Another Tom Brady-Peyton Manning match-up, with Super Bowl on line

The Broncos had taken a 6-0 lead thanks to field goals from Brandon McManus early in the first quarter as Pittsburgh’s defense kept Manning’s aerial game in check. Dale Lolley has the report from Denver.

The more significant issue was those gusts were blowing across the field, from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ sideline toward the Denver Broncos’ sidelines. “We wanted to win this game, but I told him, I said we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him”. A two-point conversion left Denver in the box seat and they duly closed out the win as Pittsburgh ran out of time.

OLB DeMarcus Ware recovered and the Broncos used 13 plays and almost 7 minutes to score the winning touchdown with 3 minutes remaining.

How out of character – at least in this game – was that drive?

– The Chiefs’ four scoring drives took 17, 11, 12 and 16 plays, respectively. Instead, it was a little-known, backup cornerback who spent most of the day leading up to the game feeling as though he had eaten too many mozzarella sticks at the movie theatre or a kicker who had struggled to find his groove late in the season.

But Seattle, the two-time defending NFC champions who beat Carolina at this stage a year ago, got to within seven points with about a minute to play after Steven Hauschka followed three Russell Wilson touchdown passes with a field goal. In terms of game management, Reid has not evolved one iota despite calling plays at the National Football League for 17 years.

“It was a turnover, yeah, but it was deep in our territory”, said Steelers linebacker James Harrison. We just didn’t come up big. On the other, Manning might execute a more patient, conservative offense than Osweiler, which was a focal point in his interviews after beating the Steelers.

History shows that it’s not just the stars that have to shine in the biggest games. And suddenly, they weren’t. “We come out seven minutes before kickoff and I see a 30 miles per hour crosswind come in over the Rockies”, said McManus.

Denver’s stars didn’t disappear against the Steelers; they simply were part of a larger cast that was doing what needed to be done to get the win. I didn’t even understand what happened. Rather than fly down the field the way his teams once did in such situations, the Broncos rolled on the legs of running back Ronnie Hillman who chugged slowly through an aggressive, slashing Steelers defense.

Having to pick up the slack for the absence of All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown, Bryant did just that in a big way.

Manning’s no backup, and the Denver ground game continues to run strong.

Denver Broncos players celebrated a gritty, grind-it-out playoff win yesterday, but the reveling contained something of a regular-season feel.

“We went to some blitzes”. He still gets nervous during Peyton’s games, like any good father would. Let’s give the guy some more love, shall we? “We didn’t do that”.

Caption + Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe brings down Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during the second quarter as Steelers guard Cody Wallace is not able to stop the sack.

In his second full game back from injury, Peyton Manning’s final stat line of 21-of-37 for 222 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions was far from impressive, but it was effective enough.