Tim Tebow brought his Denver Broncos to Foxboro hoping to shock the world twice this postseason, but that plan was left in tatters by the wayside as the Patriots strolled to an easy win. The Broncos have a remarkably good record against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick but all of that was well before Tebow was involved, and the New England pair moved to 2-0 against Denver this season with a result that was never in doubt.
Denver came out and made an early decision to treat Aaron Hernandez as a receiver and play in nickel formations when he was on the field. The Patriots then simply used him as a running back and dominated against the light fronts and smaller personnel that Denver had on the field. Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined to destroy the Denver defense and New England romped to a five-score lead by the time the half arrived. The second half was largely a procession as Denver just tried to get back on the scoreboard and the Patriots simply tried not to give them any reason to think there was any way back.
Denver looked to be out-coached and beaten by a better game plan when these two met in the regular season, and if anything, they were even more comprehensively out-coached this time. Let’s take a look at some performances worth talking about.
Denver – Three Performances of Note
The Bright Spots
There really weren’t many players that came out of the game with much self respect so let’s get them out of the way. Brodrick Bunkley (+1.4) has been Denver’s best run defender on the D-line all season long, but the Patriots kept Denver in nickel defense so much that he saw just 24 snaps in the game, and many of them came late in the game when the Broncos were just rotating bodies on the D-line. By contrast, Ryan McBean (+0.4) saw 42 snaps and was often moved out of the point of attack by Patriots’ linemen. The old guard in the form of Champ Bailey held up his end of the bargain for Denver. Targeted just once, Bailey didn’t allow any catches and knocked away the only pass that was thrown at him (Q1, 3.26). The damage was done through the air, but it wasn’t in Bailey’s house.
On offense, a pair of Broncos stood up while the rest of the team was overwhelmed. Ryan Clady (+1.1) was a lone pressure away from a perfect day in pass protection from his 32 passing snaps, and running back Willis McGahee (+2.5) forced six missed tackles on his 17 carries, averaging 4.5 yards per run despite not much help in front of him.
Interior Collapse
The Denver O-line hasn’t been stellar all season long, but they have been able to overcome that with smoke and mirrors and the option offense that places stress on specific defenders without them even being blocked. In this game the Patriots had the lane discipline to combat that and their heavy defensive fronts got the better of the Broncos interior. Zane Beadles (-3.3), J.D. Walton (-1.9) and Russ Hochstein (-2.3) couldn’t deal with the size and strength of the large defensive linemen that the Patriots were putting out there and the trio combined for eleven total pressures including two sacks. Walton finished the season as easily the worst grades center in the NFL and Beadles was among the worst guards in the league as well. Hochstein replaced Kris Kuper who was probably Denver’s best pass-protecting lineman this season, and the trio were soundly overmatched in this game, making things impossible for the Broncos to move the ball and keep pace in a losing effort.
Inability to Matchup in Coverage
The Patriots didn’t even bother to throw at Bailey outside of one crossing pattern, and that’s because they were able to get so much joy out of the rest of the Denver defense in coverage. Andre’ Goodman (-3.0) was thrown at nine times and allowed seven catches to five different receivers. Only Julian Edelman failed to catch every pass that was thrown at him with Goodman in coverage as the Broncos starter coughed up 122 yards and three touchdowns. Chris Harris Jr. (-1.2) was left the unenviable task of matching up with Wes Welker and occasionally Rob Gronkowski. While Harris’ coverage was usually pretty tight, he was just never able to prevent either player making the catch and picking up yardage. Harris was targeted eight times and allowed six receptions for 54 yards and two touchdowns. The undrafted rookie has had a strong season in the slot for Denver but he was put in a very tough spot in this game, asked to cover two of the game’s bigger mis-matches one-on-one for much of the game, and ended up playing 90.9% of the Broncos defensive snaps as Denver tried to matchup with the Patriots' weapons on offense. Unfortunately for Harris, he was simply in over his head this time and couldn’t prevent his man making plays.
New England – Three Performances of Note
Gronk’d
Rob Gronkowski (+7.3), in case you hadn’t noticed this season already, is ridiculous. The Patriots tight end didn’t miss a snap this game and was thrown at twelve times. He hauled in 10 of them for 145 yards and three touchdowns as he single-handedly dismantled the Broncos' coverage, including some of the more impressive plays you will see from a tight end. His diving touchdown in the first quarter rescued an overthrown ball from Tom Brady with an amazing catch; first reeling it in with one hand before securing it with both as he hit the ground. Under review it could arguably have been overturned as the ball moved when he hit the ground, but the play itself was fantastic to get that far. Another play that demonstrated the dominant physical play of Gronkowski came with the first play of the fourth quarter. Gronkowski was split wide to the right of the formation, covered by safety Rafael Bush. Running a go route downfield, Brady threw a perfect pass and Gronkowski, despite being blanket covered by Bush, was just too big, strong and tall for the Broncos DB to get to the ball. Gronkowski took it away over Bush’s head and got his feet down before going out of bounds. Nobody has been able to cover Gronkowski all season and if anything he stepped up even more in this game.
Just what is Aaron Hernandez?
We discussed before this game on Twitter that Aaron Hernandez (+3.2) had lined up either split wide or in the slot on 67.4% of his snaps this season, and it seems as if the Broncos noticed, because they opened the game treating him as a wide receiver, sending their nickel personnel packages onto the field even with the Patriots seemingly in base formations and heavier sets. New England responded by lining Hernandez up in the backfield and using him as a running back. Hernandez played 57 snaps in this game, and before leaving towards the end to preserve him after a shot in garbage time, he had missed just two snaps. 23 of those snaps came in the backfield and yielded five carries for 61 yards including a 43-yard run early in the game where it looked like he could have taken it to the house if he had trusted his speed and continued towards the pylon, rather than cutting back infield and trying to make people miss. He was also thrown at five times, catching four passes for 55 yards and a touchdown and generally leaving the Broncos even more confused than they were before the game about how to match up with him.
Only Room for One Spotlight Quarterback
It’s only fair to point the spotlight towards Tom Brady after his performance that saw him tie the all-time post-season single-game touchdown record of six. In truth, had the Patriots been trying, they could easily have added a seventh by passing the ball when deep in the red zone rather than trying to run the ball in and keep the clock moving, and Brady notched 363 yards and a rating of 137.6 as well as a +4.8 PFF rating. On passes over 10 yards down field, Brady was eight of 11 for 181 yards and three touchdowns and his performance was only marred by a lone interception on an in-breaking route to Gronkowski on a pass that looked just to sail on him. In a game where the struggles of Tebow were only too obvious, Brady was near flawless in this game and looked far more like the player that began his career with mercurial displays in the post-season, and less like the player that had seen some struggles in his recent postseason games.
Game Notes
– Chad Ochocinco saw just one snap on offense and unfortunately for him looked to get open after a quick inside release at the line only for Brady to throw underneath.
– Brady was pressured on just five snaps. Tebow on 19.
– Patriots CB Kyle Arrington was targeted 11 times, eight more than any other Patriot defender. He allowed seven receptions for 112 yards
Game Ball
TEs Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Together, this duo dismantled the Broncos defense who were totally unable to matchup with either player. They accounted for four of the touchdowns and 261 yards of offense.
Follow @SamMonson on Twitter … and give our main feed a follow too: @ProFootbalFocus
© 2026 PFF - all rights reserved.