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The New England Patriots hosted the Denver Broncos at Gilette Stadium.

Both teams have a very talented coach, Bill Belichik for the Pats and Mike Shanahan for the Broncos but, if Denver has its starting quarterback with Jay Cutler, New England has to adapt because they lost Tom Brady for the entire season.
Matt Cassel ( photo left #16) replaced him but it's very tough for him to play at Brady's position. This season New England is not lucky, they've got also lost their starter at running back position too, Laurence Maroney. He was well replaced by Sammy Morris (photo right #34) who's got a tremendous first half. He carried the ball 16 times for 138 yards, he scored 1 touchdown and his longest run was for a 38-yard gain.
He was injured on a play at the begining of the second half so he let his place to an undrafted rookie, Benjarvus Green-Ellis who adds 65 yards and 1 touchdown. Kevin Faulk (4 carries for 50 yards and 3 receptions for 6 yards) is a very precious player because he can play at several positions, as a halfback, as a short gain pass receiver, as a punt returner.

Coach Belichick loves this kind of players who are able to do almost everything on the field. Matt Cassel, Brady's backup, knows exactly every plays on Pats' offensive playbook and that makes him the best option to lead the team.
New England's head coach is right to have confidence in Cassel, he could sign a more accurate quarterback but this guy wouldn't know the playbook so, he could not be productive immediately.
Cassel had a good game against Denver even though he was sacked, at least three times, he completed 18 of 24 pass attempts for 185 yards and also 3 touchdowns, his rating is pretty good, 136.3!
Okay, no big play available with him but his teammates adjust to his game level and that works.
For example, Randy Moss cought a pass on the line of scrimmage and he made the difference after the catch. Wes Welker, he is so dangerous on short passes, 0 -10 yards, next he reaps ground because he's a small wide receiver, he is elusive.
Add all these things and a good ground attack and Pats' season is not over!
And they've got one of the best defense in the NFL.
Good defensive linemen (Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren), talented and experienced linebackers (Mike Vrabel, Teddy Bruschi, Adalius Thomas and big rookie Jerod Mayo who's got 8 tackles), good cornerbacks (Asante Samuel who's injured, Ellis Hobbs, Deltha O'Neal), huge safeties (Rodney Harrison, James Sanders, Brandon Meriweather). Sanders and Meriweather (photo left #31) are the two guys who picked off Jay Cutler.
Maybe Jay Cutler, who hitted an opponent's hemet on one of his first throws, trust a little bit too much in his arm and his finger did not allow him to throw the football in the best conditions, therefor he was intercepted.
The field position of the defensive players, Sanders and Meriweather, who picked him off tell a lot of things about Cutler's arm strength because they are the last defensive row, after them, there's nobody.

New England won on a 41-7 score and showed everyone that if Brady's not there anymore the Patriots are still able to win.

7-41

Oct.21,2008

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