The Real Play That Cost The Patriots: Von Miller's Interception On Tom Brady
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- You can never pin the result of a game down to one play, but that has never stopped anyone from doing it. The Patriots' two Super Bowl losses were boiled down to a catch by David Tyree and a drop by Wes Welker.
Their latest loss, in the AFC Championship on the road against the Denver Broncos, has largely been boiled down to Stephen Gostkowski's missed extra point, his first miss in 524 attempts dating back to 2007. The miss affected the Patriots' play-calling in the fourth quarter when they were forced to go for a two-point conversion to tie the game. The miss has become an easy target for finger-pointing.
Except the Patriots' failures go well beyond Gostkowski's ultra-rare miss, which happened in the first quarter. The real back-breaker was Tom Brady's ugly interception to the Broncos' Von Miller.
Delivering a dominant performance and looking every bit like the All-Pro he is, Miller wreaked havoc on the Patriots' decimated offensive line as he got consistent pressure on Brady all game long. But, Miller's biggest play of the game would turn out to be the one he made in coverage.
Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips deserves a ton of credit for not only devising a great gameplan for the Patriots - it was arguably the best defensive game ever played against Brady with all of his weapons healthy - but deviating from his usual schemes to do so. He recognized that the Patriots' offensive line was weak enough to succumb to pressure from just three or four rushers and did not have to blitz as much as he usually does, if at all. He flooded the rest of the field with tight coverage and mixed up the assignments against all of the receivers.
The confusion, combined with the constant pressure, had Brady rattled.
Miller's interception was the first play of the game that showed how uncomfortable Brady was in the game. It was one of the only times he dropped back in coverage for the whole game, but he chipped Rob Gronkowski, undercut his route perfectly, and Brady never saw him. It appeared as though Miller was ready for that particular play, and read and executed it perfectly.
Brady took full responsibility for the play, as he should have.
"Just a bad decision. Gronk went inside him and then was breaking out. I think Von knew that and made a good play," Brady said about the play after the game. "They rush more often than not, but those are the things quarterbacks have to see."
The interception set up the Broncos at the Patriots' 16-yard line, where Owen Daniels scored his second touchdown of the game. Only three drives thereafter were longer, and they resulted in two field goals and a punt. Had Brady not thrown that interception, the Patriots may have ended up doing just enough to escape Denver with a win.
More importantly, had Brady taken better care of the ball on that drive, Gostkowski's missed extra point may not have mattered. The Broncos could not consistently move the ball on offense after their opening drive, and would have had a slim chance at scoring another touchdown for the rest of the game without great field position. Even if the Patriots punted the ball away without scoring on that drive, the Broncos touchdown may have never happened.
Ultimately, the Patriots lost because of the gross mismatch between their offensive line and the Broncos pass rush. The pressure and confusion threw Brady off and ultimately led to the real play of the game. It should have never come down to that one point ... The fact that the extra point came back to bite the Patriots speaks more to their failures as a team that those of the kicker.
Stephen Gostkowski may be the best kicker in the league. He's as close to a guarantee as anyone in the league to drill the ball through the uprights, but he picked a bad time to have his first missed PAT in nine years. The miss was costly, but not nearly as much as Miller's interception.
If that play never happens, perhaps it's the Patriots who are headed to Santa Clara.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
