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Let’s look back. They had 5 turnovers in the 2005 AFCDG in Brady/Belichick’s first playoff loss. In 2009 against McDaniels they had the ball starting at midfield late in the fourth quarter with the game tied and… fumbled it away, then lost in overtime on the first possession. The 2013 game was the most acceptable (if you can call an AFCCG loss acceptable) because of the lack of weaponry and then the loss of Talib.

Those are the first three to jump to mind, they lost there in the 2005 regular season as well. But the trend in those last three games is pretty apparent – turnovers and injuries will get you (almost) every time.

Yeah, I’m not really concerned about the offensive line play. I just think they’ll be protected by the offense’s quick strikes and can hold up in the instances where they need to protect a little longer. I think a large part of that is just establishing an early rhythm. The games where protection is an issue it’s usually an issue from the outset and only grows into a worse problem over the course of the game.

Stopping the run is my biggest key and the must must must do it for 60 minutes. The Denver air worries me as the game wears on, and our battered guys start to have their pain shots wear off. I don’t want to see our defense gassed and getting gashed at the end.

Otherwise I think it’s just about doing what the Patriots do and playing a clean game on offense. So many of the Broncos games this year were handed back to them with a timely turnover. The teams that didn’t do that were able to close them out. But I struggle to see the Patriots losing this game if they have one turnover tops.

Hopefully by having success running the ball. But really this is a pretty common thing that Rex Ryan basically started and it’s not like it totally confounds Brady and the Pats offense. They just need to extend the play and let guys like Edelman uncover. The Pats just have so much experience, there isn’t a wrinkle that can be thrown at them that they won’t decipher and know how to beat. Might take a series or two, but they’ll get it. And as Mangini said “they’re incredibly patient” and once they know what the defense is doing they can torch it.