After the game last night, I went through and looked at the stats of the Broncos two games vs. the Patriots this year, and compared them against the Giants two games vs. the Patriots this year. I didn't list every single stat, just a few interesting ones from all 4 games, and here they are:
Broncos Offense vs. Patriots Defense
Points: 33
Total Yards: 645
1st Downs: 38
3rd Down Conversions: 11-28 (39%)
Turnovers: 4
Sacks: 9
Total Plays: 129
Average Gain Per Play: 5.15
Giants Offense vs. Patriots Defense
Points: 45
Total Yards: 757
1st Downs: 49
3rd Down Conversions: 9-25 (36%)
Turnovers: 2
Sacks: 3
Total Plays: 139
Average Gain Per Play: 5.45
Patriots Offense vs. Broncos Defense
Points: 86
Total Yards: 960
1st Downs: 57
3rd Down Conversions: 8-18 (44%)
Turnovers: 2
Sacks: 2
Total Plays: 136
Average Gain Per Play: 7.15
Patriots Offense vs. Giants Defense
Points: 37
Total Yards: 787
1st Downs: 44
3rd Down Conversions: 11-27 (41%)
Turnovers: 5
Sacks: 4
Total Plays: 137
Average Gain Per Play: 5.7
_____________________________________________
Draw your own conclusions. Mine are as follows:
1) Against the Patriots defense, the Broncos offensive output actually compares fairly decently with the Super Bowl winning Giants offensive output against the Patriots defense. The Broncos actually had a better 3rd down conversion rate than the Giants. Overall, makes one go "hmmmm...." since the Broncos are not a "high octane" offense and the Giants are.
2) Turnovers and Sacks were the 2 biggest differences between the Broncos and Giants in how they performed against the Patriots defense. Obviously, turnovers are huge and sacks can be huge. In a broader sense, sacks usually are an indicator of one of three things, or a combination of those same three things. QB holding the ball too long; Offensive Line getting whacked; Receivers not getting open. In the Broncos two games against the Patriots, I think the primary issue is that the Offensive Line was getting manhandled. Tebow holding the ball too long and the Receivers not getting open might have factored into things in a smaller way in those 2 games (only talking about those 2 games, not the season as a whole), but I think the sacks were mostly on the Offensive Line.
3) Turnovers and Sacks against the Patriots Offense was a huge difference between the Broncos and Giants, with the Giants forcing twice the sacks and more than twice the turnovers against the Patriots as the Broncos did.
4) That "horrible" defense of the Patriots held the Super Bowl Champions to only 12 more total points over 2 games than the Broncos scored against the Patriots over 2 games. And of those 12 more points, 4 of them were given to the Giants last night (assuming the Giants would have made the chip-shot field goal had they not scored the touchdown) at the end of the game when the Patriots let the Giants score with a minute to go so they could get the ball back.
I've heard multiple NFL "experts" in the past few weeks talk about how much better the Patriots defense was towards the end of the season. And yet, some of those same "experts" beat on the Broncos for "only" scoring as many points as they did against those same Patriots, even though it was an average of less than a touchdown difference than the Super Bowl Champions scored against the Patriots over 2 games. Double standard? Yep.
5) It's obvious that the Patriots Offense did much better against the Broncos Defense than against the Giants Defense overall, but I think the biggest two things were that the Broncos Defense didn't get consistent pressure on Brady, and they gave up too many big plays. Thinking of that wide open Chad Johnson TD still makes me sick. I don't remember a whole lot about the first Giants/Patriots game this year, but last night the Giants gave up very few big plays to the Patriots.
Broncos Offense vs. Patriots Defense
Points: 33
Total Yards: 645
1st Downs: 38
3rd Down Conversions: 11-28 (39%)
Turnovers: 4
Sacks: 9
Total Plays: 129
Average Gain Per Play: 5.15
Giants Offense vs. Patriots Defense
Points: 45
Total Yards: 757
1st Downs: 49
3rd Down Conversions: 9-25 (36%)
Turnovers: 2
Sacks: 3
Total Plays: 139
Average Gain Per Play: 5.45
Patriots Offense vs. Broncos Defense
Points: 86
Total Yards: 960
1st Downs: 57
3rd Down Conversions: 8-18 (44%)
Turnovers: 2
Sacks: 2
Total Plays: 136
Average Gain Per Play: 7.15
Patriots Offense vs. Giants Defense
Points: 37
Total Yards: 787
1st Downs: 44
3rd Down Conversions: 11-27 (41%)
Turnovers: 5
Sacks: 4
Total Plays: 137
Average Gain Per Play: 5.7
_____________________________________________
Draw your own conclusions. Mine are as follows:
1) Against the Patriots defense, the Broncos offensive output actually compares fairly decently with the Super Bowl winning Giants offensive output against the Patriots defense. The Broncos actually had a better 3rd down conversion rate than the Giants. Overall, makes one go "hmmmm...." since the Broncos are not a "high octane" offense and the Giants are.
2) Turnovers and Sacks were the 2 biggest differences between the Broncos and Giants in how they performed against the Patriots defense. Obviously, turnovers are huge and sacks can be huge. In a broader sense, sacks usually are an indicator of one of three things, or a combination of those same three things. QB holding the ball too long; Offensive Line getting whacked; Receivers not getting open. In the Broncos two games against the Patriots, I think the primary issue is that the Offensive Line was getting manhandled. Tebow holding the ball too long and the Receivers not getting open might have factored into things in a smaller way in those 2 games (only talking about those 2 games, not the season as a whole), but I think the sacks were mostly on the Offensive Line.
3) Turnovers and Sacks against the Patriots Offense was a huge difference between the Broncos and Giants, with the Giants forcing twice the sacks and more than twice the turnovers against the Patriots as the Broncos did.
4) That "horrible" defense of the Patriots held the Super Bowl Champions to only 12 more total points over 2 games than the Broncos scored against the Patriots over 2 games. And of those 12 more points, 4 of them were given to the Giants last night (assuming the Giants would have made the chip-shot field goal had they not scored the touchdown) at the end of the game when the Patriots let the Giants score with a minute to go so they could get the ball back.
I've heard multiple NFL "experts" in the past few weeks talk about how much better the Patriots defense was towards the end of the season. And yet, some of those same "experts" beat on the Broncos for "only" scoring as many points as they did against those same Patriots, even though it was an average of less than a touchdown difference than the Super Bowl Champions scored against the Patriots over 2 games. Double standard? Yep.
5) It's obvious that the Patriots Offense did much better against the Broncos Defense than against the Giants Defense overall, but I think the biggest two things were that the Broncos Defense didn't get consistent pressure on Brady, and they gave up too many big plays. Thinking of that wide open Chad Johnson TD still makes me sick. I don't remember a whole lot about the first Giants/Patriots game this year, but last night the Giants gave up very few big plays to the Patriots.
Comment