But it was the Denver defense that stole the show, intercepting Brady twice in the opening half and making two crucial fourth down stops late in the fourth quarter to snuff out potentially game tying scoring drives, including one with just 2:18 on the clock.
Advertisement
The Patriots, on the road, are favored and have been since the Broncos beat the Steelers last Sunday night to set up Tom Brady-Peyton Manning 17. Newton also added two scores with his legs.
That game changed on another injury, when New England linebacker Dont’a Hightower went out with a knee injury in the second quarter. All New England needed was a two-point conversion.
“Tom Brady and Bill Belichick”.
In Denver, the season goes on. Star Demaryius Thomas had a drop last week and five the last time these teams met. Fans are starting to bug him about it, too.
“This is just a continuation of playing with a chip on his shoulder that he brought into the National Football League because of where he was drafted”, Myers said about Brady, drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round, the 199th player taken in the 2000 draft. That seemed to be the end of the play. “The concentration and the sharpness goes up, because it just has to”. “The guy has been in the game for a long time”. They do not stick with players for loyalty’s sake, or because of what they did in the past.
Manning back in the Super Bowl.
And perhaps nobody embodies Sunday’s game better than Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. He’s a four-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All-Pro. “It is hard, and it is harder the older you get”.
John Elway returned, this time in the front office, and quickly restored order.
PePeyton Manning is off and running – all the way to the Super Bowl.
Brady vs. Manning: One last showdown?
This was Gostkowski’s first miss in nine years.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning responds to questions during a news conference following an NFL football practice at the team’s headquarters Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Englewood, Colo.
But before the fireworks even got started, the Broncos defense was ready with the cold water.
All four of Sunday’s defensive teams are ranked among the top ten in scoring defense. Brady now leads the matchup 11-6 overall, but Manning is 3-2 against him in the playoffs. Manning surpasses Elway as the oldest quarterback to take his team to the Super Bowl.
“I think what we’re doing right now is staying in the moment”, he says. If Denver’s bunch of WRs led by Demaryius Thomas (88), Emmanuel Sanders (10), plus TEs Owen Daniels (81) and Vernon Davis (80) can keep in mind to hold on to the ball after so many drops against Pittsburgh, they could have success through the air.
Denver will face the victor of tonigh’ts NFC final between Carolina and Arizona.
And it’s the Patriots, who expect to be on the doorstep as long as Brady is taking snaps.
Advertisement
Excluding the first six games of the rivalry, which the Patriots all won, Manning is 5-5 versus Brady. “I think that’s something that every franchise hopes to establish, is some consistency and stability, and we’ve been really fortunate to have that here”.
