The New England Patriots received the opening kickoff at home in Foxborough and drove right down the field to score in less than three minutes, with a drive culminating in a Wes Welker receiving touchdown, courtesy of Tom Brady.

The touchdown was set up by one of the strangest plays you can really expect to see — Brady handing off to tight end Aaron Hernandez, who took the ball and ran 43 yards to put his team in striking distance. Hernandez's run immediately preceded Welker's 7-yard grab, and a 17-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski set up the Hernandez run. The entire drive was five plays, 80 yards and took 1: 51 seconds off the clock.

The Broncos, despite the hoopla around quarterback Tim Tebow, have gotten this far on the back of their defense, but New England scored more than 40 points against the same unit earlier in the season. This is not the start the Broncos wanted.

For more on these two teams, visit Patriots blog Pats Pulpit and Broncos blog Mile High Report