Patriots vs Broncos.

The New England Patriots and Denver Broncos will take the field at Gillette Stadium in just a few short hours for their AFC Divisional Playoff Game to decide who will move on to the AFC Championship Game next Sunday.



Many fans are expecting that Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow will be the one to decide the outcome of this game. He's led multiple late game comebacks and made some incredible plays to help seal victories for his team. Perhaps none was more spectacular though than the game last week in the AFC Wildcard Round against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tebow hit receiver Demariyus Thomas on the very first play of overtime for an 80 yard touchdown pass. The win marked the first time since 2006 that the Broncos had won a playoff game.

What was lost in that game was the defensive stand that the Broncos defense made late in the fourth quarter to allow the game to reach overtime. With the Steelers at the Denver 45 yard line with less than 90 seconds to play, Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil jarred the ball loose as he sacked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers would recover the ball, but not before losing 10 yards on the play.

It wasn't the first time that the Broncos defense had provided the opportunity to their star quarterback. There were six occasions during the final 11 weeks of the season that the defense was able to hold their opponents to 15 points or less. During those six games the Broncos went 5-1, only a 7-3 loss in the season finale to Kansas City in which Tebow played his worst game of the season prevented that record from being perfect.

Comparatively, when the defense has struggled, the Broncos have struggled mightily. Four times during that same 11 game span the Broncos defense surrendered 30 points or more, including the first meeting between the Patriots and Broncos, and only once did Tim Tebow manage to bail out his defense (against the Minnesota Vikings in the first week of December).

The lesson being that if you're relying on Tim Tebow to win football games for you, the chances are high that you'll be disappointed. The Broncos defense is the backbone of the team and is what allows them to be competitive at a high level. I don't mean to minimize the fireworks that Tebow has provided in many fourth quarters and overtimes this season, but the reality is that while Tebow has certainly made strides this year, he isn't yet good enough to put a team on his back for 60 minutes.watch here