5 Biggest Takeaways from Denver Broncos' Week 12 Win over the Patriots
The Denver Broncos went up against arguably the conference's best team on Sunday night in Week 12, playing at home against the New England Patriots. The Broncos shocked the league by knocking the Patriots from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 30-24 victory in overtime.
The Broncos were down by 14 points in the fourth quarter, but they never stopped working to achieve victory and were able to come back for the win. Every phase of the game—offense, defense, special teams—all had to make plays in order to help the team come out on top.
Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak loves the team-first mentality of his players and the way they’ve rallied around young quarterback Brock Osweiler.
“Brock did a great job. He's gotten an opportunity, and he's done a great job for his team, but his team has played very well around him. What I'm so excited about right now is the fact that everybody is pitching in to us winning football games. If you're going to be as good as you can be in this league, everybody has to be involved.”
Kubiak emphasized, “It's about the team. Brock has done a great job, but he'd be the first one to tell you it's always about the team.”
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Broncos’ Week 12 win over the Patriots.
Brock Osweiler Cool Under Fire
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Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler was cool under fire when leading the Broncos back from a 14-point deficit. The Patriots entered the game second in the league in sacks, and they are a team that is known for getting after the passer. They only sacked Osweiler three times, but Osweiler had to endure some devastating hits as he threw the ball.
The weather didn’t help things either. The snow was falling consistently all night as the temperature stayed well below freezing for the entire game.
Playing football in the snow is not a big deal for a kid from Montana.
“I remember when I was a kid you would go in the backyard to play football in the winter; if your receiver didn't catch [it], it would go into a snow bank. You would grab the ball, and you had to dust off all of the snow. Fortunately, when you play in the NFL, there are guys on the sideline that dust off the snow. It was fun.”
Kubiak liked the young starter’s composure.
“Yeah, I mean he's very composed. He handles himself very well. Even the turnover tonight didn't bother him. He just keeps going.”
Kubiak continued, “He has great feedback to me for a young player. He talks very well to me—'No, I don't like that. Give me this.' In the two-minute drive when we took the lead, basically he had two opportunities to make big plays when they went to a certain coverage, and he made them both. You've got to give him credit. He was patient in there at the end as far as getting us in the right running plays—just very composed to get that done for us.”
While Peyton Manning is out with a foot injury, Osweiler has made the most of his opportunity. Reports seem to indicate that Manning could miss a week or two more as he continues to deal with the partially torn plantar fascia in his left foot. Osweiler could cement himself as the starter—even if/when Manning returns—if he continues to play like he did on Sunday night.
C.J. Anderson, Lead the Way
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The Broncos are using a “hot hand” approach at running back, and the player to heat up the most against the Patriots was C.J. Anderson. He wasn’t the starter against the Patriots (that was Ronnie Hillman), but Anderson was able to compile 113 yards on 15 carries.
Anderson scored two rushing touchdowns, and one of those was to seal the victory in overtime. The Broncos offense brilliantly executed his 48-yard scamper that won the game, and Anderson did a great job of getting outside quickly before bursting to the end zone.
After the game, Anderson couldn’t stop smiling due to the big win.
“I just think we’re just executing better everywhere. We’re executing. Me and [RB] Ronnie [Hillman], making the right cuts and making the right reads. I’m not saying we weren’t trying to do that in the beginning of the season, but we’re executing up front better.”
Anderson continued, “They’re creating lanes for us, they’re making big holes, they’re making little creases, they’re giving us enough room to work with and us backs and you don’t need everything blocked perfectly every play. If you got something to start off on, that’s something me and Ronnie can make happen, and that’s what we did.”
There’s no telling if Anderson will be the starter for the team going forward. However, he should continue to have success on the ground when featured the way he was in Week 12. Anderson’s running could be the key for the Broncos as they want to win in the final stretch of the regular season.
Demaryius Thomas Struggles Most of the Night
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Osweiler did a good job of spreading the ball around, but one of his targets struggled mightily against the Patriots. Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas was targeted a team-leading 13 times on Sunday night, but he was only able to come up with one reception.
His lone catch of the night came with 2:25 left in the fourth quarter. His one snare went for 36 yards as the team was driving to score late in the game.
Concentration and focus problems seemed to bother Thomas most of the night. Osweiler was putting the ball on the numbers, but Thomas was not coming down with the passes.
Even with the struggles to connect, Osweiler had nothing but praise for Thomas after the game.
“Sometimes in football games, it's not always going to be pretty, like I said. I was trying to get the ball to D.T. tonight. Obviously, I think the weather played a little bit of a factor into it. It was tough, but the bottom line is that D.T. made a huge play at the end of the game when we needed him most. I think that's what great players do.”
Osweiler concluded, “No matter what happens in the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter or even early fourth quarter, big players step up in big times, and that's what D.T. did tonight.”
There’s no way around it; Thomas had a bad night. This is going to happen to every player from time to time. Expect Thomas to bounce back in the coming weeks as he gets used to Osweiler at quarterback.
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Emmanuel Sanders Looks Like His Old Self
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After struggling in recent weeks, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders looked more like his old self against the Patriots on Sunday night. A high ankle sprain has been bothering Sanders for a few games, and his production has suffered because of it.
That all turned around on Sunday night. Osweiler targeted Sanders nine times, and he was the team’s leading receiver with six catches for 113 yards against the Patriots.
He made tough catches and continued to show the ability to move the chains when called upon. The veteran receiver seemed comfortable catching passes from Osweiler, and his play was a big reason why the Broncos won in Week 12.
Sanders commented on the team’s fourth-quarter surge when they scored 17 points to force the game into overtime.
“We’re resilient, and that’s what it’s about. [Broncos QB] Brock [Osweiler] came in; he was throwing some dimes. The ball he threw to D.T. [Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas], the one he threw to me. Obviously I made the catch, but I could have caught it with my facemask. [Broncos RB] C.J. Anderson coming in and running the ball hard. It was definitely a big time team win.”
Sanders has the speed to stretch the field. When setting up play-action passes, Osweiler could be looking to target Sanders on those deep routes. Sanders’ speed coupled with Osweiler’s arm strength is a nice combination for the Broncos to feature.
Tom Brady Pressured Early and Often
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The Broncos defense was all over Patriots quarterback Tom Brady most of the game. Even though they only sacked him three times, the Broncos compiled a whopping 13 quarterback hits on Brady in Week 12.
These hits add up, and Brady showed great toughness in even being able to play through this blitzkrieg of Broncos pass-rushers. Brady didn’t get hurt, but the Broncos defense did knock tight end Rob Gronkowski from the game. Gronkowski was hit by free safety Darian Stewart and had to be carted off the field with what is considered a minor knee injury.
Through all the injuries, Brady promised the team would continue to battle.
“We will keep fighting. We lost tonight, and it was a tough game. We had to come on the road and had a big lead and didn’t make enough plays in the fourth quarter. It is tough to win, and when you lose good players, it hurts.”
Brady revealed, “It always hurts to lose. We had plenty of opportunities to win, and we will try to get back to work this week and figure out how to put a plan together that we are confident about next week.”
Broncos opponents are now 0-28 this year on 3rd-and-11 or longer situations in 2015. That amazing stat simply highlights how truly devastating this Broncos defense is. Brady was 0-of-3 in such situations and felt the wrath of the Broncos defense on Sunday night.
All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via the Broncos media department unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats via ESPN's employees-only database.
Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac. Transaction history provided by Pro Sports Transactions.
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