Public is right to side with Patriots against Broncos

New England Patriots running back Steven Jackson speaks with reporters in the team’s locker room at Gillette Stadium before an NFL football practice, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots are to play the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship on Sunday in Denver.

Not on Sunday, though.

“Peyton manning is on the last, leg of his career, he doesn’t look to good lately and Tom Brady looks like he does 10 years ago he’s just as good”.

The AFC Championship game features two completely different teams than the ones that faced off in Week 12. It doesn’t get any more average than that. Mathis will start again against New England, but Kubiak said Garcia will be available. That game was a thriller, too, with Brock Osweiler leading the Broncos to a 30-24 overtime victory.

But this is hardly the same Manning anymore.

The one play didn’t lose the game, though.

The New England Patriots are looking to avenge their controversial regular season loss at Denver and to go to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row.

For the umpteenth time this week, this is the XVIIth game in which the two quarterbacks will play against each other. Brady has more Super Bowl rings than any quarterback not named Joe Montana.

His 2015 season was derailed by a foot injury on November 15 that required surgery, but he returned to play last weekend in the Patriots’ 27-20 AFC Divisional round win against the Kansas City Chiefs.

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots will have Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola up and ready to go for just the second time since Week 11. According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, Denver defensive coordinator Wade Phillips sent five or more rushers after the quarterback on 41.7 percent of passes this season. It will be up to Peyton Manning and the offense to do enough against the injury riddled New England defense, which they should do. At this point, Manning is going to need a strong running game and defense if he wishes to have success in the National Football League past this season. Unlike the Patriots, Denver always tries to establish the ground attack. But the Patriots couldn’t overcome costly turnovers against the Broncos.

It’s possible that Denver’s defensive line terrorizes the Patriots’ offensive line and forces several turnovers, in which case the Pats wouldn’t technically have beaten themselves, but would have lost because they were outplayed up front. Carolina has NFL MVP Cam Newton. “Nobody’s worked harder than he has, and I know how disappointed he is and we all are”. But Newton can control a defense with his size, strength, speed, and savvy as both a passer and runner.

Manning threw for only 222 yards against the Steelers, and it seems as though he doesn’t even consider throwing deep these days. That means they will keep bringing the blitz.

But he comes off a mediocre performance against Green Bay in which his decision-making came into question. I’ve got a ton of respect for them. In comparison, the team with the fewest sacks was the Atlanta Falcons with 19.

Roby, who forced the game-changing fumble in last week’s victory over Pittsburgh, made the pick. Cornerback Josh Norman is likely to get most of the coverage assignments against Fitzgerald, and that will be a highlight matchup on Sunday.