Broncos vs. Patriots: How Tim Tebow Can Redeem Himself from 1st Patriots Matchup

It was Week 15 of the NFL season and the Denver Broncos had entered their matchup vs. the New England Patriots at Sports Authority Field on a six-game winning streak.

In a nationally televised game, the Broncos had appeared to show the nation that they were for real. They had appeared to show that they were indeed contenders, and were manhandling the Patriots through the first 22 minutes of the game.

The Broncos had ran for over 150 yards of offense in the first quarter alone. Bill Belichick had never given up that much rushing yards in a single quarter in his entire head coaching career.

The Broncos got off to a 16-7 lead and it seemed as if we'd be watching a great game the rest of the way.

Then Lance Ball fumbled on one of Denver's possessions midway through the second quarter. New England would go on to score on their next possession.

Next thing you know, Tebow would also fumble the football. That would lead to another New England score.

In one of the dumbest plays of the year, punt returner Quan Cosby would fumble the football for the Broncos in Denver territory with time nearly expiring.

This would lead to a New England field goal to finally put the Patriots up 27-16 at halftime.

The Patriots would score another touchdown in the third quarter, before Tebow would score on a two-yard rushing touchdown to stop the bleeding.

What it stopped was a 27-0 scoring run that felt like it lasted for an eternity.

When you look at Tebow's stats from that game, they're actually not bad. They're actually pretty damn good.

Tebow went 11-of-22 vs. New England for 194 passing yards, to go alongside with 93 rushing yards on 12 carries for two touchdowns.

So if Tebow had a good game, why did Denver lose?

There is one main reason, and it's pretty simple. It's simply turnovers.

The Broncos were dominating the Patriots before they went on their barrage of turnovers.

Three fumbles in an eight-minute span in a single quarter won't help you win games as a team. Tebow contributed to one of those fumbles.

Another issue for Denver's shortcomings on offense was the fact that the offense did get stagnant. The offense went nearly two full quarters without scoring. After scoring on a field goal to go up 16-7, the Broncos would go five consecutive possessions of either turning the ball over or punting the football.

Hell, in those five total possessions, they actually garnered a total of four first downs.

So the question remains, how can Tebow redeem himself from the first game vs. the Patriots?

The answer is really more simple than one would expect.

Tebow needs to keep the turnovers to a minimum. And by minimum, I mean to zero turnovers.

Let's be honest here, the Patriots are -13.5 point favorites. They are the best team in the AFC with one of the best quarterbacks in the league. As far as talent is concerned, they are more talented than the Broncos are.

It will take the Broncos to play an extremely disciplined game in order to have a chance at knocking off the Patriots in New England. The Broncos will simply not be able to overcome turnovers or by playing lazy. They don't have the talent to make up for those kinds of mistakes.

Tebow needs to be able to throw the ball as effectively as he did against Pittsburgh. I'm not saying Tebow will need to complete 65 percent of his passes and match Brady's stat line in order to win this game. But he will need to make big plays down the field, as he did on a consistent basis against the Pittsburgh Steelers in order to keep drives alive and in order to keep Tom Brady and the Patriots on their heels.

When it all comes down to it, if Tebow wants to lead the Broncos to one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff history, it simply comes down to a matter of discipline.