New England Patriots
“I simply felt like we had momentum to rise up 14,” Payton stated. “It felt like we had a great name.”
Sean Payton stated the Broncos’ loss in the AFC Championship game begins with the pinnacle coach himself.
Payton decided within the second quarter that was, in hindsight, fairly useful for the Patriots. New England was struggling to maneuver the ball, and Denver had jumped out to an early 7-0 lead.
The Broncos had the ball in a 4th-and-1 on the New England 14-yard line. As a substitute of kicking a field-goal and doubtlessly going up 10 factors, Denver aggressively tried to go for it on fourth down and the Patriots acquired the cease. Rookie security Craig Woodson broke up Jarrett Stidham’s passing try.
“I simply felt like we had momentum to rise up 14,” Payton said after the sport. “It felt like we had a great name.
“I believe the sensation was, ‘Let’s be aggressive.’ To rise up 14, I used to be simply watching the way in which our protection was taking part in and the turnover on our finish leading to a landing, outdoors of that, I assumed we did a great job in containing them. There can be quite a lot of issues once we watch the tape I’ll have to have a look at and critique and take note of, but it surely was a hard-fought sport and we didn’t do sufficient to win it.”
Payton stated Denver had success working the play they picked prior to now, and felt snug going for it.
“Properly, we ended up in a 6-1 entrance, they ended up taking part in like a heavy 6-1,” Payton stated. “There truly was a clock stoppage, so we had a nickel run referred to as, after which, I don’t know if there was a timeout or they referred to as one, but it surely’s a slipper bare [play] that we’ve run fairly properly. They performed a sort of a 6-1 entrance with a two-deep shell, so in hindsight, the preliminary sub run look was a greater resolution.”
The transfer backfired, and New England held Denver scoreless for the remainder of the sport.
“It’s additionally a name you make based mostly on what you’re watching and the group that’s on the opposite aspect of the ball,” Payton stated. “So, there’ll at all times be second-thoughts.”
The snowy climate circumstances made it tough to maneuver the ball late within the sport because the Patriots held on for a 10-7 win. Leonard Taylor blocked a possible game-tying kick, and Christian Gonzalez grabbed a clutch interception late within the fourth quarter.
“Tip our hats to New England. It was a hard-fought sport, I assumed, defensively,” Payton stated. “You don’t know that it’s going to be like this three-point sport. That’s robust, particularly on this sport.”
Sunday marked the primary time the Patriots ever beat the Broncos in Denver in the course of the playoffs. It was a disappointing loss given the way in which that issues unfolded, Payton stated.
“You damage for each a kind of gamers in that locker room,” Payton stated. “You don’t understand how a sport goes to unfold, after which the way it started to unfold. I felt like a lot of the first half, we performed on their aspect of the sector. We didn’t rating sufficient factors offensively or capitalize on that discipline place.”
“The turnovers damage us and we had our alternatives, but it surely begins with the pinnacle coach and the remainder of our workers.”
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