They were able to muster only one touchdown against the top ranked Denver Broncos defense Sunday, but that score combined with three field goals and a tremendous performance by their defense was more than enough in a 16-3 thumping that clinched the New England Patriots' eighth consecutive AFC East division title. 

8 In A Row- As mentioned above, the win, which moved New England to 12-2 on the season, locked up the division for the Pats. New England now holds a league record for most consecutive division title at eight straight. The Patriots have also locked up a first round bye and are now guaranteed to finish either first or second in the AFC, as they hold a one game cushion over the Oakland Raiders.

Dominant In December- The win also furthered the dominance the Patriots have had over the month of December. Since the 2001 season, the Pats have been a league best 57-10 in the month.

Leading The Way- Unlike most of the season, the New England defense led the way in this victory.  After giving up over 140 yards in the first quarter, but just three points, the Patriots shut the door right in Denver's face. On 34 first half plays, the Broncos gained 197 yards and scored three points. In the second half, the New England defense was dominant, holding Denver to just 113 yards, many of which came one the final two drives when the game was all but over, and a few first downs on 27 plays. The New England defense also forced two turnovers and controlled the line of scrimmage, tallying four sacks on the day. They also got off the field regularly on third down, holding the Broncos to just 2-12 on third down in the game.

Quiet Day At Wide Out- Part of New England's tremendous success on defense was the quality play of the team's secondary, especially top corner Malcolm Butler. The third year defensive back and unquestioned leader of the team's cornerbacks blanketed big play wide out Emmanuel Sanders. The speedy, dynamic wide out was held to a lowly three catches, the first of which didn't come until late in the fourth quarter, for 48 yards on the game. Butler, who was on Sanders all day, made it difficult for Denver quarterback Trevor Siemian to even look in Sanders' direction for most of the afternoon. On the other side of the field, bigger corners Logan Ryan and Eric Rowe combined to limit the damage caused by Denver's other tough-to-stop receiver, Demaryius Thomas. On the day, Thomas put together a better game than Sanders, catching seven balls for 91 yards. He was kept out of the end zone, however, and limited after the catch. Many of that praise should go to Ryan, who recorded a team-high seven tackles on the day, had a pass deflection and recorded the team's only pick on a nice play to jump a 7-yard out that was targeted to Thomas.

Controlling The Line- The New England defensive line also played a key role in the win, Sunday, as they controlled the line of scrimmage and dominated the Denver o-line all game long. On the day, the Pats front seven combined for seven tackles for a loss, including four sacks. Leading the way was defensive end Trey Flowers, who recorded his third multi-sack game of the season and finished the day with two sacks, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits.

Carrying The Load- In a surprising game plan, the Patriots did attack the soft Denver rush defense, but with a different back than many expected pregame. While many people felt that Patriots power back LeGarrette Blount would carry the load against the Broncos rush defense, which is ranked 29th in the league, it was the shifty Dion Lewis who led the way on the ground. On the afternoon, Lewis had his way running the football, rushing for 95 yards on 18 carries, which averaged out to a staggering 5.3 yards per carry. Though Blount pounded in the team's only touchdown on the day, he totaled just 31 yards on 17 carries. It was Lewis' strong performance that helped poise the offense, throughout the game, however. Once again, this was a classic example of the Patriots zigging, when everyone in the world is expecting them to zag.

An Average Day- Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a rather average day, Sunday, as he finished the game with 16 completions on 32 attempts for 188 yards and no scores. Brady started the game 0-6  in the first quarter, but battled back to find some sort of rhythm against the league's top pass defense. While he didn't throw a touchdown, he did make smart decisions with the ball, didn't turn it over and connected on a couple of big third downs throughout the game to get the team into scoring opportunities.

The Safety Blanket- After Brady struggled to connect with his targets in the first quarter, he made a concerted effort to go back to his safety blanket and top target, Julian Edelman. On 12 targets, Edelman caught a team-high six passes for 75 yards, including three catches on the team's only touchdown drive.

Making Amends- In last season' s AFC title game loss at Denver, Patriots right tackle Marcus Cannon was absolutely abused by the Denver pass rush, especially top threat Von Miller. On Sunday, Cannon made amends for his sloppy play in last year's season-ending loss, by stepping up and keeping the Denver defense in check. Cannon was good on Sunday that Miller's name was called so few ties that the broadcasters had to make special note of him actually being on the field in the second half. While Cannon had a bad go of it last season, it wasn't only him who was torched by the dynamic Denver pass rush in the 20-18 loss. The whole offensive line was really taken to the woodshed last season, but this year the entire group, led by Cannon, played extremely well. After allowing four sacks and 17 hits on Brady last season, the new-look Pats o-line kept Brady allowed just five hits on Brady and two sacks.

 

Creating Turnovers- Throughout most of the season, the New England defense had been inept at creating turnovers. Over the past few weeks, however, the defense has come to life and begun creating opportunities to take the ball away from their opponents. Sunday, the Pats forced two turnovers on defense, including a Logan Ryan interception that led to the team's only touchdown and a fumble by Jordan Norwood that was recovered by Devin McCourty and officially put the game on ice. Add in another Norwood fumble on a punt return in the first quarter and the Pats created three turnovers on the day, while not turning the ball over themselves.

Getting Back To Form- For most of the season, Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski has had Pats fans scratching their heads and legitimately nervous every time he took the field. After missing seven total kicks through about half the season, Gostkowski has seemingly got himself back into his top form, making nailing 16 or his last 17 field goal attempts. On the day, Gostkowski drilled to kicks of 40 plus yards right down the middle of the uprights and added a chip shot 21-yarder and an extra point. It might be safe to say that the seasoned vet has got his swagger back and is, once again, becoming a safe bet to connect on his opportunities.

 

All in all, it was a great day for the Patriots, as they waltzed into Denver, a place where they haven't had much success, and simply dominated. By the end of the game, the afternoon had turned into a "shirt and hat day," as the team celebrated with AFC East championship apparel. The offense wasn't great, but it was good enough to get itself into scoring situations and the defense might just be coming all the way around and turning into some form of the unit many though we'd see at the onset of the season. Regardless of the injuries, with two games left in the regular season the Pats are sitting firm in the drivers seat of the AFC and are putting themselves in position to have the road to the Super Bowl go through them.

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