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The Broncos offense rushed the ball 32 times for 179 yards, a 5.6 average per carry. The balance that it created Sunday night and was visible in last week’s win, forced both defenses to respect the ground game and it surely opened up the passing game.
“That makes the game a lot easier for us on the outside when you have two guys like that running that well. It makes the defense soften up and gives us more opportunities outside,” Andre Caldwell said after the win Sunday.
The running game’s consistency has been elusive for Kubiak and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison all season and it appears that it is finally coming along. Kubiak spoke to his team about its importance at halftime:
“We preached at halftime that physical was still going to win the football game, and ultimately it did. [I am] just proud of the coaches for sticking with it. Rick [Dennison] did a great job of sticking with it. The coaches did a really good job.”
Defensively, the Broncos held an explosive offense to only 301 net yards, 110 yards shy of their season average. They also held the Patriots to 15 percent third down efficiency which if drastically lower than the 46.5 percent average they came to town with. Lastly, they only gave up 39 rushing yards the entire game and only one yard came after the third quarter.
“I think we played well, we played sound and I think we play sound every week; that’s just what we want to do. Facing a great quarterback like Tom Brady, you have to be sound and I think we played well,” Brandon Marshall humbly said following the impressive performance.
Email Sam at sam@milehighsports.com and follow him on Twitter @SamCowhick
