New England (3-2) squandered leads of 10-0 and 17-7 in the first half, went scoreless in the second half after their last three possessions resulted in a punt, a punt, and a Tom Brady fumble, and allowed the Broncos to tie the game on a 12-play, 98-yard drive with 5:21 left. It resulted in a loss that was as unsightly as the Broncos’ god-awful brown-and-gold throwback uniforms.
“Poor execution is what it comes down to,’’ said Brady, who completed 19 of 33 passes for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns but was outdueled by Kyle Orton, who completed 35 of 48 passes for 330 yards and threw a pair of 11-yard TD passes to Brandon Marshall that capped drives of 90 and 98 yards.
“There were plays to be made all day and we didn’t make them,’’ Brady said. “We just didn’t execute well.’’
Denver kicker Matt Prater, who missed an earlier attempt of 48 yards wide right, converted a 41-yard field goal to cap an 11-play, 58-yard drive with 10:09 remaining in OT to help the Broncos improve to 5-0 under first-year coach Josh McDaniels, who led the euphoric celebration that erupted among the crowd of 76,011 at Invesco Field.
“Obviously that was a tough loss for us,’’ said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. “Like a lot of games in this league, it came down to a few plays and they made more plays than we did. We have to give them credit. That’s a good football team. Josh has done a really good job with them, and they made a few more plays than we did. Really, that is about all you can say.’’
All week long, McDaniels, the former Patriots offensive coordinator, tried to downplay the matchup with his mentor, Belichick, as just another game. But in the postgame news conference McDaniels admitted, “I lied.’’
It was clearly more than just another game to McDaniels and the seven ex-Patriots (expatriates?) he brought with him from Foxborough.
