Trevor Siemian and the Denver Broncos had no answer for a stout New England Patriots defense, as Denver dropped to 8-6 with a 16-3 loss at home. The loss clinched the AFC East for New England and knocked Denver out of the playoffs for now.

Denver had the ball to start the second half, after producing just three points in the first half. Things got off to a worse start in the second half for the Broncos, as Siemian was sacked on the first play of the half. Denver took a blow on defense, as well, when Derek Wolfe was ruled out at halftime. A.J. Derby dropped a potential third-down conversion and Denver went three-and-out to start the half.

Shane Ray came up with a big sack on the next drive, though, and the field position game was on. Justin Forsett continued his strong game with a nice 7-yard cut back, but a Russell Okung holding penalty brought it back and Denver punted.

Tom Brady converted a pair of third downs on the next drive with two touch passes into the soft spot of a zone defense and the Patriots kicked another field goal to extend their lead to 13-3. Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware brought pressure to cut the drive just short of the red zone. New England chewed up 5:12 to earn those three points.

Demaryius Thomas dropped a big pass over the top on Denver’s ensuing possession, resulting in Denver’s third straight three-and-out of the half. A penalty pinned Brady deep after the punt, but Brady beat a blitz on another third down to keep the clock running and the chains moving. Brady nearly converted another third down, but a Chris Hogan drop gave the ball back to Denver.

The Denver offense continued to sputter as they could muster just five yards on three plays and punted again to open the fourth quarter. The Denver defense responded with one of its biggest stops of the season, forcing a three-and-out that used just 1:06 of game clock. Unfortunately, Jordan Norwood couldn’t field the punt and it took a very friendly New England bounce to put Denver back at the 12-yard line.

On third-and-one on the next drive, Max Garcia surrendered a sack that took Denver all the way back to its own seven and the clock was becoming as big an enemy as Denver’s offense.

Martellus Bennett finally broke the game’s biggest play with a 34-yard reception over the middle that felt like the dagger, given that Denver had not converted a first down in the half to that point. Bill Belichick took three more points after Denver stiffened up at the goal line. A 16-3 lead appeared more than safe for a team that entered the game allowing just 17.7 points per game, third best in the NFL.

Denver finally recorded a first down when Siemian hit Emmanuel Sanders on back-to-back passes to get to into New England territory. A fourth sack of Siemian forced a third-and-15, though, were Siemian under pressure hit Demaryius Thomas for a gain of 13. Thomas couldn’t hang on to an airmailed throw on fourth down when Devin McCourty absolutely exploded on the big Broncos wideout.

New England took over on downs and effectively killed the clock on their ensuing drive. An unnecessary roughness penalty by T.J. Ward was allowed Brady to run out the clock. A last-ditch Broncos drive inside of 2:00 minutes resulted in 45 meaningless yards. Denver’s offensive ineptitude was on full display on that last drive when Trevor Siemian took an intentional grounding penalty under pressure, losing a down and 10 seconds of clock time. Jordan Norwood bookended the game with a fumble, to put a bow on the putrid day for the offense.

Denver now finds itself in must-win territory heading into the final two games against tough AFC West opponents Kansas City and Oakland.

Here’s what the team at MHS and some of our favorite follows were saying as the second half unfolded…