Patriots running back Stevan Ridley bounces to the outsideagainst the Broncos.
Patriots running back Stevan Ridley bounces to the outsideagainst the Broncos. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The first domino has fallen. Now, the Broncos will see if they can stop the rest from going down as well.

Last season the Bears came limping into Denver with Caleb Hanie at the top of their depth chart at quarterback, without running back Matt Forte in the lineup and as a result Chicago decided to try to keep it low-risk and hold the ball as much as possible.

But the Bears decided to do that by spreading things out and running against the Broncos' nickel package. They didn't win the game, but they did open the door for everyone else to walk through. And that's exactly what the Patriots, Bills, Chiefs, Steelers and Patriots (again) did down the stretch in 2011.

In those six games all six teams topped 100 yards rushing against the Broncos, with most of the damage coming against the team's nickel package, with those teams topping 140 yards rushing five times.

The Broncos spent plenty of time and money in the offseason trying to repair that and had been reasonably successful in the season's opening four weeks. But the Patriots have now opened the box again, rushing for 140 yards on the Broncos nickel package alone Sunday, another 19 yards against the dime, in what became a 251-yard rushing day for New England.

The Patriots put up a franchise record 35 first downs, had four scoring drives of at least 12 plays, four scoring drives of at least 80 yards and held the ball for 35 minutes, 49 seconds.

New England's offensive front consistently won at the point of attack against a lighter four-man line or against the Broncos nickel package that uses linebacker Von Miller at defensive end. The running backs were into the second level with linebackers pinned inside on the plays.

Now, most offenses in the league don't present near the match-up dilemmas all over the field the Patriots do, so not everybody will have the players in the huddle to pull it off.

But others will now try, the Patriots simply converted too many third-down chances, scored too many points and pounded out too much yardage doing it for others not to take a look. And it's the safest of bets Chargers coach Norv Turner, who is next in line next Monday night, will have it on his things-to-do list.

Because like anything in the NFL, as cornerback Champ Bailey said, "People will do it until you stop it. So, we have to stop it."

Jeff Legwold: or