Denver Broncos recorded a huge win last night against reigning champions and undefeated New England Patriots 30:24. It was a spectacular comeback in the fourth quarter after trailing for most of the game, at one point New England led by two touchdowns and many thought the job as done.
However, the young quarterback Brock Osweiler stood up and rallied the Broncos to the glorious victory over Tom Brady and injury plagued Patriots. It didn’t start well for the home team. New England took the lead after only three and a half minutes after a longtime recognizable connection between Brady and Gronkowski. The tight end scored a touchdown for the early lead, and that was the end of the first quarter which didn’t have much to offer except for this score.
Another Patriots’ tight end Scott Chandler caught the pass for the new TD, and it started to snow heavily, so the conditions were a bit tricky. Denver’s kicker, Brandon McManus noticed that when 49 yards field goal kick went wide right on the next drive. The Broncos missed the opportunity to cut the visitors’ lead, but Osweiler’s next drive was successful, and Ronnie Hillman rushed for TD to open the scoring for the hosts. Before that touchdown, Hillman recorded only 9 yards on 7 carries. The Sports Authority Field in Denver exploded. This settled the first half score 7:14.
The beginning of the second half was one of the most uninteresting this season; teams mainly played in the middle of the park and ball changed the possession from one to the other team. Tom Brady had problems to connect with his receivers on several occasions; he evidently missed Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, who were sidelined due to injuries. Brady confides the most in Rob Gronkowski and Scott Chandler while the running game was pretty much useless. However, the running back Brandon Bolden was on the receiving end of Brady’s pass after only 10 seconds into the final quarter and scored a touchdown for a big New England’s lead. Belichick and Brady rarely lose games when leading 14 points in the fourth quarter. Denver’s next drive brought nothing to the hosts, so they had to punt. This was one of the critical moments of the game because a punt returner muffed the ball that became alive and the Broncos recovered it. In the next minute and a half, the scoreboard was changed – 14:21. C.J. Anderson found some holes in Patriots defense and took the advantage for another rushing TD. That score made fans get louder than ever on the next New England’s drive.
The Broncos has the best defense in NFL, and they proved that last night. The Patriots’ offense stopped functioning, and Denver quickly got the ball back. Osweiler, who stepped in instead of injured superstar Peyton Manning, had an excellent drive and moved the chains up to three yards of the end zone. However, New England’s defense was relentless, so the Broncos had to satisfy with a field goal to trim the lead to four points. A young quarterback found Andre Caldwell for a touchdown only one minute before the end, and everybody thought that was it. Denver took the lead for the first time, but Brady wouldn’t be Brady if he couldn’t handle that situation. He even lost Gronkowski because of the knee injury he suffered in the final quarter. With the only minute left and just one timeout, a future Hall of Famer provided an excellent opportunity for kicker Stephen Gostkowski to tie the game from 47 yards and he did it in dying seconds of the match.
Overtime started with Patriots’ drive, but Von Miller and the rest of Broncos’ defense simply molested Brady, so New England had to punt. At that point, any score will be winning for Denver. Osweiler moved the ball like a veteran, and when everybody expected a McManus’ kick for a victory, C.J. Anderson ran for 43 yards to score a winning touchdown and pandemonium on the stands began. Denver Broncos defeated the champions, and it was a real statement win. Brock Osweiler recorded the second win in that many starts in his young career, so the question now is, whether he is better than the all-time leading passer and NFL icon Peyton Manning? We will know more in coming weeks.
