The Irregular Road To Victory

Going into week five the Denver Broncos remain an undefeated team.  One of the most surprising undefeated teams left, standing besides the likes of the Colts, Saints, Giants, and possibly the Vikings.  There has been a lot of controversy if the Broncos are a legit undefeated team, defeating teams such as the Browns and Raiders.  However today the Denver Broncos maintained that undefeated record by beating the Cowboys a team that has always been in the contentions.

Looking ahead, the Denver Broncos as noted by many "experts" the Broncos have a very intense schedule of them.  As of today they kicked off a nasty eight game stretch against some real competitors such as the Ravens, Steelers, and Giants.  One can argue that they have some breaks playing teams like the Redskins or the Chargers who many feel have underachieved this year.  Regardless Denver will have some real competition to play against in the upcoming weeks.

In week five the New England Patriots will be playing the Broncos at Invesco, a game that is regarded as one of the biggest games next week.  Now before the past two weeks many fans and experts may have felt that this isn't as scary of a game for the Broncos because up to that point the Patriots had played poorly or at least poorly to elite standards.  However after giving the first lose to two undefeated teams, the Falcons and Ravens, one must wonder if the Broncos will be the third team knocked from the undefeated pedestal by the Patriots.

Both teams come into the matchup with a lot of momentum, and as my dad constantly tells me, "Football is a game of momentum."  The Patriots like stated previously have beaten the Falcons and the Ravens two top ten teams, both have played very well this year.  It isn't like these games were super-close either, in fact both were won convincingly by the Patriots.  Now the Broncos also come in with a great deal of momentum, boasting the best scoring defense in the country, allowing only 6.5 points a game.  Did I mention they are 4-0 as well?

The predictions that are going around show New England most likely winning the game, and with good reason as well. The Patriots if anything have been consistent winners in the past decade, no matter who is injured or healthy.  Not to mention they have played tougher competition then the Broncos this year, and they controlled both games for most of it.  While the Broncos only tough games were low scoring and very close games, going down to the last minutes.

The Patriots who have seemed to improve from week to week, will be coming with some momentum into Invesco. But there are a couple factors I think might change the flow of the game that aren't as conventional as the ones you will probably hear from analysts or other reports.

The first factor is the fact that New England is coming to Invesco to play.  This is a fairly underrated factor in general, and I think stadium by stadium that Invesco gives a greater advantage then other home fields.  As most everyone knows, Invesco is set on high altitude which does one major thing.  While the Broncos are generally all used to the altitude many players are not, it isn't a thing you can really train for. As a result a lot of players are sluggish, or tire at a quick rate compared to other games as the game goes on.  This gives the Broncos an advantage throughout the game in addition to the regular home field conditions such as crowd noise and confidence

The second major factor in this game is the Denver coach Josh McDaniels and the ex-Patriots, and what they bring to the game.  For those who follow College Football you may remember that a couple weeks back the USC Trojans at the time the third ranked team lost to the Washington Huskies an unranked team.  A large part of this victory can be attributed to the Washington coach, Steve Sarkisian, former assistant head coach to Pete Carroll.  Not only is the team fired up to beat their coaches former team but the coach also has previous knowledge of the opposing team's schemes.  No matter how many things you may change in a year, an offensive coordinator or the players that played in the schemes are going to recognize many of the plays the offense and defense use.  Also practicing against either side gives them knowledge of how to stop the offense or the defense.  Sun Tzu said, "Know your enemy," and the Broncos have more knowledge on their enemy then their enemy has on them.

The last major factor in this game is that the Broncos are the underdogs and they will feel like they need to prove something.  Even though the Broncos defeated the Cowboys, they still haven't silenced critics and for good reason as well.  There were several instances that gave critics plenty of bullets to shoot against the Broncos.  Going up against a team that has defeated two undefeated teams will not make things any easier either.  Though the Broncos or McDaniels will never admit that they listen to the media on these predictions, the critics always get to them.  When backed against a wall even if it is only psychologically a team plays much better.  In adversity, a teams true character is shown, and the Broncos I think have a great team character, something that will show in the Patriots game.

By no means even with these factors are the Broncos guaranteed a win, or even the favorites to win.  The Patriots are a very deadly team, their quarterback when in sync is one of the top quarterbacks in the league.  Not only do they have a great quarterback but they have the weapons in Randy Moss and Wes Welker to make him truly dangerous.  Their head coach Bill Belichick is one of the savviest and cunning head coaches in the league.  Did I mention this was the team that won the Super Bowl three times in four years?  Or that even when they lost their Pro-Bowl quarterback they still rallied for a record of 11-5 in one of the toughest divisions in the league?  It will be an interesting game, the defenses and offenses will clash, but at the the end of the day I think the Broncos will break away for the win.