Only two games remain before the final one, the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 7th. The AFC and NFC Championships take place on Sunday, featuring the New England Patriots, the defending Super Bowl champions verses the Denver Broncos in the AFC game, and the Arizona Cardinals verses the Carolina Panthers in the NFC one. All top seeded teams.
The marquee match up is the Pats and Broncos, both 12-4 this season. They feature name and accomplished quarterbacks. Tom Brady for New England. Peyton Manning for Denver. At ages 38 and 39, this could be the final time that these two Pro Bowlers, quarterback teams that face each other in the post season. And If Manning can be Manning this one last time, if, this could be the de facto Super Bowl, the game fans will talk about for years to come. It has Super Bowl type hype.
Career wise, Brady, with head coach Bill Belichick, has won six AFC championships, four Super Bowls and three Super Bowl MVP’s with New England since the 2001 season, known as the Brady-Belichick era. Ironically, Brady was the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He’s been New England’s starter since early in the 2001 season, replacing injured QB, Drew Bledsoe.
In contrast, Manning, the brother of New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, and the son of Archie Manning, a legendary, thirteen year NFL quarterback, was drafted number 1 by the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. He played there until a neck injury ended his tenure in 2011. He signed with Denver in 2012. Manning has won three AFC chips. Two with the Colts, and one with the Broncos. He’s won a Super Bowl with the Colts and lost two. One with Indy, the other with Denver, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl played here in 2014 at MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Both New England and Denver ascended to this Sunday’s AFC Championship from wins in last weekend’s divisional games. New England beating the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-20. Denver defeated a battered Pittsburgh Steeler team, but a Steeler team whose loss was due more so to player error and poor execution than to injury, or inactive players.
“We fought hard, just not enough today,” said Steelers’ head coach, Mike Tomlinson, who made no excuses for receiver Antonio Brown and running back DeAngelo Williams’ inability to play in the divisional game. Two of his key players. “We came up a few plays short,” he said. “We had an opportunity to win the game,” Tomlinson further stated, describing the Broncos come from behind win.
Analyzing their 23-16 victory, Manning said, “We stayed patient all game. We didn’t force anything, and we didn’t give them any short fields.”
The New England-Denver post season match up is being played in Denver because of the Pats’ loss to them in late November, a regular season game won by the Broncos in over time, 30-24. Another come from behind win. Manning sat out that game to the end of the season, due to a foot injury. Back up, Brock Osweiler replaced him.
This will be the 17th professional meeting between Brady and Manning. Brady winning 11 of 16. They’re 2-2 in the playoffs. Three of the four match ups have been AFC Championships, Manning winning two out of the three. The most recent, Denver’s 26-16 victory in the 2014 AFC championship.
