Patriots show up late as they fall to Denver 26-16

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The Patriots had no answer for Peyton Manning and his high-powered offense, as the Patriots lost 26-16. The Patriots defense could not get off the field on 3rd down, as Manning and the Broncos went 7-13 on 3rd down. The defense gave up 508 total yards and 400 through the air while only able to muster 256 total yards on offense.

The Patriots could not get their run game going against Denver's stifling defense, only managing 64 yards on 16 tries (4.0 average). Lagarrette Blount, who set a franchise record with 166 yards and 4 touchdowns against Indianapolis, was nowhere to be found. Stevan Ridley was decent on the rare occasion he did get the ball, but offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels went with a pass-happy attack.

The story of the game was the Patriots missing opportunities - Brady overthrew a wide open Julian Edelman on a deep ball early and the Patriots failed to convert 3rd & 2 and 4th & 2 in the 3rd quarter, to name a couple. Brady finally managed to put together a couple of good drives in the 4th quarter, which led to the Patriots bringing the score to withing 10, but it was too late to make a difference in the game.

Good luck to Peyton and Denver in a couple of weeks.