Denver Broncos vs New England Patriots: Madden 21 simulation

Third Quarter

On the first drive of the second half, Lock threw a pick-6. It was a play that should never have happened as he forced the throw.

To this point, aside from the touchdown pass, Lock hadn’t looked great, completing 5 of 11 passes for 56 yards, a touchdown and a pick.

Lock found Jeudy once again for a conversion on 3rd-and-4.

Lindsay was effective in both the run game and the pass game. Lock found him on a wheel route for a 9-yard reception. Instead of running the ball again, Lock threw the ball on 3rd-and-1. He threw all the way to the end zone. A Patriots defender caught the ball but was out of bounds. On the next play, Lindsay picked up the first down on a run.

A few plays later, Lock threw to the end zone again but it was intercepted. The ball was placed at the 1-yard line instead of at the 25– waswhere it would have been if it was a touchback.

14-10 Patriots.

Fourth quarter

The Patriots, after several long gains, got the ball at their 31-yard line. Newton wanted to run the ball himself on 2nd-and-6 but chose to throw into tight coverage at the last second. Incomplete pass. However, he found a receiver on the next play for a first down.

The Broncos were torched several times on the ground as the Patriots wanted to run some time off the clock. Newton found Julian Edelman for a 24-yard reception and now the ball was at the 4.  Newton ran the ball in himself on the very next play.

With the extra point, the Patriots led 21-10 with 4:12 left on the clock.

Lock had an accurate throw to Tim Patrick but a Patriots defender made a nice play and broke up the pass. However, Lock then found tight end Nick Vannett for a 9-yard reception and a first down.

There didn’t appear to be a lot of urgency on the Broncos’ side late in the game. They just let the game clock go down to the 2-minute warning.

Lock’s favorite target in this game was Jeudy, who made another nice catch for 14 yards. Lock unfortunately took a sack on the very next play. That’s exactly one of the two things they did not need.

On 3rd-and-17, Lock  went into the shotgun but overthrew Patrick, the ball sailing out of bounds. On came kicker Brandon McManus, who knocked the ball through the goalposts.

With 1:02 left in the game, the Broncos tried an onside kick but did not get it. Denver had all three timeouts at this point, but with several first downs, the Patriots were able to run out the remaining time on the clock.

So, the Broncos failed to come back and win the game, losing to the Patriots by a score of 21-13.