The last rites were administered to Denver when Moss (5 catches, 69 yards) took a short pass from Cassel and raced 27 yards into the end zone with 7:32 left in the third quarter to push the advantage to 27-0. The reality was that the Patriots had sapped the Broncos of any pulse in the first half by taking a 20-0 lead.
"It was a great game," said Moss. "Like Bill said throughout the week, when you have great preparation, you have a great week. The game is won during the week and not on Sunday, so if you have a good week and come out here ready to go, the game will be a lot easier.
"We have a lot of things we can hang our hats on tonight from all three units - offense, defense, and special teams. We put it together, and I think when we put all three of those together, this team is very scary.
"We still have a lot of work to do. It's a short week. We're going to just keep tapping away and see what we can come up with."
What they came up with last night was a demolition of Denver. They silenced Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler (17 of 26 for 168 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions) and the second-rated passing attack in the NFL and orange-crushed Denver's 26th-rated run defense.
On the day they lost running back Laurence Maroney, who was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, the Patriots were carried by the running of Sammy Morris and an opportunistic defense.
Morris had all of his career-high 138-yards and a touchdown in the first half, on just 16 carries. He had runs of 14, 20, 34, and 29 yards. The last, which came on fourth and 1 from the Denver 42, set up a 13-yard touchdown pass to Moss that made it 20-0 with 44 seconds left in the half. Moss was covered by Dre' Bly on the play after Denver All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey was forced to leave the game with a groin injury.
The drive began at the Patriots 16 when Brandon Meriweather intercepted an injured Cutler, who came up holding his right index finger on the first play of the game. But it almost ended in the wrong end zone with Cassel narrowly avoiding a safety on third and 18 from the 8.
