FanPost

Offense or Defense to Blame for Loss?

After reading the game's recap, we find out that even though Peyton Manning threw for 345 yards and connected for 3 touchdowns, the Denver Broncos came up short against the New England Patriots with a final score of 21-31. Even though we were going into the 4th quarter down, we all knew the game could still be won if Manning and the offense could get a rhythm going. Then came the 2nd fumble of the night with 3:42 remaining in the game, which is when most of us felt a similar pain. The pain of our faith and hopes of a spectacular comeback victory being crushed. Although it's fair to say that with only 3:42 remaining and down 14-31, only the most faithful and hopeful of us still believed a victory was possible.

But who is to blame? The offense for coughing up a fumble not only in the 4th quarter with 3:42 reaming, but also in the 3rd quarter when Manning got sacked, causing him to fumble and resulting in 7 points for New England? Or the defense for not stepping up, but instead giving up 31 points in 3 quarters? I don't think anyone can complain about their QB when he throws for 3 scores, 345 yards and 0 interceptions. But Denver only managed to rush for 70 yards all game. The defense on the other hand allowed New England to have a record setting day with franchise record of 35 first downs in a single game.

I think it's safe to say that the defense didn't show up like they were suppose to. But it can also be argued that if the offense didn't lose those two fumbles, New England may have not scored that resulting touchdown in the 3rd quarter. If instead we scored on that drive, the game would have been 21-24 going into the 4th quarter, where we lost the 2nd fumble of the night.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.