NFL:  Broncos Lose To The Patriots //  NFL---Week Five Wrap-up 

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NFL:    THE Denver Broncos offense showed remarkable spirit and skill in the third and fourth periods of a game won by the New England Patriots on Sunday, score: 31-21, positioning Denver as a 2-3 and losing franchise approaching Week Six of the 16 game NFL season. Denver scored two touchdowns in that time frame. but there were also fumbles and drops in the fourth period, which killed hopes that a Broncos win could materialize.

In the first and second periods of the Broncos/Patriots game, the New England team’s defense kept Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, and the remainder of his offense, from gaining more than a TD and the follow-on point (QB Manning to tight end, Joel Dreessen), while the Broncos defense couldn’t stop the Patriots QB Tom Brady and company from successive first downs and, by mid-third period, from scoring four TD’s and a field goal, yet the Broncos defenders were finally savvy and resilient enough in the fourth period, sacking QB Brady, intercepting passes, preventing a TD after several Patriot first downs.

After three successful fourth period rushes by Denver’s running back, Willis McGahee, had his loss of the football and a later drop not happened, Manning may have forced up a game-winning TD + field goal, for in that fourth period his connects to wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, to WR Brandon Stokley and to McGahee were gaining the yards for a full and final attack---but the clock has no mercy.  

            New England deserved the win on many counts, accruing 35 first downs and 444 total net yards, the Broncos 22 first downs and 402 total net yards. The Patriots possessed the football for 35 minutes, the Broncos less than 25 minutes. The Patriots rushed for more than 250 yards, the Broncos 70; and, though Denver finished the game with more total net yards from passes than the Patriots had (332 vs. 193), the Denver yardage resulted in half the TD’s gained by the Patriots.  

            As for comparing quarterbacks, nothing in the game provides a definitive answer as to whether Manning has “more game” than Brady. Denver’s Manning completed 31 of 44 passes, Brady 23 of 31. That’s 13 Manning misses compared with eight Brady misses, but three of Manning’s completed passes led to TD’s, while three of the Brady-led TD’s were from rushes. From this, we could argue that, on Sunday anyway, Manning and Brady reflected differences in style, “pass vs. rush,” dictated by knowledge of the opposition and by circumstances afield, measured too close to show that the one QB would fare better than the other game after game.  .  .  Manning passed for 345 yards, making him fourth best QB passer re. NFL Week Five-2012, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints topping the list with 370 yards gained via throws. Against the Broncos on Sunday, Brady threw for much less---223. However, Brady’s style tells us that there’s a lot more to QB’ing than throw-attained yardage.

            Next week, the Broncos will meet the 3-2 San Diego Chargers, the team leading the AFC West as of today, the Broncos holding second place in the division, above 1-3 Oakland.

            NFL ---  Week Five Wrap-up    ---   THE Houston Texans (first place, AFC South) and the Atlanta Falcons (1^st, NFC South) are now the NFL season’s only unbeaten teams, while six franchises have four wins apiece---the Baltimore Ravens (1^st, AFC North), Arizona Cardinals (1st, NFC West), San Francisco 49ers (second place, NFC West), Minnesota Vikings (1st, NFC North), and the Chicago Bears (2d, NFC North). The 3-2 N.E. Patriots are leading the AFC East, the 3-2 Philadelphia Eagles the NFC East.

The Cleveland Browns are the only franchise without a win across the season’s five games, and five teams have but one win---the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West), Tennessee Titans (AFC South), Detroit Lions (NFC North), Carolina Panthers (NFC South), and the N.O. Saints (NFC South).

With 11 games left to the season for each of the NFL teams, significant changes in the standings will surely occur, likely among teams in the 4-1 and 3-2 rankings as the majority of franchises that are now 2-3 and 1-4 shift up or down only conservatively, a few jumping ahead dramatically, a few falling steeply.

But usually until Week Seven or Week Eight, picking conference winners and a Super Bowl outcome is more dream than reality. This said, a review of this season’s schedules suggest that the 5-0 Texans and 5-0 Falcons could continue their high percentage of wins, for example, after the Texans meet the Green Bay Packers and then the Baltimore Ravens in October, and the Falcons play against the Philadelphia Eagles in October, no team that either is scheduled to confront until the end of the regular season has shown to be skillful enough to take either down.

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