Win over Patriots worth $2 million to Manning

The Broncos defeated the Patriots 20-18 to advance to the Super Bowl.

Seems like a whole lot of truth here, as even in Colorado it wasn’t two seconds into the Broncos confetti people were saying they couldn’t handle Cam Newton (previous to his win in the NFC Championship).

The folks behind “Tecmo Super Bowl” pitted the two teams against each other in a simulation and the result will please Carolina faithful: Panthers 17, Broncos 7. “I feel that way”. That’s a little different than the rest of the teams in the National Football League, with the way the rules are today.

Manning is headed to Super Bowl 50, but Brady’s 11-6 record in their head-to-head matchups and four Super Bowl rings allow him to retain the edge in Brady vs. Manning for at least another season.

CHIEFS’ BERRY NAMED PFWA COMEBACK PLAYER OF YEAR: One reason Chiefs safety Eric Berry fast-tracked his recovery from Hodgkin lymphoma before this season was because he believed the Chiefs could make it to the Super Bowl. We all know Newton’s story after that, going to Florida, he left after some off-field issues, led Blinn College to a junior college national title, then led Auburn to a national title, and now has the Panthers in the Super Bowl. “We worked with our partners who manage the network to ensure the issue was resolved quickly”. For it to come to fruition is great. “But unfortunately for us and other Cowboys fans, he’s got other interests”.

Denver and Carolina ranked Nos.

“The one thing we’ve done all year long is we just grind as a football team”, coach Gary Kubiak said. “Try to find errors that we can improve in and try to address those”.

NO BLAME GAME: Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski’s missed extra-point following New England’s first touchdown of the game against the Broncos Sunday turned out to be pivotal. The main storyline was the Broncos’ defense, which played quarterback Tom Brady’s offense about as perfectly as one could imagine.

“Whatever the rules are, we play by them”, he said. Led by electric pass-rushers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, Denver hit quarterback Tom Brady 20 times, which was the highest total in the league all season. “It was an uphill battle all day”, he said. “That meant a lot and then for us to just kind of be in this moment together”. The Broncos game showed clearly that the Colts can beat any team on any given Sunday.

“He’s a great player, he’s the best”, said Brady.

No, it wasn’t. Gostkowski hadn’t missed an extra point in 10 years.

At Charlotte, the Panthers forced seven Arizona turnovers and Newton completed 19 of 28 passes for 335 yards. The Steelers have two Super Bowl wins in the Ben Roethlisberger era.

Whether it’s been Manning lining up under center, or Brock Osweiler, who took snaps while Manning was injured for six weeks toward the end of the season, the Broncos have depended on a defense that gave up the fewest yards this season and came up with game-saving plays time and again.