Super Bowl 50: Denver Broncos to face Carolina Panthers

Gronkowski finally got his touchdown with 12 seconds left when Brady found him curling in the back of the end zone.

Through a Halley’s Comet-like extra-point miss by Stephen Gostkowski in the first quarter, two gut-wrenching fourth-down failures in the fourth quarter and their many struggles in between, the Patriots kept coming. Aqib Talib batted the pass into the air and Bradley Roby intercepted it. He came back and made more than his share of plays most notably the 40-yard catch down the seam on fourth-and-10 during New England’s late scoring drive, then the 4-yard grab for a touchdown that gave the Patriots a chance to tie the game. The Broncos recovered the onside kick and the celebration began. This will be a great Super Bowl between two number one top seeds teams played in the Super Bowl.

Quarterback Cam Newton led Carolina to a 49-15 win over the Arizona Cardinals 49-15 in the NFC Championship game.

Bruce Arians’ men were put on the back foot right from the start as the Panthers opened up a 17-0 lead after the first quarter thanks to the brilliance of 26-year-old Newton.

Gostkowski missed a first-quarter extra point yesterday during the Patriots’ 20-18 loss to the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

And so a week of pre-game hype surrounding Brady and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning meeting for the 17th time of their respective brilliant careers, ended the way the Broncos have ended most of their games this season: with dominant defense. “A couple of plays here and there where they made better plays really were the deciding factors of the game”.

GRONK CRAMPS UP: In the second half, with the Patriots trying to mount a comeback, Rob Gronkowski was on the sideline, face-down, while a trainer massaged his legs.

Manning is 1-2 in three previous Super Bowl appearances.

Derek Wolfe was the first to meet Tom Brady. Meanwhile, the Broncos harassed Brady into a 27-for-56 day for 310 yards and two picks.

Gostkowski missed his first extra point since the 2006 regular season.

Brady and Manning were sacked for a combined seven times – the highest number of sacks in any meeting between the two legends – with the outstanding Von Miller getting 2.5 for Denver.

“At the end, we just couldn’t make enough plays”, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. On the play in question, Peyton Manning threw a swing pass to Ronnie Hillman that was ruled incomplete, with linebacker Jonathan Freeny picking up the bouncing football. The Broncos defeated the Patriots 20-…

Vernon Davis, traded from the 49ers less than three months ago, is returning to their home field with the Denver Broncos for a Super Bowl 50 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Only an October, 2007 game against Green Bay – when everyone thought Brett Favre would retire after the season – drew a bigger gathering with 77,160. The Patriots drove to the Denver 16, only to be stopped on a fourth-and-1 when Julian Edelman was tackled short of the first line after catching a floating pass. Brady moved the Patriots from their 29 to the Denver 14, where they faced a fourth-and-6 with 2:25 left. He’s now a game manager, which sounds like a pejorative, but is simply an acknowledgment of who he is now, merely the oldest quarterback (39) ever to lead his team to the Super Bowl.

Brady goes back to Boston and Manning goes to Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, not far from where Brady grew up.

The Panthers boast a big time offensive attack, featuring Cam Newton, the league’s likely runaway most valuable player.

Gronkowski was the only Patriots receiver who managed to solve the stingy Broncos defense, finishing with 144 yards and a touchdown on eight catches.