3 plays that doomed Broncos and their playoff hopes on Christmas Eve

A loss to the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve, the second year in a row that the Denver Broncos have suffered a terrible holiday loss, the team's playoff hopes have pretty much gone up in smoke.

It was a big blow for the Broncos who saw as the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans all lost in Week 16.

Looking back at this game, one in which the Broncos trailed 23-7 entering the fourth quarter, we can put our finger on three plays that really impacted the final result in a negative way for the Broncos. These three plays, had their been a different result, likely would have led to a Broncos win and an 8-7 record, rather than a loss and a 7-8 record.

Javonte Williams stopped on 4th-and-Goal

The Broncos could not have asked for this game to start any better for them than it did. On the Patriots' first snap of the game, Bailey Zappe took a hit from D.J. Jones, the ball came loose and Jones fell on it, setting the Broncos up with 1st-and-goal from the New England 6-yard line.

On consecutive runs, Javonte Williams was stopped for a short gain. On 3rd-and-goal, Russell Wilson appeared to have his pass attempt to Adam Trautman picked off in the end zone but upon replay, the call was reversed to an incomplete pass.

Sean Payton has been pretty good this season at taking points when they are available and he probably should have here. But likely motivated by a huge start to the game after the big turnover, Payton decided to go for it on fourth down.

Williams had his number called again on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line and he was stopped short of the end zone. The Broncos ended up with nothing after that big start by the defense.

After the game, Wilson talked about how the start to the game is what hurt the Broncos the most, rather than the way they finished it.

Marvin Mims fumbles kickoff return

This was easily the biggest play in this game and if you had to narrow it down to one play that cost the Broncos this football game, it would have been this one. Have a look for yourself:

Right after the Patriots scored a touchdown to go up 16-7, Mims fumbled the ensuing kickoff, picked it up and then had it poked out again. The Patriots recovered the ball in the end zone for another touchdown and instantly, a game that was once 9-7 was 23-7 in the span of about 30 seconds.

The way the game was going, this seemed to put the Broncos in an insurmountable hole. This was also tough for Mims, who made some big plays in this game including a diving 47-yard catch and a 52-yard punt return.

This play was unfortunate and it's the kind of play you can't have in a game where you're struggling to move the football. Hopefully, the rookie Mims learns from this mistake and never has a play like that again in his career.

Late third-down catch by DeVante Parker

The final two minutes of this game was quite interesting.

After miraculously tying the game with two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions, the Broncos were able to force a Patriots punt to get the ball with a chance to win it in the end. But on three plays, the Broncos lost three yards and had to punt back to New England.

The Pats got the ball at their own 19-yard line with 58 seconds left on the clock. A handoff to Ezekiel Elliott on first down seemed to indicate that the Patriots were content to go to overtime. But Payton called a time out. Following another run play to Elliott, Payton burned his second time out.

He wanted a chance to get the ball back, perhaps feeling the Broncos still had the momentum. It also forced the Patriots to either run a play to get the first down and make their own decision on whether to go for a game-winning field goal or to still shut it down and head to OT.

Bailey Zappe took the next snap from the shotgun and threw a perfect back-shoulder pass to DeVante Parker who turned and hauled it in for a gain of 27 yards. It was Patrick Surtain in coverage for the Broncos and it didn't matter. That play set the Patriots for a chance to kick the game-winning field goal, which they did shortly thereafter as Chad Ryland blasted one from 56 yards for the win.

A devastating and heartbreaking loss for the Broncos just as Santa was getting the reindeer ready to head out for the night.