[hannainnc]

well patriots didn't make it. ouch.

[sandinsciuz]

The run is done. Oiy Vey.

First of all, congratulations to the Denver Broncos and fans. The Patriots had too many bonehead mistakes, some of which the Broncos caused surely.

I do think the Broncos enjoyed some good luck on the 1st half pass interference call against Asante Samuel. But credit them with taking advantange of some truly bonehead mistakes by the Patriots. 5 turnovers in the playoffs is sure defeat.

I think you have to say the Patriots defense showed up and played though. They got it done. Strangely, the guys we normally count on, Vinatieri, Brady, Brown, and even Faulk, were more the guys who let us down.

Nonetheless, I think the Patriots are the first team to repeat SB's and even make it back to the playoffs. They've accomplished quite a feat.

Too bad it's over.

But congrats again to the Broncos. I tip my hat.

[Bean]

Nice to see you post after the loss. Glad you didnt just disappear. Definitely a true football enthusiast

I didnt get to watch the game much; was waiting tables; only got to go to the bar a couple times and see the score. Saw some stats talking about lots of turnovers or something. About to go read the highlights on espn.com

Glad to see the Broncos make it; I'd rather the Colts play them instead, personally

[Bean]

In a quick addition:

WHAT THE ****?!?
Harper's wife stabbed him with a ****ing knife?!?!?
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2292562

[ericnb_98]

I will have to take to Steelers over the colts

[Sir Foxx]

Originally Posted by sandinsciuz

The run is done. Oiy Vey.

First of all, congratulations to the Denver Broncos and fans. The Patriots had too many bonehead mistakes, some of which the Broncos caused surely.

I do think the Broncos enjoyed some good luck on the 1st half pass interference call against Asante Samuel. But credit them with taking advantange of some truly bonehead mistakes by the Patriots. 5 turnovers in the playoffs is sure defeat.

I think you have to say the Patriots defense showed up and played though. They got it done. Strangely, the guys we normally count on, Vinatieri, Brady, Brown, and even Faulk, were more the guys who let us down.

Nonetheless, I think the Patriots are the first team to repeat SB's and even make it back to the playoffs. They've accomplished quite a feat.

Too bad it's over.

But congrats again to the Broncos. I tip my hat.

The game was much closer than I thought it would be. The Patriots played like the champions they are, especially in the first half.

That being said, Super Bowl, here we come. Between Al Wilson, Champ Bailey(hell of a rep this guy is living/playing on), John Lynch and Rod Smith, there is no way that the Broncos are not going to win the SuperBowl.

[Sir Foxx]

Originally Posted by ericnb_98

I will have to take to Steelers over the colts

Lets hope your right, then the playoffs stay in Denver

[natedogg]

Originally Posted by Bean

In a quick addition:

WHAT THE ****?!?
Harper's wife stabbed him with a ****ing knife?!?!?
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2292562

If he was hitting on her, I wouldn't blame her for stabbing his ass.

[sandinsciuz]

Nah, I'm not the post & run type! And it's true what I said earlier, I'm a fan of the NFL before I'm a fan of any one team. I like watching as many games as time permits.

I don't wish to diminish the Broncos victory, because in the end, what matters is the final score on the board as time expires. They won the game, they advance to the AFC Championship game, and the Patriots go home. It's end of story for the Patriots this season, and again congratulations to the Broncos. Not only do they advance, they get the credit for having terminated the Patriots chances to make history by 3-peating.

But if I was a Broncos fan I would put this one behind me about as quickly as I could. The admittedly great combo of Anderson & Bell combined for a grand total of 88 yards on the ground. About 15-20 of those were fairly meaningless at the end of the game just after Brady's late hail Mary was intercepted. The Patriots defense really accomplished the unthinkable....... they shut down the Bronco running game. I think you Broncos fans need to hope that despite the Patriots having blown that game, that the Patriots defense nonetheless has become one of the very best in the league, and that this domination cannot be repeated by another team from here on out. They've certainly provided the game plan for anyone else to follow, provided it can be duplicated.

The Broncos got VERY lucky in that pass interference call against Asante Samuel in the end zone. The commentators in the booth, Simms especially, were highly critical of the call. The line judge who was in the position to make the call waived it off. The field judge threw the flag from under the goal post several seconds after the play went by. That was a HORRIBLE call that frankly should have gone AGAINST the Broncos if it was going to be called at all. Nonetheless, those are the breaks, and at that point the game was still up for grabs in spite of it. Hopefully that puts an end to the criticism for the Patriots always being "lucky" and being the benefactors of how the ball always seems to bounce their way, the "tuck rule", etc.

The other turnovers (excluding Champ Bailey's brilliant pic): Kevin Faulk's fumble caused by an attempted 1 arm tackle, Ellis Hobbs punt return fumble caused by Sauerbrun, and Troy Brown's botched punt return fumble, were gifts out of the very depths of poor ball handling. Dear God, those plays looked like gag reel "the best of rookie botches" from preseason games. In the end, all the Broncos points were ALL from turnovers, and they only had to travel about 20 yards IN TOTAL to get ALL of them.

Now I'm not out to sound like "sour grapes" here. And despite my ramblings, I give the Broncos ALL the credit for taking advantage on EVERY SINGLE ONE of them. That's a mark of a top team. And I give Champ Bailey a salute for the interception runback, that was a brilliant play, he took advantage of a weak toss by Brady, and he nailed it. It was THE turning point in the game. (Though you have to admire the tenacity of Ben Watson running most the field and angling, in spite of the referree being in his way, to clobber him at the 1-2 yard line. Too bad we'll never know if the ball went through the end zone or not. Bailey MUST have thought, "What the F_CK was THAT ?!?!").

Jake Plummer went 15 of 26 for 197 yards. Combine that rather so-so performance with the so-so results in their running game, and the fact that Brady was 20 of 36 for 341 yards.............

This game is more about the Patriots self destructing. And I think that for you Broncos fans, enjoy the win. But based on performance, I wouldn't be chanting "Super Bowl". In fact, if they should make it to the Super Bowl, I think they'll look back and say they went "in spite" of this game.

I think they're going to have to play a lot better to beat the Colts. And if by some OTHER freak of nature the Colts self destruct and the Steelers win today, they're still going to have to play a lot better than they did last night to beat them. I just can't imagine any other team handing out 5 playoff game turnovers. And I say "hand out" because it's not like they were caused by devastating hits. More like poor ball control and decision making.

But who knows, maybe they'll prove me wrong. At this point I've demonstrated that doesn't take a lot to do

[natedogg]

I agree. Denver will have to step it up several notches to beat either the Colts or Steelers next weekend. The Pats "gave it up on a silver platter" as Brady put it.

[sage]

seahawks.

[Sir Foxx]

People can talk about the Patriots losing it all they want, but the fact is that Broncos caused the Patriots to play that way. Our defense had Brady all mixed up throughout the entire game. If he wasn't getting roughed up by Lynch, he had to deal with Al Wilson. Twice on 3rd and short I saw Brady throw the ball in the dirt and out of bounds because Wilson was coming at a full head of steam, and Brady didn't want any part of it. How times did Brady get off the dirt, and bend over and have to shake the cobwebs out? I'll give the fact that our running game got shutdown, hey the middle of the NE defensive line is stout. I thought we should have run Bell more to the outside and we should have brought Dayne in around the 3rd quarter to provide some fresh legs, but I'm not the coach. Hell, even our punter roughed up the Patriots, and before anyone says that was a fluke, just remember that Sauerbrun outweighed all four safetys in the game. The Patriots played well in the first half, but in the end couldn't contain the Broncos. We beat the Patriots twice this year, we're clearly the better team. Now on to the Bowl.

[natedogg]

Originally Posted by Sir Foxx

Now on to the Bowl.

Not so fast speedy. Wait another week until you start talking Super Bowl.

[NPursuit]

Congrats to the Broncos! I wish I could have taken the loss a little better, the Pats played like total ****. That was not the team I'm used to seeing. Some was from a loud crowd, some was from a good Denver D. I would say most of it, was from self destruction. Oh well you can't win every Super Bowl.

[sandinsciuz]

Originally Posted by NPursuit

Congrats to the Broncos! I wish I could have taken the loss a little better, the Pats played like total ****. That was not the team I'm used to seeing. Some was from a loud crowd, some was from a good Denver D. I would say most of it, was from self destruction. Oh well you can't win every Super Bowl.

Well, you said it a lot more succinctly than I did!

And it's true that the Broncos did cause some disruptions of the Patriots offense. Still they were able to move the ball.

Anyway, it's all moot now.

Good luck Broncos.

[natedogg]

Originally Posted by natedogg

That's if they can even make it past Pittsburgh next week.

Who's doubting me now.

[NPursuit]

Congrats Steelers fans! You deserved that game. I can't believe they called that an incomplete pass. You were almost robbed.