ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — If you are a numbers person and a gambler, bet on the Patriots in Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Broncos.
Tom Brady appears to have Jack Del Rio’s number.
Brady has faced defenses coached by the Broncos defensive coordinator seven times and won all seven, completing 171-of-235 passes (73 percent) for 1,771 yards, 17 touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 121.1.
The only caveat is De Rio was the coach of the Jaguars during much of that streak and the Jags were never exactly a powerhouse. Two of Brady’s wins over Del Rio’s Jags, though, came in the playoffs, in 2005 and 2007.
Oddly, when asked about Brady, Del Rio was complimentary but did not exactly gush.
“I just think he is a good player and prepares hard,” he said. “They do a nice job with their schemes and he’s an accurate passer. He’s a smart guy, a competitive guy.”
Sunday’s game marks the first return to Denver for Josh McDaniels, who coached the Broncos from 2009 to 2010 before being fired. McDaniels is now the Patriots’ offensive coordinator.
The subject of McDaniels inside the Denver locker room brings mixed reactions.
“I ain’t got nothing to say about him,” Broncos defensive lineman Robert Ayers, a first-round draft pick during the two-year McDaniels era, said.
“Obviously, his time here was a little shorter than he probably hoped or expected, but that’s in the past,” receiver Erik Decker, a third-round McDaniels pick, said.
While McDaniels did not last long in Denver, he is responsible for many of the key players who remain on the team such as Ayers, Decker, receiver Demaryius Thomas, running back Knowshon Moreno and guard Zane Beadles.
“He’s been vilified, but he’s a bright, young coach and you see what he’s done in going back to New England and being their offensive coordinator,” Broncos VP of football operations John Elway said. “I don’t know why it didn’t work out, other than the fact he didn’t win enough games.”
Elway has a word for the decision by Broncos 35-year-old offensive coordinator Adam Gase to hold off on doing any interviews for vacant NFL head coach openings: “Studly.’’
Gase, who runs the Broncos’ prolific offense, has been a coveted commodity by some teams, but he probably cost himself a shot or two to land one of those jobs because teams were not willing to wait. Gase told both the Vikings and Browns he wouldn’t interview until after the Broncos’ season is over. The Vikings have since hired Mike Zimmer as their head coach and the Browns appear to be waiting to interview Gase.
“I felt like I was all-in for what we were doing here,” Gase said. “I just didn’t want to stand in front of our players and say one thing and do something else. I felt like it was the most important thing for what we needed to do for this team.”
Elway said he “hopes’’ Gase stays, but most of all he admires his commitment.
“For him to be able to do what he did and to say, ‘I want to keep my focus on the Denver Broncos and once our season is over I’ll interview,’ was studly,’’ Elway said. “I like guys that are committed to what they’re doing, committed to the Denver Broncos. So I couldn’t be more proud of that decision. It tells you a lot about the guy.”
Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, a native of Hartford, Conn., said he expects his two younger bothers to have conflicted interest Sunday, because they all grew up Patriots fans.
“It’s kind of like a split household right now because I grew up a Patriots fan,” Knighton said. “But they’re mostly concerned with my success right now. After the game, we’ll handle that.”
After the Broncos yielded 337 yards in a Week 15 loss to the Chargers, their defensive players called a meeting.
In three games since, the Broncos have held opponents to an average of 251.3 yards, and no team has scored more than two touchdowns.
“I think that was a bit of a turning point,” linebacker Paris Lenon said. “I think guys were playing well in spurts. It just hadn’t been a complete game. After that situation, after that loss to San Diego, we go to Houston and played more complete in that game. Then we went to Oakland and played more complete in that game, and then obviously last [Sunday].”