Hightower Exit: The Big Loss for The Patriots Against The Broncos

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The first play the Broncos ran was a handoff to Ronnie Hillman up the middle. Rob Ninkovich stopped him for a loss of two yards. The defensive end rushed to the inside of Broncos right tackle Michael Schofield, who also had Dont’a Hightower to his outside. The two Patriots sandwiched Schofield and Hillman was easily stopped.

On the second Broncos’ series, Hightower did a good job of setting the edge as Alan Branch stopped Hillman for a loss of a yard. On the next play, Hightower rushed from the left edge and forced Brock Osweiler out of the pocket, where he was sacked by Ninkovich.
Before Hightower left the game with a sprained MCL, the Patriots allowed zero runs of more than 10 yards and only allowed one rush of nine yards. But on the first play the linebacker missed, Hillman ran for a gain of nine.
Things got worse from there.

Still, the loss is huge. The Broncos scored their first touchdown of the game after Hightower’s exit Sunday, and his presence as the leader of the defensive huddle will be missed. His 55 tackles this season also are second on the team behind Patrick Chung.

Almost perfect

What Logan Ryan did on Sunday was the equivalent of a starting pitcher losing a no hitter in the ninth inning.
Ryan blanketed Demaryius Thomas for most of the game. Before the Broncos’ final drive in regulation, Brock Osweiler was 0-for-8 when targeting Ryan. The third-year cornerback also had three pass deflections.
With 2:31 left in the fourth quarter, Osweiler finally hit Thomas for a gain of 36. Ryan still had good coverage on the play, but Osweiler threw a perfect deep ball and Thomas leaped over Ryan to make the catch the catch. Then, a little more than a minute later, Osweiler hit Andrew Caldwell, who was covered by Ryan, for a four-yard touchdown pass. Once again Ryan had good coverage but fell victim to a well-thrown pass.

Ryan finished the game having allowed two catches on 10 targets for 40 yards.
Malcolm Butler covered Emmanuel Sanders and struggled. He deflected the first pass he saw, but Osweiler went 4-fo-6 for 85 yards when targeting Butler the rest of the game.

As they did against Buffalo, the troubles extended to each member of the Patriots’ offensive line. Bryan Stork gave up a sack to Vance Walker and a hit. Shaq Mason gave up a sack to Von Miller in overtime, plus two hits and a pressure. After the Wolfe first sack, Kline gave up a hit and a pressure. Vollmer gave up one hit.