Who will win battle of give and take?
Turnovers. In the playoffs, they can make or break a team's Super Bowl aspirations.
The Denver Broncos have gone 0-3 in their past three playoff appearances. They were outscored, on the road, 111-37 in those three losses. And in those 12 quarters of dreadful play, the Broncos forced only one interception and one fumble while losing the ball five times on turnovers.
Denver's task against the New England Patriots on Saturday will be to play an error-free game on offense and force turnovers on defense. It proved to be a good formula throughout the regular season (though the Patriots did not commit a turnover on Oct. 16 at Invesco Field) as well as the most recent postseason games that have been played in Denver.
In the past four playoff games in Denver, the Broncos are a plus-nine in turnover margin. In particular, the Broncos have thrown only one interception in their past five home playoff games -- on Jan. 4, 1992, against the Houston Oilers.