The holidays came early for the Patriots on Monday night as the Denver Broncos handed them a gift wrapped victory by way of five turnovers and eight penalties. It also didn’t hurt that Denver’s top players on offense and defense both got hurt.
The scoreboard said 41-7, which might hearken back to the blowout days of 2007, but anyone who watched this game knows if Jay Cutler had not smacked his finger on the first play of the game this one could’ve been a lot different.
But let’s not think about that. The football gods smiled on the Patriots last night giving them just about every break they could need in a game that they badly needed to win.
It’s was reminiscent of an old-school Pats win and by old-school I mean before the days of Randy Moss, Wes Welker and the complete annihilation of the other team. No, this game followed the time-honored Belichickian Patriots tradition of allowing the other team to make mistake after mistake while never doing anything to hurt themselves. They played solid fundamental football, had zero turnovers, and won the game in the trenches.
But the victory came at a heavy price as the Pats suffered a slew of injuries. Perhaps Laurence Maroney being put on IR before the game started should’ve been a sign.
Ellis Hobbs, Lewis Sanders and Sammy Morris were all ‘dinged’ up and Rodney Harrison was lost for the season with a rumored torn quad. At this stage it’s most likely that his career is finished.
Of Harrison’s five plus seasons with the Pats he’s been healthy for three of them. In all three the Pats went to the Super Bowl. The two he wasn’t, they didn’t.
However it seems the Patriots are equipped to overcome Harrison’s loss, at least on the playing field (though probably not the locker room). Brandon Meriweather has been all over the field this year making plays, including an athletic interception last night.
It’s a safe bet that John Lynch will return and fill Rodney’s role as a hybrid safety/linebacker who plays close to the line of scrimmage. It should help that he’s another veteran leader who can help overcome the loss of Harrison’s presence off the field.
As for the healthy Patriots things are certainly looking better than they did a week ago.
Matt Cassel looks to be improving. Randy Moss looks re-energized. Sammy Morris, pending a knee injury, looked capable of being the go-to running back. And the defense looked top notch against an albeit injured, but still dangerous, Broncos offense.
With an upstart St. Louis coming to town this weekend it should be another solid challenge, but who’d have thought 5-2 would be possible when Brady went down?
