When last we saw the Patriots, they were confounding the best quarterback and most explosive offense in the league on a Monday night in Kansas City. The Denver Broncos have neither the best quarterback in the league nor its most explosive offense. So, layup, right?
Are you new here? Of course you’re not. There is way less week-to-week cohesion between performances than people suppose and what the Patriots did schematically to confound Patrick Mahomes is irrelevant now.
Drew Lock, despite the “Who’s he?” dismissiveness he often gets, has done enough to warrant that attention be paid. He’s not an aggressive thrower (6.5 YPA in his seven games) but he’s taken care of the ball (three picks in seven games). His best weapon this season has been second-year tight end Noah Fant (19 catches, 219 yards, 2 TDs), who is out with an ankle injury.
Big Tim Patrick (6-foot-4, 212 pounds) is the Broncos second-leading receiver with 16 catches, followed by rookie Jerry Jeudy (15 catches, 15.6 YPC). It’s not the Chiefs' array of weapons but it’s a good group.
The Broncos running game is a little bit of an unknown coming into this one. The speedy and elusive Phillip Lindsay will be ready to go with Melvin Gordon out due to illness but he’s only carried seven times this season.
The Patriots have not been a lockdown team against the run by any stretch so if Denver can be productive on first down and not get into a situation where they are in obvious passing situations, they should be able to keep contact.
EDGE: Patriots