Patriots will roll to Super Bowl
The New England Patriots are getting ready to play the seventh Super Bowl in the Bill Belichick, Tom Brady era.
Yes, there is still another game to go, but only in name. The Denver Broncos might be the top seed in the AFC, but they are no match for a healthy Patriots team that dispatched the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, who at this point, are arguably the second-best team in the AFC.
The game will be played at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, a place where the Patriots sustained their first defeat of the season. Back on that Sunday, the Broncos were playing Brock Osweiler at quarterback and New England was without linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Jaime Collins, and receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola. Tight end Rob Gronkowski was also lost in the fourth quarter to a knee injury.
This time around, all of those players missing for the Patriots will be back in name and deed. Edelman looked like his old self against Kansas City, while Amendola remains a threat opposite of Brandon LaFell. Gronkowski remains the most dominant tight end perhaps in the sport’s history, and will be a matchup nightmare for anybody in the Denver secondary.
While some will point to these teams matching up two years ago in the AFC title game – with the Broncos winning handily – these are two completely different teams. Peyton Manning is utterly shot and frankly, should be retiring the second this season comes to an end. He led the league with 17 interceptions, and barely played over half the season. His targets went from Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker and Julius Thomas to Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Jordan Norwood and Owen Daniels. Not exactly the same thing.
Vegas clearly believes the Patriots are going to roll, putting the road team in as a four-point favorite to start the week. New England has a vast edge at both coach and quarterback, not to mention personnel across the board offensively. While Denver does enjoy the best defense in the NFL, New England has a solid group in its own right, led by Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Malcolm Butler, Jabaal Sheard, Hightower and Collins.
Ultimately, the Broncos have enjoyed a main carpet ride that is about to see the rug pulled out from under it. The season has been propped up by incredible health, some very fortune outcomes in games that could have gone either way (the initial Kansas City game, along with wins against Chicago, New England, Cincinnati and Baltimore, to name a few).
Denver fans won’t like it, but the Patriots are the superior team, and it is not even close. If this is Manning’s final game, how fitting that Brady gets to slam the door in his face.
