Those of us over a certain age vividly remember the TV commercials starring a young Michael Jordan and Mars Blackmon a character played by Spike Lee. Mars was convinced he knew the reason for Jordan’s incredible success on the hardwood insisting that it was “In The Shoes.” Well the New England Patriots are now a less than stellar 3-2 after losing Sunday in overtime to the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium 20-17. The Patriots are 1-1 in their “Throwback Uniforms” and could easily be 0-2 holding off the Buffalo Bills at home in a 25-24 victory in the Season Opener. That has led me to be convinced that the problem with the Patriots is quite simply “In The Helmets.”

It is the jinx of “Pat the Patriot” the character in the tri-cornered hat that represented a team that was the joke of the NFL for a lot of years. I do not know how many of these “Throwback Uniform” games are left on the schedule but for New England fans hopefully this was the last of them.

In all seriousness this was a game that the Patriots truly did not deserve to win as the Broncos shut them down completely offensively in the second half of the contest. Meanwhile Denver QB Kyle Orton was doing everything right as his team outscored New England 13-0 in the second half and the overtime period. Denver now has a 5-0 record and if they play the way they did against the Patriots this is a team that will make some noise in the NFL this season.

Quite simply the Broncos flat-out out played the team from New England as they dominated this contest in all aspects of the game. Denver had 27 first downs as opposed to 18 for the Patriots; they accumulated 424 total yards 321 of them in the air compared to 305 yards and just 209 yard coming from the passing game for New England. And in maybe the most telling stat of all The Broncos had the ball for 36:29 while the Patriots held possession for just 28:22.  You are not going to win a lot of ball games when you allow your opponent that amount of time to get the deed done.

Denver won the game in the overtime period after overcoming a 17-7 deficit at the half. Broncos kicker Matt Prater kicked a 24 yard field goal in the third quarter cutting the New England lead to 17-10 at the end of the third quarter. Orton connected with Brandon Marshall for an 11 yard touchdown pass with 5:21 left in the fourth and the game was knotted up at 17-17 after Prater put the extra point through the uprights. The Patriots looked like a team in a daze the entire second half as the offense was not just stagnant; it was non-existent and the game went into the extra period. Prater sent Broncos fans home happy after kicking a 41 yard field goal with 10:09 remaining in the extra period.  

New England now 3-2 will be back at home in the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium next Sunday and they will face the Tennessee Titans who are 0-5 after losing the Sunday night game to the Indianapolis Colts. However if they show the lack of fire that they showed in this contest the Titans could find themselves breaking through to the victory column next Sunday. Denver will be on the West Coast as they will take on the San Diego Chargers in the Monday night game.  The Chargers had this Sunday off and head into the Monday night game at 2-2.

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