Broncos Defeat Patriots to Win AFC Championship!

It was just their day. Sometimes a team or a player takes the field and just seems to be their day or their moment, and Sunday's AFC Championship Game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High was simply the Broncos day. Denver defeated the New England Patriots 26-16 in a game that was not even as close as the score would indicate. It was the Broncos day from the outset, and it was Peyton Manning's day as well. Manning threw for 400 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he kept the Broncos offense in rhythm and consistently baffled and befuddled the Pats defense. Manning completely outplayed his counterpart, Tom Brady, and the Broncos built leads of 10-0, 13-3, 23-3, and 26-10 before putting the Patriots finally away in the 4th quarter. With that outcome, the Broncos clinched their first AFC Championship in 15 years, and their 7th Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. Peyton Manning will return to the Super Bowl for third time in his career, and perhaps this AFC Championship victory will quell some of his critics about his legacy. To see the confetti pouring down on Manning, John Fox, Pat Bowlen, and John Elway was pretty special. It was great to see the Broncos celebrating an AFC Championship in their home stadium after vanquishing Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. It was truly a special afternoon, and one of those days that you will never forget as a fan. Here are my thoughts and observations about the game....

1) Give credit to the Broncos defense because they set the tone early. They forced two 3 and outs on the first two series. Great breakups by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Tony Carter forced the Pats to punt right away.

2) Although the Broncos ending up punting on their first drive, they moved the ball effectively and you had the feeling that it would be a matter of time that Manning and the Broncos would get going. They were able to pick apart the Pats on the second drive, but they had to settle for field goal after the drive stalled inside the 10. At 3-0, you could feel that the Broncos weren't going to be stopped all game long.

3) Brady missed a wide open Julian Edelman on a deep corner route on the next series. If he hits it, them Edelman probably would have scored. That was a huge play and a huge miss by Brady. The Pats did move the ball a little bit on the next series, and the drive stalled with the aid of a questionable offensive pass interference call.

4) The Broncos began the next drive at their own 7, and they methodically put together a brilliant drive to take a 10-0 lead. They went 15 plays 94 yards and chewed up 7:01 of clock. The key play was a 29 yard run by Knowshon Moreno on a 3rd and 10 in which Manning checked into the running play and picked up the first down. From there, Manning perfectly executed a play-action bootleg and hit a wide open Jacob Tamme for the 1 yard pass and the 10-0 lead.

5) The Pats did put together a drive and were able to get a field goal on the next possession, but once again the Broncos defense came up big. Robert Ayers got a huge sack on Brady on a 3rd down, and it forced the Pats to settle for field goal and cut the lead to 10-3.

6) The Broncos got the ball at their own 20 with 2:54 left in the half, and once again Manning went to work. He hit Demaryius Thomas on passes of 26 and 27 yards and the Broncos were able to get a field goal to extend their lead to 13-3 right before the half. Thomas ate up the Pats all game long. He finished with 7 receptions for 134 yards and 1 touchdown. Plus, Denver was getting the ball at the end of the half, so anytime you get points right before the half it is always a huge factor.

7) The Broncos opened the second half with a classic 14 play, 90 yard drive that ate up 7:08 of time. Big passes to Eric Decker and Thomas set up a great play inside the five on a 1st and Goal. Manning play faked into the line, and found Thomas wide open on a quick slant to give the Broncos a 20-3 lead midway through the 3rd quarter.

8) On the next series, the Broncos defense came up big once again. On a 4th and 3, Terrence Knighton beat Logan Mankins and sacked Brady to stop the Pats at the Broncos 29 yard line. That was the biggest play of the Broncos season on defense in my opinion. Knighton has been great all year, and he has elevated his game in the playoffs.

9) Manning took control again when he hit Thomas on a deep fade for 30 yards. The Broncos drive stalled inside the 10 and Julius Thomas, who was great all game, dropped a surefire touchdown catch in the endzone to make it 27-3. Instead, the Broncos had to settle for a field goal and a 23-3 lead. I was a little nervous that play would come back to haunt the Broncos later in the game.

10) Naturally, Denver's defense got a little complacent and started playing off, and the Pats came right down the field and Brady hit Edelman for a 7 yard touchdown pass to make it 23-10.

11) Denver answered with the help of a Peyton Manning to Julius Thomas 37 yard hookup to put Denver in NE territory. The Broncos got a little conservative and they had to attempt a 54 yard field goal which Matt Prater nailed to make it 26-10, but the Pats were still only two possessions back from tying the game.

12) Naturally, the Broncos defense went into a little bit of prevent mode, and Brady marched the Pats down the field once again. A Brady touchdown run in which he completely juked Mitch Unrein cut the Denver lead to 26-16. The all-important 2 point conversion was next and Shaun Phillips completely snuffed out a Shane Vereen run to keep the lead at 10.

13) The Broncos recovered the onside kick, and with 3:07 left they needed to run out the clock to clinch the game. Denver continued to be aggressive and on a 2nd and 7 from the Pats 48, Manning play faked and hit Tamme in the flat for a 23 yard gain. From there, Montee Ball officially clinched the game with a 5 yard run on 4th and 2 and the Broncos officially became AFC Champions. It was a sweet moment to see Peyton Manning kneel down at the end of the game, and the realization finally hit me that Denver was going to Super Bowl. It was actually an emotional moment for me when it happened.

14) As far as the Patriots are concerned, I thought they were valiant all season long, but the Broncos were simply the better team. You had the feeling that Belichick knew that he couldn't really stop Peyton Manning in this game, and once Brady was off his game a little bit early, you knew the Pats were in trouble. The Pats will be back, and they always reload, but this was simply not their year.

15) I know Belichick was very vocal about how Wes Welker picked Aqib Talib in the 2nd quarter, and how it was a dirty play. Talib didn't return to the game after an injury, but I really didn't think that it was a dirty play. Even if Talib didn't get hurt in this game, I still think the Broncos and their offense would have been able to move the ball just like they did when Talib got hurt.

16) The moment the game started, you just felt like it was Denver's day. The crowd was decked out in orange, the temps were in the 60s, and it just seemed like a coronation for the Broncos and Manning on this day. As for me, I was nervous as hell. I was confident as the week went on, and I loved that a lot of experts were picking New England. When I woke up on Sunday, I had a knot in my stomach all day. You wake up on a football Sunday and you realize that your team is playing for the AFC Championship that day, and it is an incredible feeling. A piece of you is really excited, and the other part of you is downright nervous and anxious. You just don't get this Sundays every year, and it was such an emotional roller coaster all day. I think that is why I was so emotional at the end of the game when Denver ran out the clock. It just kind of hits you right then and there.

17) Manning was superb all game long. He finished 32-43 for 400 yards and 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He completely picked apart the Pats all day. He distributed the ball evenly as Demaryius Thomas had 7 catches for 134 yards and 1 touchdown, Eric Decker had 5 receptions for 73 yards, and Julius Thomas had 8 catches for 85 yards. It was a signature game for Manning. He is now 3-1 in AFC Championship Games, and he has beaten Brady 2 out of 3 times in AFC Title contests. He is 11-11 in playoff games, and now he has a chance to get his second Super Bowl in two weeks. Hopefully, the talk about Manning's legacy can die down a little bit.

17) For the Broncos it was an ending that was maybe a year in the making. To start the season, the Broncos were the overdoes. They were the favorite to come out of the AFC from day one. They battled off the field issues, the Elvis Dumervil fiasco, the suspension of Von Miller, the injuries to Champ Bailey, Ryan Clady, Rahim Moore, and Kevin Vickerson. Also, they dealt with a season-ending seizure by Derek Wolfe, a heart attack that sidelined John Fox for a month, and then the season-ending ACL injuries to Miller in Week 16 and Chris Harris in the Divisional Playoffs. They entered the playoffs with all the pressure as the #1 seed, and dispatched of the red-hot Chargers and the Patriots to get to the Super Bowl. It certainly wasn't an easy 13-3 season, but they were able to get it done, and punch their ticket to the big dance. What a phenomenal job by John Elway, John Fox, Jack Del Rio, and the rest of the Broncos players, coaches and staff.

18) I am heading into uncharted territories here with my blog. I started this blog in 2008, and I never have been able to write about how the Broncos are going to the Super Bowl. This week, I want to write a little retrospective on the Broncos season up to this point, and I'm going to write about how much this AFC Championship means to me as a fan. I'm 34 years old, and I have been a Broncos fan for about 28 years. I have now witnessed 6 Broncos AFC Championship wins, and this one is certainly up there for me. I want to write about all those feelings and thoughts before I turn my attention to the Seahawks and Super Bowl XLVIII. Once next week commences, I will start to break down the game in more depth. For now, I am just going to soak in the victory in the AFC Championship, and enjoy this for as long as I can. Go Broncos-2013 AFC Champions!