DENVER — Make no mistake: Peyton Manning is great.
He will hog the headlines from now until Super Bowl XLVIII and more power to him; he’s had a remarkable career and is fresh off a record-shattering regular season.
But Broncos 26, Patriots 16 in Sunday’s AFC Championship at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium was about so much more than Manning, who did happen to be magnificent.
But more than anything Manning did en route to completing 32 of 43 passes for 400 yards and two TDs, were four plays that defined the difference in the game — and they had little to do with Manning.
- The first came on the third play of the Broncos’ first offensive possession, when on third-and-two from the Denver 23, Manning had so much time in the pocket he twice bobbled the shotgun snap before finally corralling it and throwing a 7-yard completion to receiver Eric Decker for a first down.
The Broncos would not get points out of that series, but a tone was set: That kind of pass protection would become a theme in the game, with the Patriots defense barely laying a hand on Manning.
“I didn’t know that he had fumbled that snap,’’ Broncos left guard Zane Beadles said. “But that was a focus of our coming into this week — we wanted to keep everybody off of Peyton, let him stand back there and deliver the ball down the field, let him do what he’s good at.’’
- The second defining play came in the second quarter on a Broncos third-and-10 from the New England 39-yard line, when Manning handed the ball off to running back Knowshon Moreno, who slashed through a hole on the right side of the offensive line the size of the Continental Divide for 28 yards.
That gave the Broncos a first down on the Patriots 11-yard line and three plays later they would take a 10-0 lead on a 1-yard Manning scoring pass to his buddy from the Colts, tight end Jacob Tamme.
- The third defining play came later in the second quarter on a third-and-eight for the Patriots from the Denver 18 with New England trailing 10-0 when Broncos defensive end Robert Ayers dusted Patriots left tackle Nate Solder and sacked Tom Brady for an 11-yard loss.
“We have a chip on our shoulders, because we know in order for us to win the defense has to play well,’’ Broncos linebacker Shaun Phillips said. “We expect Peyton to play well all the time, but we have to do what we do on our side of the ball to make sure we keep the ball in his hands.’’
The Ayers sack forced the Patriots to settle for a 47-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski.
- The fourth defining play came in the third quarter on a Patriots fourth-and-3 from the Denver 29 when Broncos 6-foot-3, 335-pound defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, who goes by the nickname of “Pot Roast,’’ smoked New England veteran left guard Logan Mankins and sacked Brady for a 10-yard loss.
That gave the Broncos the ball with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter and Denver holding a 20-3 lead. Moments later, the Broncos would take a 23-3 lead on a 20-yard Matt Prater field goal.
“It was a moment … and I was waiting for that moment,’’ Knighton said of his sack. “I did what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t going go in on that play at first; but it was a moment I feel like I needed to be in there. It was a formation I had seen all week and I knew what type of block I was going to get. I’ve been practicing, practicing it and I happened to execute it.”
“You get tired all week hearing about how they ran the ball on teams and how Brady is better than Peyton and how he has more Super Bowls,’’ Knighton went on. “We got tired of hearing that. It fueled us and made us play harder.’’