Broncos - Patriots Takeaways

Von's Bad / He Knows It

> The size of CBS' pre-game orgasm about having Brady vs. Manning XVII was downright unseemly, and didn't diminish all day

> NE won the toss and didn't defer, which symbolized, um, something

> CBS doesn't announce personnel via on-screen spoken intros anymore, which is just about the only good thing about their telecasts

> NE was unable to get any push on their lone running play of the first series, which was all kinds of telling

> Denver got contact on QB Tom Brady on third down without a flag or post-whistle begging for a flag, for the first truly remarkable event of the day

> The Broncos' first drive of the day might have been QB Peyton Manning's best of the year

> Bootleg Manning for maximum accuracy made the Patriots go to a 3-man rush, then the defense failed to cover TE Owen Daniels for a cotton-soft score

> TE Rob Gronkowski didn't get a flag on a third and 3 chuck play, which created a 3 and out and the start of a long day of puling

> Brady destroyed all narratives about how much better he was at this point of his career than Manning with a terrible INT in his own red zone

> Manning's dumb lateral and Ronnie Hillman's inability to pick up a live ball more or less cost them seven points and the ability to go up a lot in the first half

> K Stephen Gostkowski missed a PAT, which let the announcing team talk about his massively long PAT streak, as if PATs didn't get a lot harder this year; it also turned out to be incredibly important

> Owen Daniels wasn't the best TE in this game despite two TDs, because without Rob Gronkowski, there's absolutely no drama in this one

> Microsoft got called out for first half technical tablet difficulties, which has to be just what they were hoping for with that product placement


> Ed Hochuli decided that the most important game of the year in the AFC was the time to dust off the 15 yards for running out of bounds during punt coverage rule

> The longest run for the Patriots in the first half was by Tom Brady, because that's entirely predictable

> Brady spent most of the game short hopping throws, as if he were possessed by the spirit of Donovan McNabb

> Neither team did themselves any favors by running it for pretty much the entire game

> Denver was much better in the first half, but the stupid lateral made it a one possession game

> Peyton Manning reached a top speed of 16 mph on his scramble for a first down, which made the Denver bench break out in giggles

> Denver went into an offensive funk and shell in the fourth quarter, which pretty much gave Brady a half dozen opportunities to suck out a win

> Why every important Patriots play isn't to Gronkowski is one of those things that Patriot Fan will never understand

> The fourth down conversion and fourth down touchdown to Gronk were mind-bogging great plays, both by the QB and TE, that were greatly aided by injuries to the starting Bronco safetys

> Next year, NE might want to get Brady a deep threat WR who is better than reserve RB James White, because White really isn't very good

> Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware treated the NE OL like speedbags for most of this game

> Miller somehow got away with a Key & Peele level sack celebration involving his junk

> Football is so good, it can overcome terrible refs, sloppy offense, bloodsport tendencies and mawkish media coverage that over-emphasizes two players over ninety

> With the win, Manning becomes the first QB to start multiple Super Bowls for two teams, and in two weeks, he'll be the first to lose three out of four of those games