DENVER — So they meet again, perhaps even for good.
Just like (recent) old times, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady will square off Sunday afternoon for the right to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLVII next month at MetLife Stadium.
Technically, it’s the top-seeded Broncos and the second-seeded Patriots who will go at it for the second time this season, this time in the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field.
But let’s face it: Everyone else is playing just a supporting role in the 15th matchup between two quarterbacks who are among the greatest in NFL history and have been the league’s defining faces since the turn of this century.
“This game is about the Broncos and the Patriots,” Brady vainly tried to insist this week. “I know that they have a great quarterback on the other side of the ball. It’s a very tough game on the road against a very good team led by one of the great quarterbacks of all time.”
It’s actually a stretch to call this a rivalry, though, because Brady’s teams have owned Manning’s teams from the outset of the series. Brady is 10-4 against Manning, having won the first six meetings starting in 2001 and each of the past three.
Brady’s latest streak includes a thrilling, 34-31 overtime victory at home in November, a game that was one of the rare lowlights in Manning’s otherwise spectacular 2013 season.
Manning finished the year with an NFL-record 55 touchdown passes and 5,477 yards, but the Patriots held the Denver quarterback to just passing 150 yards that night.
It was Manning’s lowest yardage total in a complete start since Nov. 30, 2008, when he threw for 125 yards for the Colts’ in a 10-6 win over the Browns.
Manning has fared better against Brady in conference championship games, splitting the first two meetings (Brady won in 2003, while Manning returned the favor in 2006). Each winning quarterback in those years went on to claim the Super Bowl and earn Super Bowl MVP honors.
Sunday’s matchup could end up being the deciding contest in that conference-title series, not to mention the Manning-Brady overall finale. Manning is 37 and has hinted recently he might call it a spectacular career and hang them up if the Broncos go on to win the Super Bowl this season.
Brady probably would be sorry to see Manning go, and not just because Brady has such a lopsided upper hand in their overall series. The fiercely competitive Brady has long said that nothing gets him going more than a talented foe, and there haven’t been more talented players in the history of the league than Manning.
“Tom always feels he can step his game up one level higher, which, after some of the seasons he’s had, you say, how can you do better than that?” Manning said this week. “But he has done that.”
Marquee Matchup
Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas vs. Patriots CB Aqib Talib
The Broncos have no shortage of targets for Peyton Manning, but the big, physical Thomas is his favorite. The 6-foot-3, 229-pound receiver led Denver with 92 catches for 1,430 yards and 14 TDs in the regular season and will be a difficult matchup for the 6-1, 205-pound Talib. Talib was the big winner in the Patriots’ Week 12 overtime win, holding Thomas to just four catches for 41 yards and a score. Talib is as physical as Thomas and excels in press coverage, so this could end up looking like a heavyweight fight.
Both Sides Happy
Wes Welker’s decision to bolt the Patriots for the Broncos in free agency last offseason turned out to be a win for both sides. Welker missed a big chunk of the second half of the season because of a pair of concussions but still finished among the Broncos’ receiving leaders with 73 catches for 778 yards and 10 touchdowns.
And the Patriots didn’t exactly suffer in Welker’s absence. Not only did free-agent signee Danny Amendola help fill the gap with 54 catches for 633 yards and two TDs, but Julian Edelman, previously seldom used, become a revelation.
Edelman came into the year with just 69 catches in four NFL seasons combined but emerged as Brady’s favorite target with 105 receptions for 1,056 yards and six TDs.
Ripe for the Picking?
The Broncos set an NFL record with 606 points in the regular season, and they probably will need another eruption from Manning and their offense on Sunday to advance.
Denver’s defense is a battered mess, and their latest injury setback — the torn ACL suffered by top cornerback Chris Harris in last Sunday’s divisional win over the Chargers — looms large. The Broncos will have to replace Harris with Quentin Jammer or Champ Bailey, veterans who are long past their prime.
Denver’s defense was a liability everywhere except the run even before Harris’ injury. The Broncos ranked just 22nd in the NFL in scoring defense and 27th in pass defense in the regular season, allowing 400 or more passing yards a whopping four times.
Their confidence isn’t exactly at a high this week, either, after allowing nearly blowing a 17-0 fourth-quarter lead against the Chargers before holding on for a 24-17 victory.