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Patriots have plenty of blame to go around

One wonders why Bill Belichick didn’t use the clock in a different manner at the end of the second and fourth quarters Sunday night.Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

We start by acknowledging that Bill Belichick and his staff are masters of situational football, are the smartest coaches in the NFL, and have all the credibility they need with the four Lombardi Trophies in their offices.

But if we're going to be honest here, their handling of the fourth quarter in Sunday's 30-24 overtime loss to the Broncos deserves more scrutiny.

This was a bizarre loss for the Patriots, a rare case of them not closing out a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead and shooting themselves in the foot with uncharacteristic mistakes from the players and coaches. And Belichick probably could have handled the clock better inside the final three minutes.

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Let's examine a few key plays:

 Chris Harper’s fumbled punt return with 14:26 left in the fourth quarter was an absolute game-changer. Had he held onto the punt, the Patriots would have had first and 10 at their own 35-yard line while nursing a 21-7 lead. Instead, the Broncos recovered at the 36, and made the score 21-14 just four plays later.

There were two issues with the play. One was Harper's concentration: He took his eyes off the ball for a split second to look at Broncos gunner Cody Latimer, who was bearing down on him. Harper never caught the ball cleanly.

The other issue was the coaching staff not instructing Harper to fair catch the ball no matter what. Given the weather conditions, score, time remaining, and Harper's status as a rookie who had never returned an NFL punt before Sunday night, the coaching staff should have instructed him to fair catch the ball or let it roll at all costs. Protecting the football was far more important than the possibility of a big return.

We'll give the coaching staff a break on using an undrafted rookie in an important role, because the Patriots have no good options right now. They could have used Devin McCourty or Patrick Chung, but they are no more experienced than Harper is at punt returning.

 The clock probably should have been managed better late in the fourth quarter, protecting a 21-17 lead. Tom Brady threw a 14-yard slant pass to Rob Gronkowski, and the Patriots were sitting pretty: First and 10 on their 40, 2:53 left, Broncos with only one timeout left, plus the two-minute warning.

The Patriots decided to keep passing, and the result was disastrous: An incomplete pass on first down that used up just four seconds, stopped the clock, and saw Gronk get hurt. They threw incomplete to Scott Chandler on second down, again burning just four seconds and stopping the clock for the Broncos. On third and 10, the Patriots completed a 7-yard pass, and the Broncos immediately called their last timeout, with 2:39 left.

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That's only 14 seconds used in three plays. The Broncos got the ball back at their 17 with 2:31 left, and marched 83 yards to score the go-ahead touchdown.

Had the Patriots run the ball on all three downs, the Broncos would have used their timeout earlier, and the Patriots probably could have punted at the two-minute warning, or maybe even a play later. The Broncos then would have had about 1:45 left to go 80-plus yards for a touchdown.

Belichick offered little insight into his thinking at the end of the game, other than saying, "we tried to attack them the way we thought was best." While it's impossible to know if bleeding an extra 45 seconds off the clock would have led the Patriots to victory, it certainly couldn't have hurt their chances.

 The Patriots also weren’t prepared for the game clock to wind once the officials put the ball in play following the injury/excess timeout, allowing nine crucial seconds to run off at the end of the fourth quarter. Belichick explained that the rule was called correctly, but wasn’t explained well enough by referee Tony Corrente. While he’s correct about that, it’s also a little surprising to see Belichick not know a rule, as arcane and esoteric as it was. Belichick is usually so good about knowing every tiny detail.

These weren't the worst coaching mistakes in the world, and Belichick and the Patriots don't need our approval. But we're not used to seeing the Patriots fall apart in the fourth quarter and Belichick mishandling the final crucial moments of a game.

Other observations after watching the game tape:

When the Patriots had the ball

 The Patriots’ game plan was clear — avoid the Broncos’ cornerbacks, and attack their linebackers and safeties in coverage. And don’t just attack the linebackers and safeties, but get them out of their comfort zone, too. The Broncos play mostly man-to-man coverage, and the Patriots consistently lined up Gronkowski and Chandler on the boundary, forcing safety Darian Stewart and linebackers Brandon Marshall, Danny Trevathan, Shaq Barrett, and even Von Miller to line up as outside cornerbacks in 1-on-1 island coverage.

When Stewart gave Gronkowski a 10-yard cushion at the line of scrimmage, Brady hit Gronk with an easy 9-yard button hook, and Gronk did the rest in making two defenders miss for a 23-yard touchdown. Miller had no idea what to do when lined up 1-on-1 against Chandler on the outside, and had a bad miscommunication with the safety lead to an easy touchdown for Chandler.

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And Brandon Bolden absolutely smoked Trevathan on a wheel route for a 63-yard touchdown.

The Patriots had little chance of winning matchups against corners Aqib Talib and Chris Harris with Brandon LaFell and Keshawn Martin. But Brady attacked the linebackers and safeties, with 18 of his 23 completions going to tight ends or running backs.

 Gronkowski was quiet for a long stretch, catching just one pass in the second and third quarters. But it wasn’t always a case of Gronk getting double-teamed by a linebacker and a safety. He had some 1-on-1 matchups, but Brady kept throwing fade routes to Chandler on the outside, which was a lower percentage throw but also had smaller risk of interception. Chandler needs to be more physical when competing with defensive backs for 50-50 balls.

 Brady didn’t have much to work with on Sunday, but he had several erratic throws as well, and could have done a better job of leading his receivers. Throwing behind Gronkowski with about six minutes left was killer, as Gronkowski could have had a 20-plus-yard run on the play. And the Broncos played a lot of single-high safety, daring Brady to beat them deep, and with his receivers not getting separation Brady resorted to chucking up deep balls to LaFell that had little chance of being completed.

But Brady did throw an absolute laser to LaFell with four seconds left to get the Patriots into game-tying field goal position, and deserves a lot of credit for leading that last-minute drive.

 It was not a great day for the offensive line. They couldn’t get any push against the Broncos’ front four, and the Patriots rushed for just 39 yards on 2.4 yards per carry (LeGarrette Blount’s indecisiveness hitting the hole didn’t help, either). Josh Kline had a terrible time with Derek Wolfe, allowing a sack and two run stuffs to the defensive end. Add in a QB hurry, and Kline had arguably his worst game of the season. Shaq Mason also gave up a sack to Miller and a hit to Shane Ray. On the plus slide, the swap of Sebastian Vollmer to left tackle and Marcus Cannon to right tackle worked out for both players.

The Patriots also used Cameron Fleming as a sixth offensive lineman on 10 snaps.

 Quite telling that the Patriots got the ball back with 2:07 left in the second quarter with all three timeouts, and didn’t bother trying to score before halftime. They ran five running plays and bled out the clock while sitting on their timeouts, showing how little confidence they had in their offensive on Sunday night, particularly with those weather conditions.

More confusing was why Denver sat on its two timeouts and let the Patriots bleed out the clock instead of going for a last-minute score. Both teams were playing scared.

When the Broncos had the ball

 It’s weird to say the Patriots’ front four played well when the Broncos ran for 179 yards and three touchdowns, but the defensive line was very active in the backfield. Alan Branch had an excellent game up the middle, with two quarterback hits, two QB hurries, and three stuffs in the run game. Malcom Brown was equally unblockable, with a sack and three run stuffs.

Jabaal Sheard had two quarterback hits — one that led to Chandler Jones's interception — and a pressure. Rob Ninkovich had two run stuffs and a QB hit. Jones had a hurry, a hit, a stuff, and a pick.

 The problem was the outside stretch runs. Once Dont’a Hightower went down, the Patriots got really undisciplined in their lanes, couldn’t set the edge, and let the Broncos score all three of their rushing touchdowns on toss sweeps from 15-plus yards out.

On literally the first play after Hightower's injury, Jerod Mayo was a step too late getting to the edge, allowing Ronnie Hillman to slip through for a 19-yard score.

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In the fourth quarter, McCourty missed an open-field tackle while Logan Ryan and Chung took a bad angle and let C.J. Anderson get loose for a 15-yard touchdown.

And on the game-winner, the Broncos had perfect blocking for Anderson out front, then Duron Harmon punctuated the game by whiffing on the tackle and allowing Anderson to scamper 48 yards for the score. It was a fitting ending for Harmon, who missed two key tackles and took terrible angles to the football all night. If Harmon is going to play center field for the Patriots, he's got to take better angles.

 The Patriots slow-played Brock Osweiler — blitzing little and showing a single-high safety for much of the first half, and unleashing the dogs in the second half while showing more zone and two-deep looks. Mayo and Jonathan Freeny were quite effective blitzing up the “A” gap, and each got some big shots in on Osweiler (as did Tavon Wilson, who has played well the last two weeks).

The Patriots blitzed Osweiler on three straight plays late in the fourth quarter to force a punt.

 Ryan had an excellent game, keeping Demaryius Thomas off the stat sheet until late in the fourth quarter and making three textbook pass breakups. This was one of his best games of the year, and dominating Thomas in 1-on-1 situations is an impressive accomplishment. Malcolm Butler also had a decent game against Emmanuel Sanders, showing tremendous athleticism on one diving pass breakup, although Sanders certainly won his share of matchups and finished with six catches for 113 yards. Butler and Ryan just picked unfortunate times to get burned, with Ryan allowing the go-ahead touchdown to Andre Caldwell.


Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin