Broncos or Patriots
By: Jake Rajala
The Denver Broncos are firing on all cylinders on offense and defense. On defense, they are leading the league in sacks. The next team that ranks second in sacks is the Atlanta Falcons with 34 sacks. The Broncos are also home to Sean Payton, who is one of the best signal-callers in the game.
On offense, the second year QB Bo Nix started slow this season (big surprise), but he has recently been playing like an above average signal-caller. He has nine touchdowns in the past five contests. He is tied for seventh in passing touchdowns with 17 TD passes. The Broncos RB JK Dobbins was placed on IR recently, but RB RJ Harvey is more than capable of standing out.
Broncos play in the toughest divisions, however. They barely outgunned the KC Chiefs by a score of 22-19. Furthermore, they beat the Las Vegas Raiders by as score of 10-7. They did lose to Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers 20-19. They deserve props for beating AFC West foes and being battle tested. It will be quite a challenge to sweep the Chiefs and Raiders.
New England Patriots are very well balanced. Drake Maye is ahead of Nix in the MVP race. Maye leads the league in passing yards with 2,836 yards. They also have an underrated defense that ranks eighth in YPG allowed. Furthermore, the Pats defense ranks fifth in PPG allowed.
The Pats just happen to be 27th in sacks allowed, however. This spells bad news in a potential showdown between the Pats and Broncos, as the Broncos rank 1st in sacks by a large margin (as noted above).
So, the ultimate question residing between the two squads is: Which squad has the edge?
I have to say that the Pats have the edge. The Pats have the best combination of defense and QB in the league. On a useful note, each stadium has an important homefield advantage, which may make a difference between two teams with very similar talent. I expect the Pats to finish with home field advantage, as they have a much easier schedule than the Broncos.
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