Post-Game, Week 6: Patriots 20 @ Denver 28

The New England Patriots made a late-game rush, but it wasn't enough to overcome early mistakes, and the Denver Broncos handed the Pats their third loss of the season, 28-20, Sunday at Mile High.

New England came back from 28-3, scoring 17 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters. The Patriots punted the ball away with just under 4 minutes to play on a 4-and-20 and never got another chance to tie the game.

First, the good news, there was little enough of it. Patrick Pass had a great day in relief of the injured Corey Dillon (ankle) who missed his first game of the season. Pass finished with 64 yards rushing on 10 carries and 89 yards on 6 receptions to lead the team in both categories. Unfortunately, the Patriots couldn't simply give him the ball every play.

Tom Brady also had a good -- not great -- day. He finished with 299 yards and a touchdown on 24 of 46 (.522) passing. After a good start, Brady hit a 5 of 20 skid from 1:21 left in the first to 7:30 left in the third. That's when he resumed control and led New England to a field goal and a pair of touchdowns.

The ultimate unraveling came with 4:03 left to play. David Givens cut across the middle on 1st and 10 from the Patriots 38. Brady put the pass right in front of him, but Givens wasn't looking for the pass until it was just about there, and it deflected harmlessly through his hands. Givens said after the game that he should have caught the ball.

Under pressure on the next play, Brady was called for intentional grounding, resulting in a 3rd and 20 from the 28. Branch was hammered a couple yards short of the first down and dropped the ball, and New England was forced to punt.

The Patriots actually got off to a decent start. The moved the ball and controlled the field position game. They got on the scoreboard first on an Adam Vinatieri field goal about 6 minutes into the game. On Denver's next series, Asante Samuel leveled Denver tight end Jeb Putzier in what looked like a hopeful sign for the future 50 minutes.

New England held a 3-0 lead after one quarter. And then came the turn.

There's plenty more bad news. The Patriots gave up three plays of 50 yards or more, each of which led to one of Denver's first three touchdowns. Duane Starks was horribly burned in single coverage on the first two, a 72-yarder from Jake Plummer to Rod Smith early in the second quarter, and a 55-yarder to Ashley Lelie less than three minutes later.

Plummer finished the game 17 of 24 for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has not thrown an interception for 17 quarters.

The play following the first-half two-minute warning, Tatum Bell cut back across the center at the line of scrimmage and burst upfield for 68 yards. Almost fittingly, Starks was in on the tackle.

Logan Mankins didn't help matters by getting tossed from the game on the last play of the first half when he hit Denver defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban below the belt. Viniateri also missed a field goal for the first time ever at Mile High on the play (7 previous sucessful attempts).

Wait, there's more bad news. The Patriots failed to force a turnover for the third straight game. Linebacker Monty Beisel forced a fumble, but the Patriots didn't recover. A Plummer pass sailed through a Patriots' hands late in the game. (There's actually some good news there: The Pats didn't give up a turnover either.)

And more bad news: Denver was 100 percent successful in the red zone. Denver accumulated 178 yards rushing (granted about 9o of it was on two plays), which almost undoubtedly will send New England to the bottom of the rankings against the rush. Denver committed 11 penalties (good news), but New England ended up committing 8 (bad). Amos Zereoue had only 14 yards on 7 carries.

Brady's 5 of 20 stretch wasn't entirely his own fault either. Several of those passes were on target only to be simply dropped. Several were simply bad, bad passes. Brady was under pressure all day, even more so after Mankins' ejection. Tight end play appeared to be nonexistant -- Ben Watson and Daniel Graham had only 1 catch each -- but as Tom Brady explained on Dennis and Callahan, the tight ends were used primarily for blocking and pass protection.

The defensive line put little pressure on Plummer and had a very tough time with initial run stopping. The linebacking corps did little to help.

Mike Vrabel led the team with 13 tackles (8 solo) and remains the only Patriot with an interception this season.

While New England hasn't lost consective games in 38 games, they have yet to win consecutive games this season.

The Patriots (3-3) have a bye next week and then host co-AFC-East-leader Buffalo (3-3) on Oct. 30 at 8:30 p.m. Buffalo is at Oakland next Sunday at 4:15 p.m. Denver (5-1) faces the New York Giants (3-2) in the Meadowlands next Sunday at 4:15 p.m.