This Week
The New England Patriots host the Denver Broncos at Gillette Stadium on Saturday at 8 p.m.
The Patriots (13-3) are 7-1 at The Razor, 4-0 against the AFC West and 10-2 in the conference. They are the AFC East Champions and the top seed in the conference.
The Broncos (9-8) are 5-3 on the road, 2-2 vs. the AFC East and 7-6 against the conference. They are the AFC West Champions and the fourth seed in the conference.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 13 1/2. The over under is 50 1/2.
My Prediction is Patriots 35, Broncos, 24. Take the points (Broncos) and take the over. I am 10-5-1 against the spread and 12 of 16 on calling the over/under in 2011.
Tickets
The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 192nd consecutive sell out dating back to the 1994 season opener. The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.
Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
After market tickets are available through the Official Patriots Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can sell their unused seats to fans on the season ticket waiting list.
Getting to the Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Foxboro make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Foxboro MA.
Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking information and map and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
CBS in televising the game nationally and Jim Nantz will do play by play while Phil Simms will provide the game analysis. You can look here for your local affiliate.
Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules; flex scheduling and commercial breaks.
Radio
The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play, former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color and new this year Scott Zolak will man the sidelines. It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Andy Gresh and Zolak with the pregame show at 5 p.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.
If you are outside the broadcast are of the stations on the Patriots Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass, which allows you to listen to any game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL Games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games under a special additional package.
The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 86, XM Channel 226 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 879.
The Broncos Radio network has Dave Logan calling play by play and former Bronco Brian Griese doing the color via their flagship station KOA. Their call is available on Sirius Channel 92, XM Channel 225 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 870.
The game will also be broadcast to a national audience by Westwood One Radio Sports. Dave Sims and James Lofton will call the game. The national radio feed from can be heard on Sirius Channel 88, XM Channel 88 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 88.
Patriots All Access
Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team. It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.
- Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
- Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
- Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
- Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
- Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
- Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
- Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.
You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.
To continue reading the Denver Broncos @ New England Patriots AFC Divisional Playoff preview, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
Last Week
The Patriots had a bye week and did not play; while the Broncos beat the Steelers at home, 29-23 in overtime of the AFC Wildcard Round.
History
- The Broncos lead the all-time series 27-17 including playoffs.
- The Patriots are 8-9 as the home team in the series.
- New England and Denver have met twice in the playoffs with Denver winning both times at home in 1986 and 2005.
- The Patriots and the Broncos are the last two teams to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
- In 1960 the teams faced each other in the inaugural game of each franchise.
- The two teams last met in Week 15 in Denver and the Patriots won 41-23.
Patriots Team Notes
Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.
2011 Patriots Schedule/Results
The Patriots overall franchise record is 414-366-9. They are 21-15 in the post season and have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in six appearances. They last appeared in the playoffs in 2010 when they lost at home to the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 28-21. They last appeared in a Super Bowl in 2007 losing to the New York Giants 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. They won the AFC Conference championship that season with playoff wins over Jacksonville and San Diego.
The Patriots are dedicating the 2011 season to the memory of Myra Hiatt Kraft, the late wife of owner Robert Kraft. Every Patriots player and coach will honor Myra’s memory by wearing a patch with her initials on it in recognition of her lifelong contributions to the local and global community and her influence on the charitable mission of the entire Patriots organization. The patch will be worn on the left chest of every player throughout the season.
The Patriots are the defending AFC East Champions they have won the division nine of the last 11 seasons and three years in a row.
New England is the top seed for the second consecutive season and 4th time overall.
They are the first AFC team to have the top seed two years in a row since Buffalo in 1990 and 1991.
This is the 9th straight season the Patriots have had 10 wins or more and 10th time in the last 11 years.
Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, New England is 74-15 at home including the playoffs.
The Patriots are 11-3 at home in the playoffs all-time. They are 7-2 in the post season at Gillette Stadium.
Overall in the playoffs they are 21-15.
PATRIOTS PLAYOFF RECORD BY ROUND
- First Round 0-1
- Wild Card Round 4-3
- Divisional Round 8-6
- AFC Championship 6-1
- AFL Championship 0-1
- Super Bowl 3-3
New England has played Denver 10 times since 2000. This is only the Patriots 3rd home game against Denver in those 10 games.
This is the first time the teams have had a playoff game in Foxboro.
New England has won eight consecutive games after a two game losing streak. It is their longest win streak of the season.
This season the Patriots defense allowed opponents to convert 43.1% of the time on 3rd down, while the offense had a 3rd down conversion rate of 45.9%.
The New England defense sacked the opponents quarterback 40 times in 16 games.
The Patriots finished 3rd in the NFL in points per game with 32.1. While they allowed 21.4 points per game good for 15th in the NFL.
New England finished PLUS 17 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 12 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 23 INT and 11 fumble recoveries. The PLUS 17 was third in the NFL and 1st in the AFC.
Patriots Staff Notes
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Tuesday press conference transcript on the Broncos.
Bill Belichick is 4-10 vs. the Denver in his career. He is 4-6 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes the playoffs (0-1).
Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 175-97 in 16 NFL seasons. He is 139-53 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland. He is 15-6 in the playoffs, 14-5 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season. When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 190-103.
Belichick’s 190 wins are good for 9th all-time. Chuck Knox, who coached the Rams, Redskins and Seahawks, is 8th all-time with 193.
Belichick is 5th in post season coaching wins with 15. Steelers legend Chuck Noll is 4th with 16 and long time Redskins coach Joe Gibbs is 3rd with 17.
He is the first coach in NFL history to have his teams win 10 games or more in 9 consecutive seasons.
He has been the NFL coach of the year three times.
Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league. The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).
New England has only failed to make the playoffs three times under Belichick in 2000, 2002 and 2008.
New England offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has accepted the head coaching job at Penn State University, he will remain with New England through their playoff run.
The Patriots have hired Josh McDaniels as an offensive assistant for the remainder of the season, he started this week. McDaniels was the offensive coordinator in St. Louis this season but was available when ownership said they wouldn’t hold him to his contract after firing head coach Steve Spagnuolo. McDaniels will be the offensive coordinator starting with the 2012 season replacing O’Brien, who had replaced him.
McDaniels is the former head coach of the Denver Broncos, in his two seasons there he acquired many of the players currently on the Denver roster.
Belichick was the assistant special teams/assistant to the defensive coordinator for the Broncos during the 1978 season.
Special teams coach, Scott O’Brien, was the special teams’ coordinator for the Broncos in 2007 and 2008.
Patriots Possible Starters
Offense:
LT: Light
LG: Thomas
C: Connolly
RG: Waters
RT: Solder
TE: Gronkowski
TE: Hernandez
WR: Branch
WR: Welker
QB: Brady
RB: Ridley
Defense:
DE: Ellis
DT: Love
DT: Wilfork
DE: Deaderick
LB: Ninkovich
LB: Mayo
LB: Fletcher
CB: McCourty
CB: Arrington
S: Chung
S: Ihedigbo
Patriots Players Notes
This is Tom Brady’s 12th NFL season he is 2-6 vs. the Broncos including 0-1 in the playoffs.
Denver is the only team in which Brady has a losing record against.
Overall Brady is 124-34 as a starting QB and is 14-5 in the playoffs for an overall record of 138-39. Brady is a 6 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP. He is also listed as the 21st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.
In 2010 Brady won his second NFL MVP and he was the first unanimous winner in league history.
Brady threw for 39 TD’s and 12 INT’s while being sacked 32 times in 16 games.
Brady has 300 TD passes in his career he is now tied for 5th all-time with Hall of Fame QB John Elway, who ironically played his entire career in Denver.
Brady has 124 career wins he is now tied for 5th all-time with Fran Tarkenton.
He became just the third quarterback to surpass 5,000 passing yards in a season he finished with 5,235 which is second most all-time to Drew Brees who had 5,476 this year. Detroit QB Matt Stafford also went over 5,000 yards passing this season (5,038).
Brady also set a franchise record for completions in a season with 401 breaking the mark set by Drew Bledsoe of 400 in 1994.
Brady is tied for 5th most post season TD passes with Terry Bradshaw both have 30. Kurt Warner is 4th at 31 and Dan Marino is 3rd with 32.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 98 consecutive games including playoffs, 81 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
Welker set a team record for receiving yards with 1,569.
TE Rob Gronkowski set the NFL record for single season yards (1,327) by a tight end that was held by the great Kellen Winslow Sr. with 1,290 yards in 1980. Earlier in Week 17 New Orleans TE Jimmy Graham broke the record first (1,310), then Gronk broke Graham’s mark.
Gronkowski combined with Aaron Hernandez to set a NFL record for most catches by tight ends on team in one season with 169.
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis became just the third running back in franchise history with consecutive 10 TD seasons.
DE Mark Anderson had one sack on Sunday to give the Patriots two players with 10 or more sacks in a season joining injured teammate Pro Bowler, Andre Carter.
CB Kyle Arrington tied for first in the NFL with 7 interceptions.
Rookie T Nate Solder attended the University of Colorado. He is from Buena Vista, CO.
There are 39 players on the roster who have played in the playoffs and 14 who have not.
On Wednesday the team listed 15 players on the injury report. Those listed as limited in practice were S Patrick Chung (foot); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/foot) CB Kyle Arrington (foot); C Dan Connolly (groin); T Matt Light (ankle); G Logan Mankins (knee); WR Julian Edelman (back); LB Dane Fletcher (thumb); S James Ihedigbo (shoulder); CB Devin McCourty (shoulder); WR Matthew Slater (shoulder); LB Brandon Spikes (MCL) and WR Wes Welker (knee). DT Kyle Love (non-injury) did not participate and QB Tom Brady (shoulder) had full participation.
On Thursday T Marcus Cannon was added to the injury report with an ankle injury and was limited at practice. The team also removed Kyle Love, Matt Light, Julian Edelman and Devin McCourty from the injury list. The status on the other 11 remained unchanged.
The Patriots have five New England natives on the roster they are: LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT); TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); S James Ihedigbo (Northampton MA) and DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA). They have 12 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member. They are: WR Deion Branch (Louisville); WR/TE Dorin Dickerson (Pitt); S James Ihedigbo (UMass); CB Nathan Jones (Rutgers); C Dan Koppen (Boston College – IR); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); NT Vince Wilfork (Miami), OL Donald Thomas (UConn); DE Mike Wright (Cincinnati – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); WR Tiquan Underwood (Rutgers) and DE Alex Silvestro (Rutgers – Practice Squad).
The Patriots have 7 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.
Broncos Team Notes
Here is the Broncos roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.
Denver’s all-time record is 406-372-10 and they are 18-15 in the playoffs with their last playoff appearance coming in 2005. That season the Broncos beat New England in the AFC Division round and then lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game. Denver has won two Super Bowls (XXXII, XXXIII) in six appearances.
This season Denver beat Pittsburgh in the AFC Wild Card Round, 29-23 in OT at Mile High.
Former Broncos QB and Hall of Fame member John Elway is the team’s executive vice president of football operations assuming that position in January 2011.
Denver is the only current AFC West team to never relocate or change its nickname.
In the decade long history of the AFL, Denver was the only team to never play in a championship game.
The Broncos will be switching back to orange jerseys in 2012 as their primary home uniform and dropping the navy pants. They will wear the navy jerseys as their alternate home uniform. They wanted to make the changes for this season but they were too late in notifying the NFL of the changes.
Denver has nearly an identical overall franchise record as New England.
The Broncos are 2-1 in Gillette Stadium.
This season the Broncos defense allowed opponents to convert 33.5% of the time on 3rd down, while the offense had a 3rd down conversion rate of 30.8%.
The Denver defense sacked the opponents quarterback 41 times in 16 games.
The Broncos finished 25th in the NFL in points per game with 19.3. While they allowed 24.4 points per game good for 21st in the NFL.
Denver is MINUS 12 in turnover differential, 26th best in the NFL. The offense has given up 13 INT and 17 fumbles, while the defense has 9 INT and 9 fumble recoveries.
Denver is the only team to beat New England twice in the playoffs.
In the 2005 playoffs, Denver beat New England. Until last weeks victory over Pittsburgh, that was the last playoff game Denver won and only post season victory since Elway retired as a player.
Broncos Staff Notes
Read what Denver Broncos head coach John Fox had to say to the New England media about the match up.
John Fox is 82-79 in his 10th season as a head coach; he was 8-8 in his 1st season with Denver and 73-71 in 9 seasons with Carolina. In the playoffs he is 6-3 overall (5-3 with Carolina; 1-0 with Denver) for an overall record of 87-82.
Fox is 1-3 vs. New England including 1 Super Bowl (0-1). He is 0-1 with Denver and 1-2 with Carolina.
Denver offensive line coach Dave Magazu attended Springfield College.
Broncos Players Notes
Tim Tebow is in his 2nd season in the NFL and he is 8-6 as a starting QB. He was the Broncos 1st round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft out of the University of Florida. He won two national championships with the Gators and a Heisman Trophy as a sophomore.
Tebow is 1-0 in the playoffs in his career.
The Broncos were 7-4 after Tebow took over as the starting QB.
Tebow is 0-1 vs. New England.
Former Patriots playing in Denver are LS Lonnie Paxton, DE Ty Warren (IR), G Russ Hochstein and DB Jonathan Wilhite.
On Wednesday and Thursday the following players were listed on the injury report. WR Eric Decker (knee); S Brian Dawkins (neck) and LS Lonnie Paxton (non-injury) did not practice. S David Bruton (Achilles); DE Elvis Dummervil (ankle) and TE Daniel Fells (ankle) were limited while LB Von Miller (thumb) participated fully.
Denver team captains for 2011 are RB Willis McGahee; G Chris Kuper; CB Champ Bailey; S Brian Dawkins and LB Wesley Woodyard.
There is one player on the Broncos roster from a Big East university and New England based college. He is: DE Elvis Dummervil (Louisville).
The Broncos retired numbers: 7 – John Elway; 18 – Frank Tripucka and 44 – Floyd Little.
Next Week
If the Patriots win they will host the winner of the Houston/Baltimore game in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. Kick off is at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
