Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady, possibly for the last time

On a chilly afternoon Sunday, the Broncos held off Pittsburgh, 23-16, as Peyton Manning returned as the starter after being sidelined with a foot injury for the final seven games of the regular season. It was has been proven once again that the Broncos have the top defense in the NFL.

Osweiler led the Broncos back from a two-touchdown, fourth-quarter deficit against New England on November 29 in a game Denver won 30-24 in overtime. Manning though has been great the last two games, leading the Broncos to victory.

For the fourth time in the last 12 years, the AFC Championship Game will be decided by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

“It will be fun to play another Peyton Manning-led team”, said Brady, who had a long run of success against Manning when he was with the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe the biggest takeaway from this game was that the Broncos defense is just as good as everyone thought they were and aren’t showing any sign of slowing down soon.

Until then, Denver had settled for four field goals and trailed 13-12. A 2-point conversion made it 20-13. “I have a strong leg, so I’m not going to ever aim outside the uprights, but with the wind, you might be 1 yard inside each upright”.

“That’s really the basis of trying to come up with a game plan and figure out how you want to play a team like that”, Belichick said. Kubiak’s biggest concern was the non-call on an onside kick in the closing seconds: “The ball was touched at 7½ yards and there was no flag, so thank God we survived that one”. So the Steelers gave the Patriots a formula to move the ball against one of the NFL’s best defenses.

“Our confidence is flawless”, cornerback Aqib Talib said.

“During warmups, we went out there and it was a pretty calm day – a nice, tempered day”.

Ware’s sack ended Pittsburgh’s next drive and Brandon McManus kicked his fifth field goal, tying the National Football League playoff record. Brown was also accused of faking by Bengals corner Adam “Pacman” Jones, who said he’d apologize for saying so if Brown missed the Broncos game. I didn’t think that he had touched me. Demaryius Thomas dropped a wide open catch on the sidelines. We still had 160 yards of ball movement, but there was 100 yards of plays out there that we left.