A tale of two cities

"President, call in the National Guard! Send as many men as you can spare! Because we are killing the Patriots! They need emergency help!"

Those words have rarely been used by teams playing the New England Patriots over the past seven or eight seasons; however in 2008 they are becoming quite common.

The Denver Broncos travel to Foxboro this week to take on the Patriots, both teams struggling to find their identity this season. The Patriots coming off possibly the best regular season in history, only to run into the battering ram New York Giants in the Super Bowl, have been devastated by injuries, old age, and inconsistency. The Patriots lost their leader Tom Brady in the first quarter of the first game this season, Lawrence Maroney their leading rusher from last year is battling a shoulder injury, Matt Cassel is playing with no confidence and their defense looks old and slow. The Broncos coming off a 7-9 regular season, missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season started out looking like the 2007 Patriots, however mistakes and inconsistency have people wondering how good they really are.

The Denver Broncos (4-2) and the New England Patriots (3-2) were two of the original AFL franchises started in 1960. The two teams have combined to play in ten super bowls the Broncos are 2-3 and the Patriots are 3-2. Denver and New England have played 39 times with the Broncos leading the series 24-15. The first game ever played by the Denver Broncos was against the Patriots in 1960, Denver won 13-10. Since 2000 New England has been the class of the NFL going 94-39, playing in four super bowls winning three, conversely during the same span Denver has gone 81-53 yet to get to the big game. New England however has struggled against Denver going 2-5, none of those five loses were bigger than the 2005 divisional playoff game, where Denver handed the Patriots there first playoff loss since Bill Belichick and Tom Brady came into power.

One matchup to look at are the two Quarterbacks Matt Cassel vs. Jay Cutler.













Matt Casell has compled 92-142 for 910 yards 3 td's and 4 int's he also has been sacked 19 times. Jay Cutler is 146-228 1694 yards 12 td's 5 int's, only being sacked twice. Advantage Cutler.

The Broncos look to have the edge is this game.
Predection: Denver 34 New England 17