Patriots Still Face Heavyweight Showdown vs. Broncos Even Without Peyton Manning

Brady-Manning 18 will have to wait until the playoffs—if it happens at all.

The Denver Broncos have announced that Peyton Manning will be out "at least the next two weeks" as he recovers from plantar fasciitis. So, the New England Patriots will face off against a different Broncos quarterback, Brock Osweiler.

"It's not our decision," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said in a press conference Wednesday. "We're ready for everybody. It's their choice on who they play, when they play them. We can't control that."

But whether it's the Brock Lobster (as my sister calls him) or The Sheriff, the Patriots will be in a heavyweight battle with the Broncos on Sunday night when the No. 1 pass offense faces off against the No. 1 pass defense.

And that's really what this battle comes down to; it's not about the quarterback vs. the quarterback, because those two will never be on the field at the same time. In that respect, the Patriots and Broncos have been on a collision course since the beginning of the season, as the Broncos defense has played lights-out week after week while the Patriots offense has steamrolled its opponents with the same regularity.

The Patriots enter Sunday night's game ranked second in scoring and third in yards, mostly behind the strength of Brady's MVP-caliber performance. As the pieces have fallen off, the Patriots defense has become more of a focal point in the team's fortunes. For the Broncos, the defense has been the strength of the team all season and has yielded more than 21 points just four times this season.

The Patriots offense, on the other hand, just scored fewer than 27 points for the first time all season.

Of course, the Patriots offense looks much different than the unit that began the season on pace to shatter nearly every record in the book. That's because a series of injuries have ravaged the Patriots' top-end talent on offense. From Nate Solder to Dion Lewis to Julian Edelman, the Patriots have had to overcome a lot of injuries this season.

That's what makes this meeting that much more interesting. Both teams are overcoming big injuries on offense: the Broncos and Manning, and the Patriots and Solder, Lewis and Edelman. It's hard to handicap those injuries relative to each team's ability to win the game, especially since we've only seen glimpses of what Osweiler can do in command of the Broncos offense.

Team (per game)	Patriots	Broncos
Points	32.3	18.3
Yards	412.4	284.3
Passing yards	320.4	190.6
Yards/pass	7.4	5.1
Rushing yards	92	93.7
Yards/rush	3.9	3.5
Sacks	2.2	3.4

With all the limitations in the passing game for the Patriots due to their lack of personnel, it would seem that the matchup favors the Broncos defense over the Patriots offense. That's especially true since the Patriots currently rank 28th in rushing (920 yards, 92 per game) and 23rd in rushing average (3.9 yards per carry). 

Tight end Rob Gronkowski is the only game-changing threat left in the Patriots passing attack. Wide receivers Danny Amendola and Brandon LaFell are talented receivers who are capable of capitalizing on one-on-one matchups, and that's exactly what they'll have to do as defenses buckle down on Gronkowski with double coverage.

That being said, the matchup of the Broncos offense against the Patriots' No. 1 defense bears its own consequences. The Broncos leaned heavily on the running game in Osweiler's first start (36 carries, 170 yards against the Chicago Bears), but that strategy might not work as well against the Patriots' No. 2-ranked run defense. 

That might put the ball in Osweiler's hands, which would highlight another high-profile matchup: Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas vs. Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler. Thomas is considered one of the NFL's best receivers, and Butler is cementing himself as a worthy No. 1 cornerback with some solid performances this season, but Osweiler would be crazy not to test the 5'11", 190-pound Butler against the 6'3", 229-pound Thomas.

There are marquee matchups on both sides of the ball, and even without Manning, there's plenty to be excited about.

Is it Sunday yet?

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.