There haven’t been may bad halves of football in the Brady/Belichick era but atrocious may be an understatement for the first 30 minutes of football against the Denver Broncos. Whatever happened at halftime, it may have caused one of the best halves of the Brady/Belichick era.
With three turnover on the first three drives and six total not including a muffed punt, it was laughable to imagine a 34-31 win for the Patriots yet quickly after Stephen Gostkowski kicked the game winning field goal in overtime, that’s what read on the scoreboard, ending a truly bizarre game of football in terms of momentum and control.
After forcing the Broncos to punt on their first drive, the Patriots gave up their first points on the night after Von Miller returned a Stevan Ridley fumble for a touchdown.
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Things only got worse for New England when Miller blasted past Nate Solider to force a Tom Brady fumble that was recovered by the Broncos and led to a 2-yard Knowshon Moreno rushing touchdown.
The Broncos picked up more points on turnovers after a Brandon Bolden fumble resulted in a field goal to give the Broncos a 17-0 lead with 2:57 left in the first quarter.
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A passed to a double-teamed Jacob Tamme put the Broncos up 24-0 going into halftime.
After putting no points on the board in the first half, the Patriots needed only their first drive to score in the second half, cutting the lead on a five-yard Brady pass to Julian Edelman early in the third quarter. A one-yard run by Bolden cut the lead to 24-13 with 5:40 left in the third.
The third quarter continued to go the Patriots way when a wide-open Edelman caught a 43-yard reception near the 11 before getting knocked out of bounds at the eight-yard line.
Three plays later, the Patriots cut the lead to a field goal with a six-yard pass down the middle to Rob Gronkowski who overpowered Wesley Woodyard to make the reception.
The Broncos meltdown continued with an interception at their own 29 which the Patriots followed up with a 15-yard pass to Gronkowski to the Denver 14.
Faced with a third and nine at the Denver 13-yard line midway though the fourth quarter, Brady targeted Edelman but the diving receiver could not pull the reception in, forcing the Patriots to settle for a field goal.
Shades of the Broncos of the first half returned during a 10-play, 80-yard drive driving in fourth quarter. With a third and seven with 3:15 to play, a Manning pass went incomplete but a flag for pass interference against Ron Ninkovich moved the Broncos to the Patriots’ 11 with a first down.
One play later, a Darious Thomas catch and an extra point tied the game with an 11-yard catch with 3:06 left to play.
Despite winning the toss, the Patriots took their chances with the wind and elected to kick to start the extra period.
With a scoreless game late in the extra frame, a game of fumbles was decided on a muffed punt as the ball hit Tony Carter off the bounce and was recovered by Nate Ebner at the Broncos’ 13-yard line.
After lining up the kick, the 31-yard kick by Gostkowski improved the Patriots record to 8-3 in the most thrilling and unusual ways.
The Patriots travel to Houston next week to face the Texans.
The following game notes were compiled by Patriots Media Relations:
PATRIOTS COMPLETE BIGGEST COMEBACK IN TEAM HISTORY
The Patriots came back from a 24-point deficit to defeat the Broncos 34-31 in overtime, marking the largest comeback win in team history. The Patriots trailed the Broncos 24-0 at halftime. New England’s previous best comeback win was from 23 points down on Sept. 16, 1984, then the Patriots came back from a 23-0 deficit to win 38-23 vs. Seattle on Sept. 16, 1984. The Patriots came from 22 points down to win at the New York Giants, 23-22, on Dec, 21, 1996. The Patriots have come from 21 points down to win four times, most recently on Jan. 1, 2012 against Buffalo. Before tonight, the last time the Patriots allowed 24 first half points was on Nov. 30, 2009 at New Orleans, when the Patriots trailed 24-10 at halftime. Before tonight, the last time the Patriots did not score in first half was on Dec. 24, 2011, when they trailed Miami 17-0 at halftime in a 27-24 win at Gillette Stadium.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS: PATRIOTS TO FINISH 500 OR BETTER FOR 13th STRAIGHT SEASON
After improving to 8-3 on the 2013 season, the Patriots are guaranteed to finish the season with a record of .500 or better for the 13th consecutive year. At the conclusion of the 2013 season, the Patriots will be the only NFL team to finish with a record of .500 or better in each of the last 13 years (2001-2013). Each of the other 31 NFL teams had at least one losing season between 2001 and 2012.
PATRIOTS STRONG IN SEASON’S SECOND HALF
The Patriots improved to a record of 25-2 in the second half of the season since 2010. In both 2010 and 2011, the Patriots were 8-0 in the second half of the regular season and last year New England was 7-1. The Patriots are now 2-1 in the second half in 2013. Since Bill Belichick became Patriots head coach in 2000, New England is 85-22 in the second half of the season.
TOM BRADY IS HOT WHEN IT IS COLD
Tom Brady is now 25-5 as a starting QB when the game-time temperature is 32 degrees or lower, throwing 51 touchdowns and just 21 interceptions. Brady improved his record to 40-6 when the gametime temperature is 40 degrees or colder (including playoffs). Brady has thrown 85 touchdowns and only 30 interceptions in such games, including a three-touchdown, no-interception performance against Denver tonight. Brady’s regular season record in games where the temperature is 40 or less is 30-4 and his playoff record in such games is 10-2.
COLDEST REGULAR SEASON HOME GAME IN GILLETTE STADIUM HISTRORY
The temperature at kickoff was 22 degrees, making the Broncos game the coldest regular season home game in Gillette Stadium history. It is the coldest Patriots home game since Dec. 26, 1993 vs. Indianapolis at Foxboro Stadium when the temperature was 19 degrees. The Patriots won that game 38-0. The coldest game ever at Gillette Stadium was the 2003 AFC Divisional Playoff game vs. Tennessee, when the Patriots beat the Titans 17-14 in temperature of 4 degrees with a wind chill of -10.
COLDEST NOVEMBER GAME IN TEAM HISTORY
Tonight’s game was the coldest November game in team history at 22 degrees. The previous coldest was Nov. 22, 1987 vs. Indianapolis in 26 degrees in Sullivan stadium. The Patriots won that game 24-0.
BRADY ENGINEERS 39th CAREER GAME-WINNING PERFORMANCE
Tonight’s comeback against the Broncos marked the 39th time that Tom Brady has led the Patriots to victory following a fourth-quarter deficit or tie (including playoffs). It was the third time he achieved the feat in 2013, joining comeback performances at Buffalo (Sept. 8) and against New Orleans (Oct. 13). Against the Broncos, the Patriots trailed 24-21 heading into the fourth quarter, took a 31-24 lead with 7:37 remaining, and then saw Denver tie the game with 3:06 left in regulation before the Patriots won it with 1:56 remaining in overtime.
GOSTKOWSKI SETS TEAM MARK BY SCORING HIS 102nd CONSECUTIVE GAME
K Stephen Gostkowski added an extra point in the third quarter and has now scored at least one point in 102 games to set a franchise record. He entered the game tied with Adam Vinatieri and John Smith for the all-time lead with 101 consecutive games scoring.
EDELMAN HAS THIRD CAREER 100-YARD GAME
Julian Edelman had nine catches for 110 receiving yards and two touchdowns, marking his third career 100-yard receiving game and his second such game this season. The 110 yards marks the second highest single-game total of his career, trailing only his 118 yards at Atlanta on Sept. 29, 2013. Including the Atlanta game and tonight’s game, Edelman also had a 100-yard day at Houston on Jan. 3, 2010 (103 yards).
BOUNCING BACK AFTER A LOSS
Since the beginning of 2003, the Patriots are now 33-4 (.892) in regular season games following a loss. The Patriots have dropped back-to-back regular season games just four times since 2003.
WHEN BRADY STARTS ON SUNDAY NIGHT, THE PATRIOTS SCORE 30
The Patriots scored 34 points, marking the 11th consecutive time that a Tom Brady-led Patriots offense has scored at least 30 points on Sunday Night Football.
BRADY IS ONE OF FIVE TO REACH 350 CAREER TOUCHDOWNS
Tom Brady threw three touchdowns against Denver to become just the fifth NFL player to reach at least 350 career touchdown passes. Brady is one of five players in NFL history to have at least 350 career touchdown passes.
The New England Patriots own an NFL-best 37-14 (.725) record in the month of November since 2001. During that time, the Patriots have had four undefeated Novembers, including winning all three November games in 2012. New England has won eight straight November games.
CHANDLER JONES GOES OVER 10 SACKS FOR THE SEASON
Chandler Jones had a 10-yard sack of QB Peyton Manning in the first quarter and now has 10 ½ sacks on the year. The Patriots have now had a player finish with 10 or more sacks in a season 15 times in team history.
PATRIOTS HOLD BRONCOS PASS OFFENSE TO 132 YARDS
The Patriots held the Broncos’ pass offense to 132 net yards, despite Denver coming into the game averaging an NFL-best 350.4 passing yards per game. New England’s passing attack totaled 324 net yards, ahead of its average of 237.1 net passing yards heading into the game.
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