Brady and the Pats' offense set the tone on their opening possession as they ran right through the Denver defense on a drive highlighted by a 43-yard run by TE Aaron Hernandez out of the backfield and a 7-yard TD pass from Brady to WR Wes Welker. The Patriots defense stifled the Tebow-lead offense all day long, starting with a forced fumble by LB Rob Ninkovich (who was the game's defensive MVP, perhaps being motivated after he was posterized on a Tebow TD run in the Week 15 matchup between these two teams). Brady took it right to the Broncos again and hit TE Rob Gronkowski for his second TD of the game giving the Pats a 14-0 lead midway through the 1st.
The Broncos would finally get on the board with a RB Willis McGahee TD run following a rare Brady interception to make it 14-7 early in the 2nd but that would be the end of the good news for Denver in this one. Brady would throw 3 more TDs in the 2nd Quarter, 2 to Gronkowski, and New England had this one wrapped up at halftime with a 35-7 lead. Brady set a record for TD passes in a playoff half with 5 and would tie the record for playoff TDs in a game after he hit Hernandez for his 6th TD on the team's first possession of the 3rd Quarter. The Bronco's incredibly slim comeback chances were erased after that score and the rest of the game was simply a formality as New England cruised to a 45-10 final score.
The Patriots played their best game of the season so far in this contest and will now try to ride that momentum to the Super Bowl next week as the host the Baltimore Ravens, who beat the Houston Texans 20-13 on Sunday, in the AFC Conference Championship. Tom Brady and company will have a much tougher challenge against an experienced Baltimore club lead by former Super Bowl MVP and 2-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year LB Ray Lewis.
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