coverage for 60 minutes.

Obviously the Denver pass rush will be the key to this game, but we also tend to forget how effective the Pats can be on the ground. This season they averaged four yards per carry and 110.3 per game. In a extremely pass-heavy offense, that's a damn good rushing attack.

As for the Broncos, they will shutdown the Patriots rush offense but New England won't abandon it either. In order to beat an aggressive defense like Denver, you must keep them honest as well as throw numerous quick passes to prevent the blitz from being relevant.

The most dangerous aspect of this game is Gronkowski.

His ability to get yards after the catch will kill Denver in the middle of the field and leave the underneath routes open to Welker and Deion Branch as well as the running backs in the flats.

On top of all this, there's also an intriguing coach for New England who gives the Patriots a major advantage: Josh McDaniels.

According to Mike Florio of NBC Sports, New England rehired McDaniels earlier this week:

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The Patriots have made it official, via a press release sent via email not long after Tebow and Thomas connected to ensure a rematch of the December 18 game between the two teams.

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And with McDaniels being the guy who drafted both Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas, you can bet he'll have a hand in helping shutdown the Broncos offense. That indirectly affects Brady and the Pats offense as they'll get more possessions to do work on the Orange Crush.

Not to mention McDaniels has coached with New England before, so the chemistry will hit the ground running (so to speak), enhancing the Patriots' odds even more.

With two rookie defensive backs in Quinton Carter and Rahim Moore, as well as the aging veterans of Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins, Tom Brady uses each level and dimension of the field to eat the Broncos vulnerable pass defense.

Unless Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil constantly get pressure on every play, the odds are significantly against Denver.

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