5 takeaways as the Patriots punch their ticket to Super Bowl LX by beating the Broncos

It's been seven years - maybe a long seven years for some - but the New England Patriots are heading back to football's biggest stage. By beating the Broncos 10-7 in the AFC Championship Game, the team continued its miraculous bounce-back season and punched its ticket to Super Bowl LX.

Like so many Patriots playoff games in the past it wasn't easy. A team tough on both sides of the line of scrimmage, plus inclement weather in the second half, turned this one into a rock fight. Second half adjustments were key as the Patriots held on for the win, marking the franchise's first ever playoff win in Denver in five tries.

After the game, head coach Mike Vrabel highlighted how crucial that decision to take the points ended up being in regards to the field condition. "I would say halfway through the third quarter. I think when we got that field goal," Vrabel said, when asked when he noticed things getting bad. "Again, I wish it would have been able to be a touchdown, but it wasn’t. Then it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Our defense was playing really good. We were able to do just enough offensively to give them a break."

That all made this a difficult game to break down. For about 30 minutes it was less about strategy and technique and simply about not screwing up due to the conditions. No real tendency or gameplan, just trying to hold on. That made even minor coaching adjustments key in this game.

What were those adjustments, and what necessitated them? Let's discuss in some AFC Championship takeaways...

Much like the last time the Patriots were trying to advance in the playoffs with a second-year quarterback, they had to win a game in a driving snowstorm. This one rolled in a little bit later though, really picking up once the second half had gotten underway.

Once the snow hit though, the Patriots made the better adjustments. Although the first half was close on the scoreboard the Broncos were dominating the pace of the game. Despite a 7-7 tie, the Patriots' lone points came off of a short field, self-inflicted Broncos turnover. Denver was out-snapping the Patriots 41-26 at the break. That's a potentially disastrous play disparity, especially factoring in the altitude's potential impact on stamina.

Yet the Patriots flipped the script in the second half, making ball control a priority. They threw the ball only six times in the second half, and kept the clock running. With that they possessed the ball for over 21:06 from halftime on, and out-snapped Denver 38-17.

Committing to the run meant going up against a Broncos' front that was one of the best in the league this season. Obviously that meant a volume role for Rhamondre Stevenson, but also putting the ball in the hands of Drake Maye on the ground. They went all-in on the run, and ended up using jumbo personnel a season-high 33.3% of the time.

Stevenson carried the ball 25 times for 71 yards, and while he didn't rip off any big runs he didn't loose many yards either. And despite the Broncos constantly ripping at the football, he didn't put it on the ground. In fact, he made a good play to corral the football when an attempted direct snap play was off target.

Meanwhile Maye was as involved as a runner as we've seen all year. Prior to the final kneeldowns he had seven carries for 68 yards. Some of those were large scrambles, but rare designed runs for the quarterback included two of the biggest plays of the game. Maye's touchdown run in the first half was on a designed QB draw, and a timely naked bootleg call from Josh McDaniels late picked up the final first down that put the game away.

When the Patriots did throw the ball, they got two massive contributions from wide receiver Mack Hollins. In Hollins' first game back from an IR stint due to an abdominal injury he once again played the role of one of Maye's go-to receivers.

Hollins' first catch came midway through the second quarter. After Maye missed DeMario Douglas on a Cover-2 hole throw - which has been one of his most reliable throws of the year - Hollins got open deep over the middle and Maye delivered a 20-yard strike to convert a 3rd & 13. That got the Patriots out from under the shadow of their own goalpost.

In the third quarter Maye hit Hollins again, this time off a flea flicker. Hollins was able to get open up field on a fade for a 31-yard gain, which ended up being the Patriots' longest play of the day. It ended up accounting for almost a quarter of the team's 206 total yards. While that drive ended with a missed field goal, the play was key in flipping field position.

Those kinds of plays felt missing from the Patriots' offense in the two playoff games Hollins missed. Seeing him be a factor like this, even in limited windows, is an encouraging sign for the Patriots' remaining game.

The Patriots' first drive of the first half ate up a large chunk of that ball control second half. They drove the ball 64 yards in 16 plays, taking 9:31 off the clock and shortening the game. 11 of those plays were runs, accounting for 52 yards. It ended in a field goal, which ended up being the final score of the game.

In an offseason where coaches being aggressive on fourth down has been a major theme, Vrabel's decision to kick on 4th & 5 for that field goal proved to be an enormous difference. It contrasted with the decision of Sean Payton to go for a 4th & 1 early in the game, which the Patriots stopped at their own 14. That play was made possible thanks to a third down stop from Marcus Jones who hustled to the sideline on a QB scramble to force Jarrett Stidham out of bounds just before the sticks.

When Denver tried another field goal late in the game, at this point it was in heavy wind and snow. Will Lutz missed from 46 yards on what ended up being Denver's second-to-last drive of the game. Aiding on the missed kick was defensive tackle Leonard Taylor, who has been elevated from the practice squad for each game in these playoffs. He got a finger on the ball, leading to it knuckleballing well short.

That wasn't the only clear instance where Vrabel out-coached Payton in terms of game management. As the Broncos were driving to try to tie the game just outside of the two-minute warning, they made a substitution while in hurry-up. This allowed the Patriots the chance to match with the clock running. They did, forcing the Broncos to delay the snap. Not only did that each a chunk of time off the clock but the Broncos had to quickly snap the ball with just one second left on the play clock. That may have added pressure on Stidham, who underthrew a pass that was intercepted by Christian Gonzalez effectively ending the game.

Through the first two games of the playoffs, the Patriots leaned much heavier on the blitz than they did during the regular season. During this week defensive play caller Zak Kuhr had said that was based on matchups and wasn't necessarily a new tendency. Whatever the case, the Patriots brought the blitz again in this one, constantly sending extra rushers after Stidham with a blitz rate just under 50%.

After Stidham made one big throw early in the game, the pressure started getting to him. The Patriots' lone touchdown was set up by Stidham trying to run away from pressure and throwing the ball backwards for a fumble as he was trying to get away with it deep in his own end of the field. From there he seemed panicky in the pocket and struggled to get his feet set, before the Broncos largely abandoned the pass game due to the snow.

In addition to the blitz, the Patriots' primary rushers continued to show up even up against a strong offensive line. K'Lavon Chaisson, Milton Williams, and Christian Barmore all got into the backfield multiple times in this one, with Barmore recording a sack.

Part of the reason the defense needed to come up big was there was little margin for error. In what became a field goal battle, the Patriots struggled at times due to poor play from Bryce Baringer.

Baringer had a couple of lesser punts, including one outright shank, and they began before the bad weather hit. Baringer punted a total of eight times with a net of 36.9 yards per punt, despite only having one returned for a minimal gain.

Despite those short punts though, the Patriots were able to corral a strong returner in Marvin Mims. Brenden Schooler in particular showed up with multiple open-field tackles on one of the best returners in the NFL. They also seemed to want to avoid Mims on kickoffs, sending two of three for touchbacks.