Patriots unexpectedly unravel in mistake-filled loss

	Tom Brady was under constant pressure thanks to Denver's relentless blitzing. AP
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It was Waterloo, and the destruction of Napoleon's Old Guard. It was the end of everything that had been built up during the glorious reign of the empire, and all Bill Belichick could do was watch his most trusted troops, who had won him so many battles, fall, one by one.

Tom Brady used to own the blitz. I mean, what team in its right mind would throw waves of blitzers at him when he would embarrass them so regularly with his little dump-offs and screens and hot reads? Well, Saturday night in Denver, the Broncos did, almost arrogantly, rushing as many as eight at times on the way to their 27-13 victory in the divisional playoff game.

The blitzes gave Brady a very hard time in the first half. But then, in the third quarter, the mystery was solved, and it was the same old Brady, picking the enemy apart, deep and short, driving the length of the field twice against a defense that suddenly lost its juice. The Patriots were down by four points as the third quarter was winding down. The defensive front of Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren was swallowing up the Broncos' running attack, and the Patriots had moved 73 yards down to Denver's 5-yard line.

You just felt that a familiar script was about to unfold, a scenario that had played out countless times while Brady was running up his 10-0 postseason record. But the Broncos didn't run up a 13-3 record this season by playing give-up. The blitz was their style, and they came with it again, and this time strong safety Nick Ferguson found a hole between the Patriots' left tackle and guard -- the B-Gap, it's called -- and steamed in on Brady, who made his worst play of the night.

He forced an off-balance throw to his third wideout, Troy Brown, standing two yards in the end zone, alongside Champ Bailey. It had been a very tough night for the Champ. Andre Davis, a Cleveland castoff, had beaten him for 51 yards in the first half. David Givens had beaten him for 21 on a quick post, and four plays before the Ferguson blitz Deion Branch had run a little hook in front of him that left him floundering, and had run by him for 26 yards.

But this time Champ was ready. He snatched Brady's slow-motion throw away from Brown and raced 100 yards to the Patriots' 1, setting up the TD that put Denver up by 11.

And then came the second round of the Patriots' troubles. The first round had come in the second quarter: the dreaded fumbles. The Patriots hadn't fumbled for the past seven games, but first Kevin Faulk fumbled to set up Denver's 7-3 touchdown, then rookie Ellis Hobbs fumbled the ensuing kickoff to push it to 10-3. And now the third turnover, set up by Bailey's interception, made it 17-6.

OK, so Brady was down 11. Bad, but not fatal. Hadn't the Patriots been the only team moving the ball in the second half? A TD and a deuce, a field goal by Adam Vinatieri, and it's tied. First came the field goal try. Wide right. The hero of so many playoff games and two Super Bowls had missed. The sturdiest of the Old Guard had faltered.

The Patriots' defense, playing in a kind of frenzy, stopped the Broncos on their third straight second-half possession. Denver punted. Brown, last year's hero when he doubled as a wideout and nickel back, fumbled on his own 15, and now the defense finally cracked and Denver punched in seven more points to go up 24-6.

It was over. Brady, who had made a living converting third downs, had been misfiring in the same situation all night. Maybe it was all the blitzing that finally got to him, maybe it was just an overall malaise, but it was devastating for the Patriots' cause.

Oh, they got some bad breaks, too. Jeff Triplett's crew made a very bad interference call to set up Denver's first TD. Denver's ensuing field goal, from 50 yards, never should have counted because right tackle George Foster jerked noticeably. But let's not take anything away from the Broncos. They ended the dynasty and won despite the ineffectiveness of one of their prime weapons, the running game.