FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Vince Wilfork knows a little something about being tough. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 325 pounds, he plays in the middle of the New England Patriots’ defensive line and is regarded as one of the very best in the game.
He doesn’t get pushed around often. In fact, he’s usually the one doing the pushing.
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But come tonight, when the Patriots face the Denver Broncos in an AFC Divisional Playoff game at Gillette Stadium, Wilfork knows his team is going to face one of its toughest opponents of the season.
And by toughest he doesn’t mean most challenging.
The Broncos, said Wilfork, are just physically tough players.
“Any time you can run the ball and be No.1 in the league, you have to be physical,” said Wilfork. “I’d put them at the top of the list, one of the tougher teams (in the NFL). When you’re able to run the ball and stop the run, you have yourselves a pretty physical football team and a pretty tough football team. That’s what they have.
“We definitely have to buckle our chinstraps up and be ready to play from the first snap of the game to the last snap of the game They are one of the better football teams out there at being tough and being physical and being able to establish the run game.”
The Broncos, who are 2-0 against the Patriots all-time in the playoffs, led the NFL with 2,632 rushing yards, averaging 164.5 yards per game. They were at their best over the final dozen regular-season games, when they averaged 190.4 rushing yards per game.
And, of course, at the center of all this is their polarizing quarterback, Tim Tebow. Fans either love him or hate him.
The Patriots certainly respect him. He rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns in the regular-season game between the clubs, won by New England 41-23 four weeks ago.
“You can talk all day about how tough he is and how elusive he is but it really doesn’t matter until you face him,” said Wilfork. “When you face him, you really figure out this dude is like a running back. He’s a big dude, he’s a strong guy. I knew we talked about it (before the regular-season game) but, man, I didn’t realize just the physicalness, his stature. He’s just a big guy.
“I’ve seen some big guys over the years, but he’s probably one of the biggest and one of the toughest and probably one of the strongest that I’ve faced. Not taking any credit from anyone else, but he’s a special guy.”
The Broncos seem to relish that mentality. While Tebow threw for 316 yards in the wild-card win over Pittsburgh, it was a tough, physical play by wide receiver Demaryius Thomas that ended the game. He caught a slant from Tebow, stiff-armed a Pittsburgh defender away and raced 80 yards for the winning score on the first play of overtime.
“There’s definitely nothing to hold back now, not in these games,” said Tebow. “These games will definitely be physical and they’ll definitely be fast and everybody is going to be flying around and hitting hard.
“That makes the game very exciting, so it will be a lot of fun.”
Of course, the Patriots have a pretty tough quarterback as well. Tom Brady often exudes the image of a celebrity — from his marriage to a super model to his ads for Ugg boots — but the guys in his locker room know how hard he works and how tough he is.
“The fact is he didn’t get here by accident,” said Brian Waters, the veteran guard in his first season with the Patriots.
“He worked very hard. I’m sure he had a chip on his shoulder because of how he started. But he was a big-time quarterback in college and through the course of his career he’s worked hard.
“You don’t get to where he’s gotten without putting in the time. I just happen to now be able to see it on a day-to-day basis.”
Part of being tough is overcoming obstacles. Tebow’s doubters have criticized everything about him, from his passing motion to his religious beliefs.
“Every player who has made it this far has had to overcome some adversity,” said Brady, who was the 199th pick in the 2000 draft.
“Every player has had that. It could be injuries or a lack of opportunities or you’re stuck behind someone else. There are very few people that get brought into the NFL ushered in on a red carpet.”
The Broncos, said Brady, are built around players like that.
“They have a bunch of guys like that,” he said.
“Josh (McDaniels, the former Broncos head coach just hired to the Patriots staff), just talking to him, he’s got a lot of admiration for (Denver) and the players on the team and their mental toughness. That’s what we’re preparing for. We’ve played them. They’re a tough team.”
And the Patriots have to match that toughness — both mentally and physically — if they don’t want a third consecutive season to end with a home-playoff loss.
“At the end of the day, it’s a whole mindset,” said Wilfork. “Your mindset of going out there, putting the preparation in and everything you work for the whole week, the whole year, putting it on the line for a game.
“Can you do that for a good 60 minutes and walk out with the victory? That’s the challenge that lies ahead of us. If we can do that, we’ll be OK.”
Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:
mlowe@pressherald.com
Twitter: MikeLowePPH
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