Can the Broncos make it 5-0?

by Frank Liao | October 11, 2009 at 02:01 am

153 views | 2 Recommendations | 0 comments

The Denver Broncos (4-0) play the visiting New England Patriots (3-1) Sunday 4:15 ET at Invesco Field in Denver, CO. It's a matchup of the teacher Bill Belichick against his pupil Josh McDaniels, former Patriots offense coordinator and current Broncos head coach.

There are some that are skeptical of the Broncos perfect record, with two wins coming against the awful Oakland Raiders and the Cleveland Browns. The odds makers are favoring the Pats (-3), which is a pretty healthy point spread for a road team that has a QB in Brady who has at times looked shaky this season.

While McDaniels' forte is offense -- he was the play-caller for the 2007 Patriots squad that set a single-season NFL records with 589 points -- it's the other side of the ball that has emerged as the Broncos' calling card under his watch. A defense that underwent an extensive offseason makeover has been one of the league's premier units in the early going, having yielded a minuscule 6.5 points and 239.8 yards per game while producing 10 turnovers.

Teachers can make a difference, sure, but ultimately, achievement is determined by the student.Belichick has had assistants such as Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini who so far haven't turned out to be good NFL head coaches, and another in Charlie Weis, who has been so-so at Notre Dame. Then there's McDaniels, who reached the midterm of his first semester as head coach with straight A's.