Oh, and Peyton Manning was there, too. Denver’s Gary Kubiak became the seventh coach to reach the Super Bowl in his first year as coach of a team….
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Despite a season plagued by injury, Peyton Manning will be headed to Super Bowl 50 as he looks to possibly end his career on a high note.
The AFC championship game topped the NFC championship game between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers.
A few hours earlier, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos outlasted New England in the AFC Championship game, and Manning is the epitome of the NFL’s prosperous Old Guard.
Perhaps for emphasis, he repeated himself. The Patriots scored with 12 seconds remaining but couldn’t convert on the two-point conversion to force overtime. On the attempt, Tom Brady’s pass was picked off. Sunday was the 17th meeting between the surefire hall-of-fame quarterbacks.
Manning improved to 6-11 in his vaunted series against Brady, but 3-1 with the AFC title on the line.
Vaccaro said the line could settle in quickly at 4 points and stay there through Super Bowl weekend.
– Von Miller, Broncos, had a franchise playoff-record 2 1/2 sacks and an interception in Denver’s 20-18 victory over New England in the AFC championship game.
But Manning showed he has something left. It was just the second passing touchdown at home this season.
Manning, of course, will get so much of the attention over the next two weeks.
“There’s no question it’s been a different season”, Manning said.
Permanent example: Joe Montana in each of his four Super Bowl starts – and victories – with the 49ers. It’s just a complete shock and I let a lot of people down. The over/under betting is set at 44.5 for the game. Manning’s, comparatively, was 103.8. The Patriots had to go for 2 because Stephen Gostkowski missed an first extra point in the first quarter, his first miss in 524 tries.
But that’s as close as they would get.
The Broncos (14-4) recovered the onside kick and, after a knee by Manning, the celebration began. We just couldn’t make enough plays. Most folks figure his fourth Super Sunday will be the last time he dons a helmet.
As for the head-to-head match-up, it was lopsided.
Rivera honored wide receiver Ted Ginn with the game ball after his 22-yard touchdown run.
And I also don’t mean to discount Carolina’s considerable components beyond Newton. He finished 27 for 56 for 310 yards and two picks. Newton will be the man to focus on this game and he’s responsible for making all his teammates perform well. He also threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter, including pick-six, but the game already was well out of reach by then.
With the interceptions, Palmer admitted that he was forcing it.
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With a chance to tie the game early, Gostkowski sent his extra point fluttering off to the right.
