Denver Broncos Beat New England Patriots…Going to the Superbowl
Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos handled the New England Patriots easily in a 26-16 victory that will send Peyton and the Broncos to the Superbowl. This game didn’t live up to the hype. Even though the score didn’t indicate it, this one was over early. Wes Welker knocked Aquib Talib out of the game early in the second quarter.
At that point it seemed that all of the Patriots injuries caught up with them. The Patriots had 3 points going into the 4th quarter. It was ironic that Austin Collie saw the field for the New England Patriots because Collie was a receiver with Manning for the Indianapolis Colts, who has been out of football because of concussions. Any team that puts Collie on the field is desperate because after the way he was laid out, his next hit could be catastrophic.
Peyton Manning will still have his chance to ‘earn’ his place in history with a Superbowl win. But he has to win. When history looks back at this playoff run, wins over San Diego and New England will be insignificant without a championship. Everything is on the line for Manning. With a second Superbowl, plus his stats, he is the greatest quarterback of all time.
But we saw this movie before in 2009. The Indianapolis Colts were favorites over the New Orleans Saints, but were unable to finish the job. Peyton manning threw an interception to lose the game. But the story was that it was everyone else fault. This game is setting up eerily similar to that one.
The task is even more daunting for Manning this time around because contrary to popular belief this Broncos team isn’t better than ANY of his Indianapolis Colts teams. History says that the defense held the Colts back, but those defenses featured Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, and Bob Sanders. In the Colts ‘historic’ playoff losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots during the Manning Era, the defense never gave up more than 24 points.
