Week 3 Game Recap: Denver Broncos 17, New England Patriots 7

What you need to know

Denver Broncos

Denver seems to have the Patriots’ number these days having won five of their last six meetings. The Denver defense completely shut down the Patriots. Their offense used the running game to control the clock and came up with two big pass plays to Javon Walker. With an early lead, Denver forced New England to throw often. The Broncos defense held strong and kept the Patriots to just seven points.

Jake Plummer connected on only 50% of his passes, completing 15 for 256 yards and two touchdowns. The key was Plummer didn’t make any mistakes and found Walker on touchdown passes of 32 and 83 yards. Plummer moved out of the pocket well, preventing the New England defense from recording any sacks.

Tatum Bell carried 27 times for 123 yards and he also added a couple of catches for 19 yards. He was able to find some holes in the tough New England defense, including runs of 19 and 21 yards. Denver leaned on Tatum Bell a lot in the second half in order to chew up the clock.

Javon Walker caught just three passes but certainly made them count. Two went for touchdowns, one of which was 83 yards where he made a great cut back after the catch and split the defenders. Walker finished with 130 yards in the game. Rod Smith also chipped in with six catches for 44 yards.

New England Patriots

New England seemed to be uninspired in this game. They were never able to make the big play and just seemed to be missing the passion of a team looking for revenge after being knocked out of last year’s playoffs by Denver. The New England running game was nonexistent, ending up with just 50 yards on the ground.

Tom Brady was forced to throw 55 times, most of which were short passes. Brady did end up with 320 yards but a lot of it was against a soft defense later in the game. With Champ Bailey shutting down one side of the field, the Denver defense was able to contain the Patriots. Brady finally got the Patriots on the board in the fourth quarter when he threw an eight yard touchdown to Doug Gabriel.

Corey Dillon left the game early with an apparent arm injury. Laurence Maroney was in at running back the rest of the way but never got on track. He carried just 12 times for 18 yards. He was more involved in the passing game, being targeted six times and catching five passes for 61 yards.

Doug Gabriel scored the only touchdown for New England. He made a nice catch in the back of the end zone on a high pass from Brady.

New England was called for 12 penalties, the costliest of which was on a punt return in the third quarter. Kevin Faulk returned it to the Denver 36 yard line but offsetting penalties nullified New England’s best chance to get back in the game.

What you ought to know

QB Jake Plummer, Pass: 15 - 30 - 256 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 9 - 0

With the Denver defense playing very well, Jake Plummer did enough to generate a win for the Broncos. Similar to the first two games this year, he completed just 50% of his passes but the difference was the lack of the big mistake. Plummer threw his first two touchdowns of the season and didn’t record an interception. He probably silenced those calling for his head for another week or so with his performance against New England.

RB Tatum Bell, Rush: 27 - 123 - 0, Rec: 2 - 19 - 0 (4 targets)

Bell carried for 123 yards on 27 carries. He was the workhorse for Denver. His solid running set up the pass for Jake Plummer. While he didn’t score, he was valuable in this one for controlling the clock. He also caught two passes for 19 yards. Bell had two big runs of 19 and 21 yards in the game. His 19 yard run came right after Denver blocked a field goal. It set up Denver’s first touchdown to Javon Walker right before the end of the first half.

RB Mike Bell, Rush: 4 - 12 - 0 (1 targets)

Bell carried just four times for 12 yards. He was never really involved in this game.

RB Cecil Sapp, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (2 targets)

Sapp caught one pass for three yards.

WR Rod Smith, Rec: 6 - 44 - 0 (8 targets)

Smith was targeted eight times, catching six passes for 44 yards. He was mainly targeted on short passes with just one deep pass thrown his way but that fell incomplete. Jake Plummer targeted him five times on third down and Smith converted two of those passes for first downs.

WR Javon Walker, Rec: 3 - 130 - 2 (6 targets)

Walker made three receptions, two of them resulting in touchdowns. He scored Denver’s first touchdown late in the first half. On a third and one, Plummer found Walker in the end zone for a 32 yard score. Walker made his only target of the second half count. He caught a pass near the left sideline and made a great cut between two New England defenders then ran basically untouched to the end zone.

WR David Kircus, Rec: 2 - 36 - 0 (3 targets)

Kircus was thrown to three times and caught two passes for 36 yards. His catch for 24 yards put Denver in field goal range and led to their first three points of the game.

TE Stephen Alexander, Rec: 1 - 24 - 0 (2 targets)

Alexander caught just one pass for 24 yards. He was only thrown to two times.

PK Jason Elam 1 - 1 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points

Elam had only one field goal attempt and made it from 23 yards. He also made two extra points.

DEN Rush Defense

The Denver rush defense completely shut down the New England running game. They held the Patriots to just 50 yards rushing. Maroney was New England’s leading rusher gaining just 1.5 yards per carry. The Denver front seven continually closed up running lanes and were able to penetrate into the New England backfield.

DEN Pass Defense

While Brady ended up with a lot of yards, the Denver pass defense was solid. They forced Brady to continually throw short passes and prevented him from completing any deep passes down the field. They were not able to get to Brady or force a turnover but they kept the passes in front of them. Champ Bailey shut down his side of the field with Brady rarely even looking his way.

QB Tom Brady, Pass: 31 - 55 - 320 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 7 - 0

Brady threw the ball 55 times in the loss to Denver. He did end up with 320 yards and a touchdown but most of it was late in the game when Denver was just allowing them to complete short passes. Brady wasn’t intercepted or sacked in the game. New England ran just six times in the second half and one of those was a Brady sneak up the middle on fourth down.

RB Laurence Maroney, Rush: 12 - 18 - 0, Rec: 5 - 61 - 0 (6 targets)

Maroney rushed for just 18 yards on 12 carries. New England abandoned the running game early on when they fell behind. He caught five passes for 61 yards, including a catch and run for 31 yards. His 31 yard reception was all about his extra effort. It was a short pass but he broke a couple of tackles and got to the outside for extra yardage. He brings a different skill set than Dillon but never seemed to be able to get into a rhythm.

RB Kevin Faulk, Rush: 1 - 6 - 0, Rec: 6 - 34 - 0 (8 targets)

Faulk caught six passes for 34 yards. Most of his targets were late in the game when New England was continually throwing short passes against the Denver prevent defense. His longest pass reception was eight yards. Unfortunately for him, his most memorable play was on an incomplete flat pass when he caught the ball, went to turn up field and got crushed by D.J. Williams. The ball was dislodged and Faulk practically landed on his head.

RB Corey Dillon, Rush: 5 - 16 - 0

Dillon was the starting running back for the Patriots. He left in the second quarter with an apparent arm injury. He finished with five carries for 16 yards.

RB Heath Evans, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0

Evans had a rare carry and picked up three yards for a first down.

WR Doug Gabriel, Rec: 6 - 65 - 1 (11 targets)

Gabriel finally got his first target late in the third quarter. Gabriel ended up with six catches for 65 yards and the only New England touchdown. Five of his catches resulted in either a first down or the touchdown. His sixth catch came up one yard short of a first down. It seems like New England should have gotten him involved earlier in the game.

WR Troy Brown, Rec: 4 - 41 - 0 (9 targets)

Brown was targeted nine times, catching four passes for 41 yards. He also lost out on an 11 yard completion due to a holding penalty. Brady tried to hit him deep a few times including a flea flicker that was broken up.

WR Reche Caldwell, Rec: 3 - 46 - 0 (8 targets)

Brady tried to hit Caldwell eight times over the course of the game but only completed three passes to him for 46 yards. Four of his targets came on third down but Caldwell only caught one of those passes, a 23 yard reception.

WR Chad Jackson

Jackson was unable to play due to a hamstring injury.

TE Ben Watson, Rec: 6 - 66 - 0 (11 targets)

Watson got 11 looks, catching six of them for 66 yards. Surprisingly, Watson was only thrown to once on third down. It did result in a first down though. He moved the chains four times overall in the game.

TE Daniel Graham, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (5 targets)

Graham caught one pass for seven yards. On the play prior to the blocked field goal, Brady tried to hit Graham for a touchdown but the pass was incomplete.

PK Stephen Gostkowski 0 - 1 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 1 points

Gostkowski had a 37 yard field goal blocked when it appeared like his left foot slipped on the grass when he tried to plant it for the kick. He made his only extra point chance. This is the second game in a row that he has had a field goal blocked.

NE Rush Defense

New England was unable to stop the Denver running game which featured Tatum Bell rushing for 123 yards. While they didn’t give up a rushing touchdown, they did allow Denver to control the ground game and therefore the pace of the game as well. The 123 rushing yards by Tatum Bell is the most the New England defense has given up since Willis McGahee gained 136 yards in Week 7 of the 2005 season.

NE Pass Defense

New England’s pass defense gave up two big plays to Javon Walker, one of which was a catch and run for 83 yards. They never could get enough pressure on Jake Plummer to force him into mistakes. New England was unable to get a sack and did not force a turnover.