Brady led the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots (13-4) to the AFC title game for a fifth straight season.
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Peyton Manning set up another duel with great rival Tom Brady on Sunday after steering the Denver Broncos to a hard-fought 23-16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach the American Football Conference championship game.
Not next Sunday, though.
The Broncos signal-caller played down the significance of what will be his 17th meeting with Brady next week, when a place in Super Bowl 50 will be the prize for the victor.
“To kind of quote Bill Belichick, we’ll be on to New England”, Manning told Wolfson. Even Tom Brady might not be around too much longer as he would be 39 next season, only a year younger than Manning.
The location is significant, since Brady is 2-6 in his career playing in Denver, postseason included. This one, though, possibly means a little more, given his comeback from a foot ailment that sidelined him for six weeks. He was replaced by Brock Osweiler as the starter until halfway through the Broncos’ Week 17 matchup against Oakland, when Manning guided their come-from-behind effort.
And with that, we know what the conference championship games will look like. “But when we needed to we put together a big drive to get the touchdown that put us up”. Denver trailed 10-9 at halftime and had a lone third down conversion in eight attempts, 164 total yards (compared to 195 for the Steelers) and were averaging only 4.7 yards per play at that point. The challenge doesn’t get any easier.
It will be the 17th time that Manning and Brady will square off. Brady leads the series 11-5; they’re tied 2-2 in the playoffs.
But this is hardly the same Manning anymore. The game can be watched on TV on the CBS network or online through free live stream via the link below. What’s more, Pittsburgh was facing the NFL’s top-ranked defense.
At the 10-minute mark in the fourth quarter, Toussaint got the call on a second-and-four run, reaching the 31-yard line when Roby got an arm free from a block to make a swatting stab at the ball, held slightly loose in Toussaint’s left hand, raking the ball out.
The Patriots have had a hard run this season due to injuries, but they appeared to be back on track during their game against Kansas City. “We’ll enjoy this one tonight”. “I told them it would take them all today”. We’re sure that will be discussed a bit this week.
Tight end Rob Gronkowski was injured in the loss, leaving the game in the fourth quarter after taking a helmet to the knee.
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“Bottom line, you lose the turnover battle in a hostile environment against good people and it’s going to cost you”, coach Mike Tomlin said.
