Manning Beats Brady… AGAIN
This game wasn’t pretty, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of offense and the defenses were the ones battling in the trenches, but by the time things got into the fourth quarter, that’s when things got into classic Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning territory.
Manning threw two touchdowns to Owen Daniels by halftime and it seemed like the Denver Broncos defense was going to stop anything and everything Brady was throwing their way.
Ultimately, a Stephen Gostkowski missed extra point ended being the difference in the game.
Brady tried to muster up a fourth quarter comeback three times in the fourth quarter, with two attempts coming up short and being over after not converting plays on 4th down and turning the ball over on downs. But the third time was a charm.
Brady connected with Rob Gronkowski on a monster 4th and 10 play with about a minute and a half to play in regulation, giving the New England Patriots hope for the tie.
It didn’t take long for Tom to find Gronk in the back of the end zone in between defenders for the touchdown and bring the score to within two.
Then the Patriots went for the two-point conversion to try to send the game into over time. With the pressure coming from all directions, Brady scrambled out of the pocket and tried to force the ball to Julian Edelman. The ball was then tipped and and intercepted.
And that’s all she wrote folks.
Manning heads to his fourth Super Bowl, hoping to go out on top and not repeat the same mistakes he saw in his last outing against the Seattle Seahawks. Brady now falls to a 1-3 record against Peyton in the AFC Championship (yet still dominates their overall matchup at 11-6). Bill Belichik and company won’t have the chance to go back-to-back and repeat. And Manning will be the oldest quarterback to ever start in the Super Bowl.
But when it’s all said and done, the defense carried the Broncos this far.
FINAL: DEN 20 | NE 18