Week 5

Broncos 20, Patriots 17 (OT)

Josh McDaniels got one over on his former mentor, New England coach Bill Belichick, as the Denver Broncos improved to 5-0. They , along with four other clubs, stand out as the only remaining undefeated teams in the NFL.

RUNNING GAME: B-

Knowshon Moreno held his own in his first start. The rookie from Georgia carried the ball 21 time for 88 yards. Denver ran the ball just four more times with Correll Buckhalter out nursing a high ankle sprain. Lamont Jordan ran three times and Brandon Marshall once on an end-around. Surprisingly, Denver didn’t use Peyton Hillis in the ground game. He has certainly fallen out of favor with this coaching staff.

PASSING GAME: A

Kyle Orton has been asked to manage the game. On Sunday, he won it. The supposed run-of-the-mill quarterback was anything but against the Patriots, completing 35-of-48 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns -- both to Marshall. Orton’s one interception was a desperation Hail Mary before the half that was picked off by of all people, New England wideout Randy Moss. But when Denver needed Orton most, he led the Broncos on touchdown drives of 90 and 98 yards, the latter tying the game at 17 late in the fourth quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B-

The return game was a non-factor. Denver returned just two punts for a total of 10 yards and once had the ball downed at its own 2. The return team also almost cost the Broncos the game with a running into the kicker and offside penalties that kept giving life to a fourth-quarter New England drive. Matt Prater was 2-of-3 on field goals. His 48-yard miss on the game’s opening drive may have kept the game from going to overtime in the first place, but his 41-yarder in the extra session is all people will remember.

RUN DEFENSE: B

Sammy Morris led the Patriots with 68 yards on 17 carries and Laurence Maroney, when he was given the ball, averaged 4.2 yards per carry. But New England is Tom Brady’s team and not much, if anything, is expected from the run. Denver held the Patriots, who were playing without leading rusher Fred Taylor, in check and forced the Patriots to challenge the secondary with the pass.

PASS DEFENSE: B+

When you can hold Randy Moss to one catch for 36 yards, you’ve done well. Brady threw for 215 yards on 19-of-33 passing and two scores -- one to Wes Welker and another to Ben Watson. But Brady got the ball three times in the final five minutes of regulation and couldn’t engineer a New England scoring drive. With 1:45 remaining in regulation, Brady was sacked for the only time by Vonnie Holliday and fumbled, turning the ball over to Denver.

COACHING: A

Josh McDaniels learned a lot from Bill Belichick. The most important thing is to play within yourself and don’t beat yourself. Denver nearly did that early on with a Moreno fumble leading to a Patriots field goal and some special-teams miscues that raised McDaniels’ ire. But when the chips were down, the Broncos, yet again, found a way to get the ball to their playmakers -- Marshall and Eddie Royal -- to score the game-tying TD late in regulation and the winning field goal in overtime.

KEY PLAY OF THE GAME:

Outside of Jack Williams’ head’s-up play to recover an Eddie Royal fumble in the first quarter that would’ve put New England in scoring position again after taking a 10-0 lead, it was the Broncos defense that once again came up with a play when the team needed it most. With the Patriots driving for a go-ahead score in the final 2 minutes of regulation, reserve defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday sacked Tom Brady for the team’s lone sack, forcing the New England quarterback to fumble. Elvis Dumervil’s recovery gave Denver the ball at the Patriots 45. But, more importantly, it was the last chance New England would have to drive for a winning score before the Broncos won the game in overtime.

--- MICHAEL HICKS.