Patriots vs. Broncos, 30-24: Full highlights, final score and more

The Broncos braved the snow to hand the Patriots their first loss of the season

On a snowy night at Mile High, Brock Osweiler and the Denver Broncos gave the undefeated New England Patriots everything that they could handle with Peyton Manning watching from the sideline. Tom Brady was without three of his biggest weapons with Danny Amendola joining Julian Edelman and Dion Lewis on the sideline due to injury in this game. Unfortunately, the game took a grim turn late in the fourth quarter when Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski took a weird hit to his knee and was left writhing in pain before being carted off the field.

In terms of the actual game, the Patriots were nursing a four-point lead at the time of Gronk’s injury after giving up what was once a 14-0 lead. That was due, in large part to a strong performance from Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson in the Broncos running game that helped Denver put together solid drives and allowed Osweiler to settle into some sort of rhythm. With 2:38 left in the game, the Pats were forced to punt.

Osweiler started the ensuing drive by picking up a huge chunk of yardage on a deep throw down the right sideline to Demaryius Thomas that took the action into the two-minute warning. After throwing an incomplete pass while looking for Thomas again, Osweiler uncorked a deep ball to Emmanuel Sanders who beat the coverage to come up with the grab deep in Patriots territory. The first goal-to-go play was less-than-ideal for Denver, though, as Osweiler unsuccessfully tried to break off a run, but the Broncos got a break on second down thanks to a defensive holding penalty. After that, Osweiler made a beautiful throw on a fade to Andre Caldwell in the back-left corner of the end zone for the go-ahead score with just over a minute left.

The Patriots obviously had one more shot at a one-minute drill in the snow to either get a field goal or a game-winning touchdown. Of course, the infallible Tom Brady wouldn’t be denied as he completed a number of key passes to get in range for Stephen Gostowski to kick the game-tying field goal to force overtime.

New England received the kickoff to start overtime. However, Brady was under tremendous pressure from the Denver pass-rush and couldn’t get anything of consequence out of the drive, giving the Broncos the ball back with solid field position. Denver gained a few yards on the first two downs, but ran a pitch to the outside to Anderson on third down. Vernon Davis created space with a big block and Anderson blew by the New England defense for the score and the victory. The Patriots are no longer undefeated.

Three stars

Brock Osweiler stepped up in a big way in just his second career start as the young quarterback settled in and performed like a veteran and a leader, especially on Denver’s final drive. He finished the night going 23-42 for 270 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Tom Brady was great considering the circumstances of the Pats’ injury situation, the weather, and the Broncos’ pass rush. He finished the night going 23-42 for 28- yards and three touchdowns while again not turning the ball over.

C.J. Anderson exploded in this game as he took 15 carries for 113 yards and two touchdowns, including the walk-off score, while also adding four receptions for 40 yards.

Highlights

Odds

The Patriots were 2.5-point favorites in this huge road matchup, but obviously failed to cover in the loss. The two teams combined to hit the over on 43 points.

Next Week

The Patriots will be back home in Gillette Stadium in Week 13 to take on the struggling Philadelphia Eagles.

Denver will go on the road next week as they will take on the streaky San Diego Chargers.