For everything that the Pats did right, building up a 31-7 lead late in the third quarter, they had to sweat it out a bit in the fourth quarter after Stevan Ridley (28 carries, 151 yards, TD) ruined his perfect day with a costly fumble. Thankfully, Willis McGahee (51 rushing yards, 51 receiving yards) was in a giving mood as well, Rob Ninkovich forced his second fumble of the game and Jermaine Cunningham fell on it to wrap it up.
Manning (31 of 44, 345 passing yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT) and Brady (23 of 31, 223 passing yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) had solid performances but Denver overshadowed it with three costly fumbles and New England put up 251 rushing yards as a team. When's the last time the Patriots had more rushing yards than passing yards in a game?
Brandon Bolden (54 yards rushing) and Danny Woodhead (47 rushing yards, 25 receiving yards) were sprinkled into the playcalling wisely by Josh McDaniels. Wes Welker (13 catches, 104 yards, TD) scored his first touchdown of the season with his mortal enemy Julian Edelman still sidelined with a hand injury.
Demaryius Thomas (9 catches, 188 yards) is a beast and Peyton is helping him become one of the NFL's top receivers but he needs to cut down on his fumbles. Today's fumble after a 43-yard catch and run was his third consecutive game with a fumble. Props though to Patriots cornerback Sterling Moore who chased him down (after getting beaten deep), knocking it loose then recovering it.
The other fumble was from Manning and Vince Wilfork recovered it after Ninkovich drilled Peyton. Jerod Mayo (13 tackles, sack) also played well for the Patriots defense that was superb, until the last quarter or so. Broncos linebacker Von Miller had eight tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss and a pass deflection.
Welker's 8-yard touchdown catch were the only points of the first quarter. Denver tied it at seven early in the second quarter after Devin McCourty's standard pass interference (not turning his head at all) penalty put the ball on the 1-yard line. Joel Dreessen caught the 1-yard score from Manning.
Of course with all the weapons New England possesses in the running game at the moment, Shane Vereen would be the one to get a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter that made it 14-7. It was his only touch of the game and first score of the season. The Pats could have gone up two touchdowns heading into halftime but they were stuffed twice on runs at the goalline and had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski.
In the third quarter, Brady got in on the fun with a 1-yard sneak and Ridley's touchdown had everybody thinking about the two Patriots blowouts vs the Broncos last season. If nothing else, Peyton is not Tim Tebow which means Denver still had some hope to rally. Eric Decker made an amazing 2-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter and Brandon Stokley (yes, he's still in the NFL) cut it to 31-21 with a 5-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
The Patriots' tour of the NFC West continues on Sunday (4:05 p.m., CBS) with a game at CenturyLink Field against the Seahawks (3-2, 2-0 home). Seattle has a big homefield advantage although we all know they should have lost to the Packers in Week 3's debacle that was the swan song for the replacement refs. Pete Carroll's team doesn't have many weapons on offense and rookie quarterback Russell Wilson has struggled but their defense is legit and their home crowd makes a ton of noise so that game won't be easy by any means.
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