New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos: A Look Back at the Second Quarter
The New England Patriots were traveling just outside the Denver Broncos neutral zone to start the second quarter.
It was a tough third down for the Patriots, and they had to kick a field goal to score their first points for the game.
The Broncos’ next possession began with Russell Wilson scrambling and throwing the ball to Jaleel McLaughlin, who ran it out to middle.
Then they dumped the ball over the middle with McLaughlin again, who gained 13 yards. This put them just outside of field goal range.
The drive came to an abrupt stop when Javonte Williams lost a screen pass. The Patriots defender grabbed the ball from the Broncos offense lineman who had tripped and dropped it.
The call was upheld even though it was looked over. Denver’s defense was going to prompt a three-and-out right away, but the fumble call was bad.
As soon as Bailey Zappe picked off the ball at his own 5-yard line on the first play, he knew it would be a good night for the New England Patriots. His defense saved him by stopping the Denver Broncos from scoring.
Zappe said, “It kind of cancels out everything that happened,” after helping the Patriots beat the Broncos 26–23 on Sunday night, ending their chances of making the playoffs.
Zappe said, “You don’t want to turn the soccer ball over, but if they don’t score, that’s a win.” “I mean, having a defense including we do is huge.”
Seeing those guys play is really cool. Their defense is one of the best in the league, if not the best.
The Patriots (4-11) won with a career-long 56-yard kick with two seconds left. They scored two scores in the last six seconds of the third quarter and then held off a furious Broncos (7-8) rally in the fourth.
After the Broncos went three-and-out with 58 seconds left, Ryland’s kick ended a seven-play, 44-yard drive.
It was tied after Denver scored two touchdowns and added two points on its last two plays.
At 65%, Ryland was the worst full-time starting kicker in the league at making field goals (13 of 20).
On Sunday night, the youngster missed a 47-yarder late in the first half. In the third quarter, he also missed an extra point.
The Broncos were 7 1/2-point favorites. This was the fourth time in coach Sean Payton’s first season that an outsider won at Empower Field at Mile High.
NFL math showed that the Broncos had a mere 6% chance of stopping their eight-year championship drought after this latest upset.
Bill Belichick beat the Broncos 11 times out of 10 during his 24-year career in New England. Denver was the only team that had an undefeated record against him while he was in charge of the Patriots.
The Broncos tied the game after falling behind 23–7 when Russell Wilson threw touchdowns to rookie safety Lucas Krull and wide receiver Brandon Johnson. Wilson also hit Johnson and Javonte Williams for extra points.
Wilson said, “We thought we would win the game.” “Things did not go our way.” Ezekiel Elliott caught a Zappe pass from 15 yards out for a touchdown, giving New England its first lead. However, Ryland missed the PAT, leaving the Patriots ahead 9–7.
There was just under a minute left in the game, and the Broncos had a chance to finish the comeback when they got the ball at their own 39. However, they went three-and-out, giving an ball back to New England.
Elliott said, “A lot of DBs will try to go low whenever they see a big guy within the open field.” “I thought they were going to get low, and I knew I could score if I got over this guy.”
Zappe got away from pressure and threw a touchdown to Mike Gesicki from 11 yards out, making the score 16–7. Marvin Mims Jr. lost the kickoff at the 5-yard line. At the 1, Cody Davis picked it up and rolled it across the target line.
Wide receiver Courtland Sutton left the game in the first half after suffering a concussion, which made the Broncos’ offense even worse.
For the first three and a half quarters, Denver’s only score was Williams’ 3-yard touchdown run. In the third quarter, Denver only got 15 yards as well as had one first down.
Even though the Broncos have lost five of their first six games, they still have a small chance of becoming the fourth team since the merger took place to make the playoffs. But they’ll need a lot of help to get there.