The Broncos were smothered by the Patriots in their Divisional Playoff matchup. (Stephan Savoia - AP)

Thoughts on the blowout loss to the New England Patriots in Foxborough (In no particular order):

• Before I get into the game, I have to say that this season was an outright blast. I haven’t had this much fun watching the Denver Broncos since the 1998 campaign. With all the ups and downs, and considering where they ended up compared to where they started, it was a season I will remember for a very long time. The playoff victory over the Steelers is a game that will be replayed forever and was obviously the highlight of an improbable year. Despite the fact the Broncos didn’t even compete in the big loss to the Patriots on Saturday, the 2011 season was a huge success for this franchise. Denver proved they are good enough to compete with most teams in the league and win the AFC West Championship, but it is very evident that they still have a lot of work to do in order to beat the elite teams. The talent gap between the Broncos and the best clubs out there is still too large, but I have the utmost faith in John Elway and I believe this is a team moving in the right direction.
• With all the positive things that Denver accomplished this year, it was disappointing to watch them go down without putting up a fight against the Patriots. The Broncos got outplayed in all phases of the game and they were outcoached on both sides of the ball. I don’t think we have to worry about the assistant coaches getting hired away anymore; their performances on Saturday were embarrassing. Mike McCoy reverted back to his uninventive and uninspiring self. It goes without saying that the Broncos had to abandon what they wanted to do early because the score got out of hand quickly, but there was once again no creativity in the play calling. There were several instances where Denver ran the same play twice in a row with no success, and they also stayed in a very conservative mode when it had become laughable to do so. The offense isn’t going to win any awards for their effort, but the defense actually made them look pretty decent. Dennis Allen’s crew absolutely no showed in the biggest game of the year and they gave up a staggering 509 total yards. They allowed the New England tight ends to torch them more than they did during the regular season matchup and that is quite an accomplishment. At the end of the day, the Broncos got beat on all fronts by a much better team.

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Elvis Dumervil and the rest of the Denver defense needs to pressure Tom Brady on Saturday night. (Lenny Ignelzi/AP Photo)

The Denver Broncos’ season continues this weekend when they travel to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots in an AFC Divisional Playoff game. After a thrilling overtime defeat of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round, Denver looks to once again overcome the odds and win as a big underdog.

This will be Denver’s 3rd all-time playoff matchup against the Patriots. The Broncos are 2-0 in the previous games, although both of those were played in Denver. These teams met after the 1986 and 2005 seasons with the Broncos winning 22-17 and 27-13, respectively. The 1986 matchup was John Elway’s first playoff victory as a player and it led to the 2nd Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. The win during the ’05 season was the first playoff victory during the post-Elway era, and up until last weekend it was the only playoff victory since Denver won their 2nd of back-to-back Super Bowl Championships after the 1998 season.

Although New England is favored by about 2 touchdowns, there is something special about this Denver team. I fully expect them to compete and play much better than they did during the regular season matchup a month ago. I would not be surprised at all if the Broncos keep this wild ride going for at least another week.

Here is the recipe for a Divisional Playoff win over the New England Patriots:

• The Broncos need to win the turnover battle. If I were to write 100 articles like this before playoff games, all 100 of them would start this same way. Turnovers are the key to every playoff game but it’s even more so for a team that is a big underdog. During the regular season loss to the Patriots, Denver dominated the game until a string of 3 turnovers spun it into a blowout the other way. If Denver wins the turnover battle this time around they will absolutely have a shot to win it at the end.
• Denver’s offense needs to pound the rock. The best defense against Tom Brady is to keep him on the sidelines looking pretty for the cameras, and the best way to do that is to own the time of possession. The Broncos need to run the ball and eat some clock during their scoring drives. They rushed for 252 yards in the first meeting which is a ridiculously big number. If they can approach that production again it will result in good things on Saturday night.

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