Week 15 NFL Picks: 5 Reasons Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos Will Beat the Patriots

Tim Tebow faces his greatest test of his career on Sunday: Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. 

By now, the hype that surrounds Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos is utterly undeniable. Week in and week out, it seems as if Tebow has personally broken Twitter. As fans have learned, there is some validity behind the successes of the young charismatic quarterback.

This weekend, Tebow hopes to prove that he and the Broncos are as real of a threat as can be. By contending against a Patriots dynasty, Tebow would make a giant statement to the league: that he, without a doubt, would be here to stay.

An NFL team comes down to more than just who has the best players.A win, which is a team effort, has many more factors than just the obvious talent of the team.

With the weapons that Denver brings, their match with the Patriots could be surprising for many as the Broncos look to pull of the improbable upset.

Rushing Attack

One of the ways that the Denver Broncos have been so successful in the past few months is because they have been able to establish an effective ground game.

A leading rusher like Ray Rice or LeSean McCoy may not spearhead the Broncos, but they still maintain one of the most effective running games in the league.

Averaging 156.2 YPG, Denver has net over 2,000 yards on the ground—good for the highest total in the league.

New England, however, compensates with only 105.1 YPG. The Broncos have multiple assets to offer on the ground: Willis McGahee (4.6 yards per carry), Tim Tebow (5.5 YPC), Knowshon Moreno (4.8 YPC) and Lance Ball (4.2 YPC). Each of those three players has broken a 20-yard rush at one point this season.

With such an explosive running game, the Broncos can establish a run game to compensate for their lack of a passing game.

This doesn’t fare well for the Patriots, who are known to be much more effective at stopping the opposing passing attack (opposing QB rating of 87.9) than the rushing attack (107.3 YPG).

Tim Tebow Knows His Role

Kyle Orton started five games for the Broncos before ultimately losing his position to Tim Tebow.

Orton was not atrocious. In five games, he had 91 completions (58.7 percent) and eight touchdowns.  He complied a total of 979 passing yards.

The quarterback, however, had seven interceptions and earned a QB rating of only 75.7.

Since Tim Tebow has come in, the Broncos' identity has been much more established. They are a run-first team, and the team recognizes that.

Tebow hasn’t made the same fatal mistakes that cost Orton his job. Compared to Orton’s seven picks, Tebow only has two.

Tebow also has eight touchdowns on the season. While that hardly compares to Tom Brady, there isn’t a question of who the better quarterback is. Tebow, instead, plays to his role and plays to win the game. That, rather, is all that a football team actually needs for this type of success.

As a vocal leader, Tebow has done an excellent job of leading by example and setting the tone for a winning team.

Can Apply Pressure to Tom Brady

One of the most underrated facts about the Denver Broncos is that they have one of the best attacks on the passer in the league.

With 37 sacks, the Broncos currently rank fourth overall in sacks recorded. If the Broncos can apply that type of pressure on Tom Brady early in the game, the Patriots will have to compensate by throwing the ball quicker and potentially getting rattled for an interception.

The Broncos, who thrive on close games and capitalizing on the other team’s missed opportunities, require something as simple as one of those mistakes to help pull off the types of victories that we have now grown accustomed to.

The three teams ahead of Denver in sacks are the Baltimore Ravens, the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles. While those teams are known for their passing attack, it would not be a surprise to see the Broncos entered into that conversation soon enough.

The 263 yards lost by opponents after a Broncos' sack is the third highest in the league, and is a highly effective way the Broncos to get their defense established against the Patriots.

Look for Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil to have very big games against the Patriots this weekend.

Home-Field Advantage

Putting everything football aside, the fans of the Denver Broncos are currently riding one of the team's hottest streaks in recent memory.

Word from Denver is that the last time the fans were this into the team was in the 1990s, and we’re not exactly looking at John Elway at the helm right now.

Fans in Denver realize that, while they may have started the season 1-4 and later 2-5, they now control first place of the AFC West with an 8-5 record.

It’s a thoroughly impressive run, and the Broncos are 7-1 in the last two months coming off of their bye week.

Denver Broncos fans love Tim Tebow, and his jerseys are selling like bread during the Depression.

Recently, fans have shown enough support to help the Broncos beat the Jets and Bears at home. Expect that same type of enthusiasm for the home crowd this weekend.

If the game was in Foxboro, there would be a clear advantage toward the Patriots. But expect the crowd to have a big effect on how the Broncos come out playing on Sunday.

Late-Game Heroics

By now, the late-game comebacks of Tim Tebow have become so heavily satirized in popular media and Twitter that the casual sports fan has no choice but to pay attention.

The numbers, however, support the Broncos' cause.

By looking at the rushing game per quarter, the Broncos have three touchdowns all season in the first three quarters of the game. In comparison, they have four in the fourth quarter.

While their rushers have fumbled seven times in the first three quarters, they have yet to fumble in the fourth quarter.

In the second and third quarters of football games this season, they’ve broken a run greater than 20 yards only three times. In the fourth quarter, they’ve broken five. Their 550 rushing yards in the fourth quarter is also the most out of any quarter for the Broncos.

The Broncos have been able to pull off five consecutive victories by a touchdown or less, including two overtime victories and three in a row by a field goal.

When the Broncos take on the Patriots, they will use the late-game experience and composure that they have developed in the past month in order to give Bill Belichick and the Patriots a run for the money.

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