im Tebow and the Broncos passed one huge test. Now comes an even bigger challenge.
If the Broncos stunned the football world – and they did everywhere outside of the Rockies – with their thrilling overtime victory against the Steelers, they could set the universe spinning out of control by beating the top-seeded Patriots.
New England isn’t nearly as strong as it was in winning three Super Bowls and going undefeated on its way to a fourth NFL title game. Although the Patriots went 13-3 to secure AFC home-field advantage this season, winning their final eight, they have major issues on defense.
Plus, they’ve lost their last three postseason games: the 2008 Super Bowl to the Giants, then at home against the Ravens and Jets.
“To me it’s not `where,’ it’s more `who,’ `’ Broncos coach John Fox said. “They are a very good football team; they’ve got a lot of playoff experience. We will have to deal with crowd noise; that’s always a little bit of an issue but it won’t be the first time this season we’ve had to do that. It’ll be a huge challenge and when you get to this point in the playoffs that’s kind of how it always is.”
New England snapped Denver’s six-game winning streak with a 41-23 win in the Mile High City a month ago. So the Patriots are plenty familiar with Tebow and company.
“It’s always challenging to go up against an offense like this because you can do so many things,” Pro Bowl nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. “You can’t just say, `When they get in this formation, this is going to happen,’ or `When they do this, look out for (this).’ You can’t do that because you can be attacked and blindsided from so many different ways.
“This game is going to come down to disciplined football for us.”
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