The New England Patriots (13-4) hit the road for the AFC Championship game to take on the Denver Broncos (13-4) on Sunday.
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Who’s better? The Broncos’ Manning if statistics are the measure of excellence; Brady if you go by the four Super Bowl rings won by New England in the 14 years he has been their starting quarterback, and by head-to-head match-ups between the pair.
All 5 of these quarterbacks have beaten Tom Brady and the Patriots in Denver.
I anticipate the Pats will play a lot of man coverage in this game to force Peyton Manning to throw into tight windows.
Not only would Brady have a better playoff record against Manning, it will also extend his record of starts by a quarterback in a Super Bowl with seven.
And here we are, once again: Brady versus Manning for a spot in the Super Bowl on February 7.
Brady and the New England Patriots are 11-5 all time against Manning and his teams.
Two days before the Broncos hosted the Steelers in their AFC divisional playoff game, defensive end Derek Wolfe signed a four-year contract extension – a reward he said put his mind at ease on the field last weekend.
“You definitely can’t just focus on the pass game the whole time, because if you do and you forget about the run they’ll gash you”, linebacker Brandon Marshall said.
With the Brady-Julian Edelman-Rob Gronkowski threat re-established, the Patriots revived offensively during a 27-20 divisional-round win against the Kansas City Chiefs last Saturday.
“There isn’t a player off our team that I have any more respect for than Peyton Manning”, Belichick said.
“I think it will come down to big runs on offense”, Demaryius Thomas said.
He tries not to lose the game instead of trying to win the game. Brady won this argument a long time ago.
“They present a lot of challenges on defense”, said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The Patriots lost a Sunday night game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Week 12, 30-24, but are playing in their record-tying fifth consecutive AFC title game.
In the Broncos’ Nov. 29 win over the Patriots, Demaryius Thomas had five drops before making one of the biggest grabs of the game later on. That dust-up of course did not stop the Patriots, gridiron’s answer to the New York Yankees, from winning Super Bowl XLIX. “It’s just the point Peyton is at in his career”. I expect this to be a high scoring game, but I think the disruptions in travel and the small amount of time the Cardinals will have to adjust in Carolina will be the difference in this game. Anyone with a decent antenna can watch the AFC Championship on TV.
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Even if Manning wins Sunday and goes on to the Super Bowl, most fans will remember just how badly he struggled in 2015.
