Yes, when you look at the whole picture, Denver's defense gave up 40 or more points to Green Bay, Lions, Bills, and of course the Pats twice. Holding teams like KC, Vikings and the Bears without Cutler to low scores doesn't mean you're great. They might not make the playoffs next year.
What ESPN had to say:
The New England Patriots played a near-perfect game in Saturday's 45-10 divisional-round win over the Denver Broncos. But what was up with quarterback Tom Brady's punt on third-and-10 late in the fourth quarter?
Up 35 points, the Patriots kept their starting offense in the game and had some success moving the ball. But New England lined up in a shotgun formation and Brady surprised everyone by punting the ball 48 yards to Denver's 10-yard line.
It came off as New England showing up the Broncos by doing something zany instead of simply running out the clock. The Patriots were practicing something very rare at Denver's expense in a nationally televised postseason game.
"It's funny, that’s the kind of play you work on forever and you never know when it's going to come," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. "Actually, we talked about doing it when we were backed up there on the 2-yard line."
Brady backed his head coach and didn't mind the call.
"We've been practicing it for seven years; a situation came up," Brady explained. "I was trying to get it inside the 5 but I needed a penalty to do that. I was happy about the call."
A skirmish ensued after Brady's punt when Broncos linebacker Von Miller lost his cool and delivered a late hit. Pride set in as Denver's defense was getting embarrassed. This quick kick by Brady certainly didn't help matters.
Belichick is always thinking about situational football, but punting on third down near midfield seemed unnecessary. Next time the Patriots should leave these things for the preseason, not the postseason.
Like I've been saying all along, the Denver defense is OK but not real good. Note that Denver's defense has given up over 40 points 5 times this year. The much criticized Patriots defense has given up over 40 points .... eh ... well ... not once. As a matter of fact the Pats have given up over 30 just once this year. Tebow better leasrn how to put up Brees or Brady type points if He has to rely on the average Denver defense.
