Five Key Matchups: vs. Patriots
Summarizing the top five one-on-one matchups against the Patriots ahead of Sunday's game.
With four catches and 69 yards, Daniels came up big for Brock Osweiler in the young quarterback's first start. The Broncos took advantage of the Bears defense's willingness to key on the edges of the field, and the tight ends were able to take advantage of the open space. Hightower, the Patriots' leading tackler with 52 total tackles (45 solo), will test Daniels and the Broncos defense. If New England can take away a safety valve that has generated first downs, Denver will have to test their secondary more.
The man known as Gronk is perhaps the most difficult tight end to cover. Size, speed, catching ability -- he is a mismatch for pretty much anyone one on one. But as the Bills showed on Monday, it is not impossible to limit his production, whether that's with double-teams and mixing up the coverage from safety to linebacker. As one of the more physical safeties in the league, Ward should draw some of the one-on-one matchup responsibility.
The Patriots have rotated their offensive linemen to keep the group fresh throughout games, but the speed and explosiveness of Von Miller could give them one of their tougher challenges. Brady has a quick release, and that will make disruption difficult, but that doesn't make it any less imperative for the Broncos to get pressure.
Jones is near the top of the league in sacks with 10.5, and his penchant for hitting quarterbacks tends to create havoc behind the line. Osweiler did well in his first start in escaping pressure and in rolling out on bootlegs, but getting away from Jones could prove more difficult than any of the Bears' pass rushers.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is one of the NFL's most successful head coaches, and paired with Tom Brady, New England has had dominant runs in the past 15 years. Injuries have piled up for the Patriots, but expect Belichick and his staff to have formulated a game plan to minimize any of the limitations those injuries might raise. On the opposite side of this chess match, Kubiak and his staff must formulate a game plan to help QB Brock Osweiler in his second start against the league's best defense in terms of points allowed per game.
