Pats-Broncs tomorrow. Should be a good one. Denver is the better team at this point, but playing in Foxboro, with some cold, windy weather should help to equalize things. I get the sense that Manning doesn't mentally handle playing in Foxboro against Brady and Belichick. It's in his head at this point. Kinda stating the obvious but it can't go overlooked given the circumstances.
He always tend to look uncomfortable in cold weather games and if it's at all windy that could really screw up Manning's already soft, wobbly throws. Looking like the winds will be between 16-22 MPH, gusting up to 40 MPH and blowing in from the open-end of the stadium from 4-8 PM tomorrow evening, according to accuweather. temps will be between 20-30 degrees, factoring in wind chill.
Belichick would be smart to take away the short middle, play bump and run with Revis and Browner and force Manning to go deep and to the sidelines. I'm looking forward to seeing how New England's secondary holds up. Statistically they're the best in the league to this point, but Manning is a different beast. Pass rush is big against Manning but I'd argue that disrupting the timing between him and his receivers is equally, if not more important. He doesn't do well when his initial read isn't there and he has to hold the ball and ad lib, regardless of the pressure around him. Somewhat concerned about the Pats' run D and how Denver may exploit that. Still, I can't imagine Manning is going to be all that happy with continually handing the ball off, regardless of the success it's generating. He's gonna want to sling it at some point.
Ware and Miller scare the hell out of me and I don't expect we'll be able to run for much. Gronk should be a matchup problem and I wouldn't be shocked in Amendola makes an appearance after having been relatively quiet to this point. Should be a great game and I wouldn't be shocked to see a lower scoring, defensive struggle (assuming the weather holds up). If the wind dies down, Denver may put up some points which would make it tough for the Pats. That said, if their OTs can hold up against Ware and Miller, it may be a shootout.
Haven't looked forward to a game this much in quite awhile.