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Manning beats Brady: Broncos headed back to Super Bowl

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DENVER – Peyton Manning ain’t finished just yet.

An all-time great game between two Hall of Fame quarterbacks went down to the final seconds , but in a dramatic upset, the eldest Manning has booked himself one more trip to the Super Bowl after a 20-18 win over the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game in Denver Sunday. It all came down to a two-point conversion attempt with 12 seconds left, but Brady couldn’t come through in the clutch and was picked off by Bradley Roby to an end what would have been an amazing comeback attempt.

Manning, who may play the final game of his career in the Super Bowl in Santa Clara in two weeks, found the strength to play well when it mattered most. The Broncos didn’t shy away from letting their aging QB throw — instead, he tossed two touchdown passes en route to a huge victory.

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Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Owen Daniels (r.) and the Broncos have reason to celebrate – they are heading to Super Bowl 50.

Instead, it was Brady who looked shaky throughout most of the playoff battle. The Broncos rushed Brady so effectively that he might still be shell shocked. His throws rushed and off target and two of them landed in the hands of Denver defenders. Brady was ineffective enough that he had the Denver faithful “Brady sucks!” mid-way through the contest.

But the New England quarterback nearly engineered a crazy comeback that included a pair of insane catches by Rob Gronkowski and brought the Patriots within two points of coming back. He threw a touchdown to his tight end with 12 seconds left that gave the Patriots a prayer, but the Denver defense had the last laugh.

Manning lost the career head-to-head battle with Brady, now 6-11, but critically took what likely will be their final meeting. The knock against Manning, one of the all-time greats, has long been around a propensity to come up short in the postseason. Now, though, he’s 3-2 against Brady in the playoffs.

The Patriots’ offensive line is what did them in. The Broncos were able to create an exceptional amount of pressure on play after play to disrupt Brady and the Patriots’ pass rush. Von Miller was exceptional, generating 2.5 sacks and picking off Brady in the Broncos’ conference championship victory.

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Broncos QB Peyton Manning and Patriots QB Tom Brady meet up midfield after the game.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Broncos QB Peyton Manning and Patriots QB Tom Brady meet up midfield after the game.

Manning opened Sunday’s game like he’d read his press clippings. Instead of the old, broken down quarterback that needed to rely on the run, Manning came out of the gate firing – and with success.

The 39-year old quarterback led the Broncos on an 11-play, 83-yard scoring drive on their first series that was finished off with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Owen Daniels that put the Broncos on the board first halfway through the first quarter.

By Manning was hurt later in the first quarter by a serious error by teammate later in the quarter. The veteran quarterback threw a screen pass to Ronnie Hillman out on the left side of the field, but Hillman dropped the ball at the Broncos’ 22-yard line. It was ruled an incompletion but an alert Jonathan Freeny scooped the ball up in case the pass went backwards, which, after a challenge, it was ruled that it had.

The Patriots took advantage of Hillman’s mistake. Just two plays after the fumble, Steven Jackson ran in a one-yard touchdown. But Stephen Gostkowski missed an extra point for just the second time in his career, so the Broncos still held a 7-6 lead.

The Broncos pass rush harassed Brady throughout the first quarter, and in the second, it was the Patriots quarterback that made the next mistake. A short pass intended for Rob Gronkowski was picked off by Von Miller, giving the Denver the ball back at the New England 13-yard line. And a few plays later, Manning, who so many had written off heading into the game, threw his second touchdown pass of the day — hitting Daniels again, this for a 12-yard touchdown that put Denver ahead 14-6.

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Tom Brady is sacked by Broncos LB Von Miller.Joe Mahoney/AP

Tom Brady is sacked by Broncos LB Von Miller.

Gostkowski hit a field goal later in the second quarter, but the Broncos defense wasn’t done wreaking havoc on the Patriots. New England had the ball in Denver territory with just over four minutes in the half when Malik Jackson delivered a monster hit on Brady, who lofted a ball up high in the air where it was picked off for the second time in the game, this time by Darien Stewart. The Broncos didn’t score off the turnover but did manage a 52-yard Brandon McManus field goal just before halftime to go up 17-9 at the break.

Ahead 17-12 in the fourth quarter, C.J. Anderson finally broke a run, for 30 yards, that put the Broncos in a threatening position. But Manning couldn’t get the ball into the end zone — he missed Jordan Norwood in the end zone on third down from the 13-yard line — and had to settle for a 31-yard field goal instead that put Denver ahead 20-12 with 10:02 left.

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (c.) has a big day but can't haul in this pass, which is defended by Broncos Aqib Talib and Shiloh Keo.Charlie Riedel/AP

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (c.) has a big day but can’t haul in this pass, which is defended by Broncos Aqib Talib and Shiloh Keo.

With about six minutes remaining, the Patriots faced a 4th-and-1 on the Broncos’ 16-yard line. With DeMarcus Ware coming in hot on Brady, the quarterback had to heave up a lofted pass to Edelman, who caught the ball but was stuffed by Chris Harris.

But the Patriots got the ball back quickly, and Brady drove his team down the field and into the red zone, threatening to try and tie the game in the final minutes. But on 4th-and-6th from the Broncos’ 14-yard line, Brady heaved up a jump ball toward Gronkowski. But the tight end was surrounded by orange uniforms, and the ball was knocked away from an incompletion to give Denver the ball back with 2:25 left in the contest, despite Gronkowski’s protests for a flag.

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Peyton Manning throws two touchdowns and no INTs in the AFC championship win.Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Peyton Manning throws two touchdowns and no INTs in the AFC championship win.

But a conservative Broncos drive combined with Patriots timeouts meant Brady got the ball back at midfield with 1:52. Denver had the Patriots on the ropes with a 4th-and-10, but then Brady delivered a rainbow pass to Gronkowski that, somehow, the hulking tight end hauled in for 40 yards.

The game hinged for a moment on a 4th-and-goal from the 4 yard line with 17 seconds left. And Brady went to who else, Gronkowski, and hit his tight-end despite tight coverage from Harris. But the score, with 12 seconds left, left New England still down two points. And that’s where it went south for the Patriots, as Brady’s pass intended for Julian Edelman was intercepted by Roby. The Broncos recovered the onside kick to clinch their victory.

Tags:
peyton manning ,
tom brady ,
von miller ,
rob gronkowski ,
bradley roby ,
owen daniels ,
malik jackson ,
cj anderson ,
steven jackson ,
stephen gostkowski ,
gary kubiak ,
bill belichick ,
new england patriots ,
denver broncos ,
nfl ,
nfl playoffs ,
super bowl

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