Remember, the Pats started 10-0 and are now 12-4. And if Peyton Manning plays even half as well as his old self, Denver will be in great shape.įor some reason, the media is forgetting about New England’s complete collapse in the regular season. Anderson, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. The Broncos’ deficiencies lie in their offense, and yet it has the players with the ability to make huge plays, like C.J. For starters, the Patriots won by the exact same scoring margin against the Chiefs last week as the Broncos, and if the referees hadn’t blown a premature whistle, Denver would have won by two touchdowns instead of one.ĭenver is a flawed team, but the idea that every Super Bowl-winning team is perfect is just not true. It’s funny, because if we’re going to judge a team based on the eye test, the Patriots have looked just as bad, if not worse, as the Broncos recently. Denver has gotten it done more than any other team in the AFC this year. They’ll force a late turnover if they have to. They’ll kick five field goals if they have to. Since when has football been pretty anyway? The Broncos love to win ugly. If anything, they’ll be using it as motivation. Luckily for Denver, games aren’t decided on outside perceptions, and quite frankly I don’t think the players care. There’s an idea floating around that the Broncos looked terrible against the Steelers last week. 1 seed in the AFC, beat the Patriots earlier this season and yet are listed as underdogs this Sunday is downright disrespectful and speaks to the unintelligence of the football community who doubts them. Jared Funk-Breay: First, I have to say the fact that the Denver Broncos are the No. This post was written with the acknowledgement that leading up to a highly-touted game with the Super Bowl on the line this weekend, their competitive spirits and biases as fans of these teams inevitably bled into the arguments below. Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Sam Routhier at CU Independent Copy Editor Jared Funk-Breay at and follow him on twitter Sports Editor Sam Routhier and Copy Editor Jared Funk-Breay fight for their teams in a debate on who will win this Sunday’s AFC Championship at Sports Authority Field: the Denver Broncos or the New England Patriots.ĭisclosure: Jared and Sam are respectively lifetime Denver and New England fans.

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