Heading into Saturday night's rematch with Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, many Patriots fans were scared. Not because New England wasn't a better team on paper (they were) but because Tebow's mystique had grown with last week's performance against the Steelers, owners of the league's best defense.
All Tebow did against Pittsburgh was throw for 316 yards, many coming on down-the-field completions that caught everybody by surprise.
With two weeks off and a week to prepare for Denver's read-option offense, Bill Belichick had his team prepared for the Broncos' revitalized passing game. But even if the old Pats defense showed up in Foxboro Saturday -- the one that was the league's worst against the run in 2011 -- it wouldn't have mattered. Because future Hall of Famer Tom Brady put the game out of reach by halftime. At the break, he had thrown five touchdowns -- two more than Tebow had completions at that point -- and by the time it was over, Brady had six -- three going to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
“I just can’t say enough about the players today,” Belichick said after the game. “They obviously did a great job. We had a good week (of work) in the bye week (leading up to the Denver game). We got a lot of things done. And once we found out who we were playing, I think these guys really did a good job of focusing on the target and they were obviously ready to go today. They stepped up and they made a lot of big plays throughout the game for 60 minutes. It was a good, solid team effort.”
Tebow has been criticized most of the season for his sporadic passing skills but he's always been a dangerous runner. The Pats turned the tables by putting his college teammate in their backfield. Tight end Aaron Hernandez ran the ball five times for 61 yards and looked more like Tebow than, well, Tebow.
Hernandez said he was shocked by the game plan.
“I’d say I was surprised, but I was happy to be doing it, and I hope I can do a little more of it. I just do what the coaches ask me, and they put me in position to try to make plays, and I just try to help the team and just try to get the big gain,” said Hernandez, who also caught four passes for 55 yards on Saturday night, including a 17-yard scoring strike from Brady in the third quarter.
“I love running back. I hope he [Coach Bill Belichick] keeps letting me do it," he added. "Doesn’t matter, whatever I can do to help this team to get to that next game.”
And that next game will come on Sunday when New England hosts Baltimore in the AFC Conference Championships. The last time these two teams met in the postseason? A wild-card matchup following the 2009 season. The Ravens scored on the first play of the game and didn't look back, running away with the victory, 33-14.
Vegas set the early line at Patriots (-7) and given the way they played against the Broncos that might be too low. That said, Baltimore isn't in awe of Brady. They've faced him before and beaten him. This game could come down to how well an inconsistent Joe Flacco plays for Baltimore. Because we know Brady will show up ready to go.
