FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady became the winningest quarterback in NFL history this season, surpassing Peyton Manning’s record of 200 victories.

Throughout his storied career, including the playoffs, Brady has a losing record against only one team – the Denver Broncos (6-9).

On Sunday, Brady will try to exorcise the demons in the place that’s given him the most fits. Brady has a 2-7 record in Denver, including last year’s AFC championship game. And that’s the one that arguably stings the most.

He’s watched the tape of the Patriots’ 20-18 loss several times.

“I think you always remember those feelings,” Brady said Wednesday. “You remember the circumstance of the game. Of course, I watched it a bunch this offseason. To watch it again, you’re trying to do things better than the way we’ve done it.

“If you want a different outcome, then you want to do things differently and we’ve got to play better. I think that’s what it comes down to. I think about the things that I need to do better. We’ve been close but close is not good enough when you play in the NFL. You’ve got to be able to finish your job.”

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The Patriots weren’t able to finish the job in Denver twice last year for many reasons. The biggest was they lost the competition in the trenches.

In Week 12, the Patriots lost 30-24 in overtime when they let a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead evaporate.

The offense couldn’t run the ball, finishing with 39 rushing yards and averaging 2.4 yards per carry.

Of course, losing tight end Rob Gronkowski didn’t help, but he won’t be around to help this weekend, either.

Brady was sacked four times and hit 17 times overall. Without LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis, the Patriots’ run game was so bad that Brady led the team with 13 rushing yards. The offense averaged 2.6 yards per carry (44 yards on 17 attempts). Brady threw two interceptions and his 56.4 quarterback rating was his second-worst in 31 playoff games.

“Well, I think they’ve had really good teams. More so than where you play, it’s how you play,” Brady said. “We just need to play better than how we’ve been playing out there. You know, it’s a great place to play. They’ve got great fans. Coach (Bill Belichick) said they sold out every game for the last 45 years or something like that. It’s definitely one of the louder places so our communication is going to be really important.

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“You know, (Von Miller) on the other side of the ball is a lot more dangerous, and (DeMarcus Ware), than the people in the crowd. We’re going to have to do a good job handling all those guys up front. They’ve got a great rush group. They’ve got a great coverage group. They’re exceptional in a lot of ways and they’ve been that way for a long time. It’s going to be a big challenge for us.”

As opposed to last year, the offense is a lot less one-dimensional because of Blount (1,026 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns). Brady has also been sacked at lesser rate (3.4 percent compared to 5.7 percent last season).

“It’s important, it’s definitely important. Because they play the pass so well, I think we’ve got to find ways to make yards in the run game,” Brady said. “We’ve done a pretty good job of that this year. (Blount) is having a great year. Dion (Lewis) is getting healthier every week, and James White has done such a great job for us. I feel great about our backfield. We’re going to need to run the ball very effectively.

“I think that’s important every week, but they do a great job of stopping you from running the ball and forcing you into a one-dimensional game, and that’s ultimately how they want to play it. They want to play from ahead, they want to get to the quarterback, and they do a great job of that.”


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