Patriots vs. Broncos: Why the Broncos Showed They're Good, but Not Great

The Broncos were up 16-7 at one point in the second quarter, having scored on two consecutive possessions after Tom Brady had led the Patriots down the field for a touchdown to put the Patriots up 7-6.

In the first quarter alone, they gained 133 yards on the ground. It was the most Bill Belichick had ever given up in a single quarter in his coaching career.

The Broncos' offense was running on all cylinders, showing the nation why the Patriots have such a bad rep when it comes to their defense. They ran it down their throats, spreading the love among not only Tim Tebow and Willis McGahee, but backups Lance Ball and Jeremiah Johnson.

It seemed like the Broncos were going to be involved in a shootout, and by the look of things through a quarter and a half, it seemed as if the Broncos would come out on the victor's side of the battle.

Then the turnovers kicked in.

In a sequence of four offensive plays, the Broncos fumbled the ball twice.

There was Lance Ball losing the football on a running play on the right side of the line when the ball was casually hit by a Patriots D-Lineman. This led to a Patriots field goal to make it 17-16.

There was Tebow, uncharacteristically fumbling the football, which would be recovered by Mark Anderson at the Denver 40. This would lead to a touchdown to put New England up 24-16.

After a three-and-out by the Broncos offense with under a minute remaining, the Patriots punted the ball, which would lead to Broncos punt returner Quan Cosby fumbling the football with three seconds remaining to make it 27-16 at the end of the half.

In a span of eight minutes, when Ball created Denver's first turnover by fumbling the football with eight and a half minutes remaining, the Broncos squandered all of the momentum they had created through the first 22 minutes of the game.

This game was a perfect message to the entire nation—the Broncos are a good team, but they're not a great team.

The Broncos are a playoff team. They have defeated the Raiders when Oakland was leading the division, they've defeated the currently sixth-seeded Jets, they've defeated numerous .500 teams involved in the playoff race, such as the Chiefs, Bears, Chargers and Bengals.

There isn't much of an argument to Denver not being the best team in the AFC West.

However, they're not a great team. Not yet at least.

This isn't really that much of a major shocker. This is a team that was 4-12 last year, picking No. 2 overall in the 2011 draft. For a team that had such low expectations coming into the season after the debacle that was the Josh McDaniels era, just making the playoffs for the first time in six years is an accomplishment.

But the reason why this is a little bit disappointing, is because the Broncos showed the potential to be an elite team. They showed through the first 22 minutes that they were a better team than the Patriots. Or at least appeared to be.

They were controlling the time of possession. They were dominating the ground like they always do. They got off to a quick start by scoring a touchdown on their first drive of the game.

Then all of a sudden, the youth of this team started showing up. The three turnovers in a span of a little over eight minutes. The seven penalties for 39 yards. The numerous missed tackles by not only the young defensive backs such as Chris Harris, Rahim Moore, Quinton Carter and Kyle McCarthy, but Champ Bailey himself.

Bailey missed two open-field tackles on the Patriots' tight ends. When was the last time you saw that?

Aaron Hernandez looked like Rob Gronkowski out there. Patriots receivers repeatedly got open over the middle of the field and looked like a less-dominant version of the Green Bay Packers when they steamrolled over Denver in Lambeau earlier this year.

The offense killed all of its momentum that it had built up early on in the game with the two turnovers. It was hard for Denver to recover after their "eight minutes of hell" to end the first half. No matter how hard the crowd at Mile High tried to get the team back into the game.

This game was a measuring stick. It was a game that would show just where the Broncos are on the totem pole of teams in the NFL.

For 22 minutes, Denver was a superior team to the veteran-laden Patriots.

For the remaining 38 minutes of the game, they stunk up the joint.

Turnovers, missed open field tackles, sloppy special teams play on kick and punt returns, an inability to stop Brady in the no-huddle offense.

This game was a measuring stick alright.

For the first 22 minutes, the Broncos measured higher.

The only problem is, football is played for 60 minutes. And for 60 minutes, the Patriots simply measured better.