Tom Brady, Patriots left with no answer for Broncos' relentless rush
DENVER – Tom Brady, faced with the reality that his season was over, assessed what he would now do with his time.
The New England Patriots had just lost the AFC Championship Game, 20-18, to the Denver Broncos after coming in as the favorites. He stood at the podium Sunday night after he spent most of the afternoon running for his life.
Brady was pressured all game long. He couldn’t get settled. And the New England Patriots could never find a comfort zone.
“I have to get over these bumps and bruises,” Brady said, “that will be the first thing.”
Judging by the way the game went, Brady will have a lot of them to nurse.
The Denver Broncos are on their way to Super Bowl 50, and the main reason is a pass rush that dominated. The Broncos mauled New England’s offensive line. The Patriots allowed Brady to get hit 20 times, sacked four, and the barrage of pressure never relented. New England had no answer.
“We never could play with a lead,” Brady said. “We never could play on our terms.”
New England’s offense is built around an up-tempo passing game that stresses quick-release passes to receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola in the middle of the field. When that is working, it opens up soft spots in coverage down the field for tight end Rob Gronkowski.
The Patriots never got the chance to work that strategy. The Broncos completely disrupted New England’s timing.
“They, as a defense, when I was lined up inside, jammed me up a little bit,” Gronkowski said. “I haven’t seen it all the time, but they did a good job of it. I just have to figure out ways to get off of it.
“Sometimes, you just have to deal with it. That’s football.”
That’s something the Patriots could never do on Sunday.
Linebacker Von Miller collected four tackles, one interception, four quarterback hits and 2.5 sacks, a Broncos single-game record in the postseason. Defensive end Derek Wolfe made six tackles and sacked Brady once. Linebacker DeMarcus Ware added a half-sack and a whopping seven quarterback hits.
Brady completed just 27 of his 56 passing attempts for 310 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
In particular, Patriot offensive tackles Sebastian Vollmer and Cameron Fleming were among the worst to be victimized by Denver’s pass rush.
“They hung in there all day,” Brady said of the offensive line. “That’s the strength of their team. Our strength was trying to get the ball to our skill guys and let them make some plays in space. They have a good front. And they have good players. They’re teeing off on the cadence and we were trying to change it up. On defense, sometimes, you just have to get one play to end a drive, and I think they did a great job today.”
Vollmer, swarmed by reporters at his locker, tried to search for answers after the game. All he could muster when asked what happened was this.
“They’ve got good rushers,” he said.
Despite the dominant play from the Broncos front, the Patriots still fought and still had a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.
After Brady led an eight-play, 50-yard touchdown drive that put New England within two points with 12 seconds left in the game, it came down to the two-point conversion.
And as it had been all game long, Denver’s pass rush helped seal the game. In the failed two-point play, the Broncos forced Brady to his right, before he was picked off in the end zone, effectively ending New England’s season.
“It was just tough for us to ever get into a rhythm,” Brady said, with a sigh. “We had time to score some points there at the end, but for it to come to a two-point conversion, it’s a tough way to obviously end the season.”
Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.
PHOTOS: Best of AFC Championship Game