Manning v. Brady rematch for AFC Title

Tough morning for those of us whose teams lost.

Broncos coach Gary Kubiak says he gave no thought to replacing quarterback Peyton Manning in Sunday’s divisional round win over Pittsburgh with backup Brock Osweiler. He’s a columnist for The Washington Post and a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. I should have made the play.

BLACKISTONE: Well, that is the storyline.

“… You certainly don’t want to make it easy for them, but you can outsmart yourself sometimes by trying to play too much of a mind game”.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – The Denver Broncos don’t get tight when their games get that way. Palmer and Newton are each vying for their first appearance in the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium next month in California. This was a great showing by Schofield after struggling big time for the final month or so of the season.

But Pittsburgh had multiple issues in the punting game, it committed the game’s only turnover, converted on just 2-of-12 third-down situations and Roethlisberger was sacked three times.

BLACKISTONE: Exactly. So it’s all – it’s going to be all about quarterbacks heading into next weekend, as well it should because that’s the most critical position in professional football. And yes, Tom Brady was the quarterback of those teams as well. You’ve got Peyton Manning. It will be the 17 meeting between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

One, as in how many wins it will now take for the Vallejo-native to get back to his second Super Bowl. Brady led the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots (13-4) to the AFC title game for a fifth straight season.

GREENE:…Who because two other running backs were injured…

Here’s the catch, though: The biggest matchup on Sunday won’t be Brady vs. Manning. You know it’s coming. They are such a family-oriented team. And you saw that locker room yesterday, and you read the comments this morning, that team really rallied around Fitz Toussaint. “Obviously we’ll be dealing with a little bit of pain and some limited movement here for a little bit but supposedly will heal on its own”, Roethlisberger said, adding that he would only need surgery to clean out scar tissue. They ask him to fill in. Obviously that turned the momentum. A lot of new things have happened this season but I think, kind of like tonight, we stayed patient.

Despite the hype of the Brady/Manning rivalry, the two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks have met just four times in the playoffs with each having won twice.

Consistent pressure when Brady drops back to pass, as he will do from the outset next Sunday, also is required.

Julian Edelman leads New England’s resurgence on offense.