FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Tom Brady visited the turf more than the end zone during last seasons AFC championship game against the Broncos.Blitzed and harassed throughout the 20-18 loss, Brady was sacked four times and hit a total of 23 times as injuries and a lack of continuity caught up with the New England offensive line, which struggled to find consistency during the season.An offseason coaching shake up and some personnel changes have helped the Patriots do a much better job protecting their 39-year-old quarterback.But theyll find out just how much progress theyve made Sunday as they head to Denver for a rematch against the NFLs top-ranked pass defense and arguably its best pass rusher in Von Miller. In his last five games against the Patriots, Miller has 7+ sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and interception.They bring a lot of challenges, Patriots left tackle Nate Solder said. Theyre exceptional pass rushers, and they do well on the run, too. Its a real challenge all-around.New England has allowed only 21 sacks through 13 games this season, tied with Dallas for the 25th fewest in the NFL. By comparison, the Patriots gave up 38 sacks during the 2015 regular season, 14th most in the league, and their most since allowing 40 in 2013.Theyve been most impressive over the past four games, allowing only two sacks. Rookie left guard Joe Thuney and right tackle Marcus Cannon have yet to allow a sack on Brady this season.Thuney also has been one of the teams ironmen in 2016, starting all 13 games along with center David Andrews. Cannon, Solder and right guard Shaq Mason have each missed only one game.Its been a whole group effort, Thuney said. Theres still a lot I can improve on, trust me. I try not to think about that stuff and try and improve on something little every day.Thuney has been everything the Patriots hoped he would be when they selected him in the third round in the draft this past spring. He shined during offseason workouts and training camp, supplanting Josh Kline, who was released in September.The Patriots also liked what they saw out of Andrews in his 11 starts last season enough to part ways with Bryan Stork. Meanwhile, Solder has held his own at left tackle with Sebastian Vollmer on the physically unable to perform list.Perhaps the biggest thing thats aided in the turnaround has been the return of veteran Dante Scarnecchia as offensive line coach. He was lured out of retirement by coach Bill Belichick to replace Dave DeGuglielmo, who was let go in the offseason.Scarnecchia, among other things, has cut down on the rotations that were staples of DeGuglielmos approach. Keeping guys on the field longer together helped the group develop chemistry faster.So far, Belichick is a fan.I think just the overall coordination of the group and function of the group together, just working together, communicating together, seeing things, just reacting, that split-second reaction can make all of the difference in the world, Belichick said. The better we are at that, the better those guys are at doing it together, those are all positives.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/khightower Shoes UK Online Store . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. Shoes UK Online Cheap . Deulofeu injured a muscle in his right leg in Evertons 4-1 win over Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday. Barcelona says that its team doctors will "co-ordinate" with Evertons medical staff as Deulofeu recovers. https://www.shoesukonline.com/ . The winner Saturday will remain in the elite 10-team field next year. "We talked about wanting to be disciplined and stick with our game plan and good things will come," Draisaitl said, who had two goals for the victors. Wholesale Shoes UK . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Cheap Shoes UK 2020 .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. DURHAM, N.C. -- The latest renewal of the North Carolina-Duke rivalry has an added challenge this year: a short turnaround.The 15th-ranked Tar Heels and Blue Devils meet Thursday night, five days after playing Atlantic Coast Conference home games. That means less time for players to recover physically while both teams cram more prep work into a compressed schedule, enough so that Duke coach David Cutcliffe joked he wasnt sure what day it was when he met with reporters Monday morning.Hopefully they did what we asked them to do: they went home and went to bed early Saturday night, Cutcliffe said of his players.From the moment Saturdays games ended, the clock started for the nearby rivals to look ahead to their 103rd meeting. The schedule for the Tar Heels (7-2, 5-1 ACC) and Blue Devils (3-6, 0-5) typically features a light Sunday workout more geared toward recovery, then day off on Monday.But Cutcliffe said the Blue Devils Sunday workout was a bit busier than usual following a 24-21 loss to No. 18 Virginia Tech, while UNC receiver Ryan Switzer said the Tar Heels had Sunday off. Both teams were practicing Monday afternoon, prompting Tar Heels linebacker Andre Smith to say the schedule felt a little off after practice ended in the evening.There is also a heavier emphasis on getting players in the training room to treat nagging bumps and bruises.I wouldnt say it makes it tougher, Duke right tackle Casey BBlaser said.dddddddddddd Id say it just puts a little bit more on the players individually where obviously we dont have as much practice time or film time.So on your own, during the practice reps, you have to make every rep count since practice is a little bit shorter. And then you have to be watching film on your own a little bit more and getting better at studying your opponent.While Duke lost by three points for the second straight week, Larry Fedoras Tar Heels are coming off one of their most complete performances of the season: a 48-20 home win against Georgia Tech coming out of a bye week.When you go with a short week, its more about making sure theyre mentally fresh and their bodies are ready to go on Thursday night, Fedora said. So we cant practice the way we normally practice in a week.The teams faced this scenario two years ago entering a Thursday night game in Durham, down to the Blue Devils coming off a close loss to the Hokies -- that time after an 8-1 start. The Tar Heels, in a struggle-filled season marred by a historically bad defense, won that one 45-20 to snap a two-game skid in the series.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap---More AP college football at http://collegefootball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '