Broncos vs. Patriots: Grading New England's Performance in the Divisional Round

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots rolled right over Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, 45-10.

With the victory, the Patriots will now advance to the AFC championship and will either play the Houston Texans or the Baltimore Ravens.

But before we look ahead to next weekend, let's take a look at grade-book. 

Pass Offense: A

When you set an NFL playoff passing record, then you're passing offense must be having a pretty damn good day—Brady threw five touchdowns in the first half, which is a playoff record.

Along with those five touchdowns, Brady completed 24 of his 36 passes for 363 yards while finishing the game with six total touchdowns. 

New England's leading receiver on the day was Rob Gronkowski as he reeled in 10 passes for 145 yards and a remarkable three touchdowns, which ties an NFL playoff record. 

Rush Offense: A

The Patriots actually outran the NFL's leading rushing team in the Denver Broncos, as they finished Saturday's game with 146 total rushing yard.

Aaron Hernandez led the way with 61 yards on just five attempts, which averages out to an incredible 12.2 yards per-carry.

Pass Defense: A

Tim Tebow never was able to get on track against the Patriots, as he completed just 34.6 percent of his passes and only accumulated 136 yards while being sacked five times. 

We all know that Tebow isn't that great of a passer, so New England did what they were supposed to do, and that was shut down an inefficient passer. 

Rush Defense: A

Over the course of 2011, Denver was the NFL's top rushing team, but they simply were unable to get their ground game going against the Patriots.

Denver ran for 144 yards but averaged only 3.6 yards per carry. 

Special Teams: A

Special teams wasn't really a factor in tonight's game, but they did what they had to do—even though it was a small sample. 

Coaching: A+

The dominance of this game all starts with the way Bill Belichick prepared his team this week—and he prepared them for success. 

In the playoffs, if a team puts up a 45-10 victory, then it's safe to assume that the coach did a pretty phenomenal job game-planing and preparing his team. 

With the victory, the Patriots not only advance to the AFC championship, but they snap their three-game playoff losing streak. 

Be sure to check out Tony Santorsa's blog: PatriotsPlus