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Basically Manning has to win this AFCCG. The alternative is falling to 1-3 vs Brady in the postseason and 4-11 all-time. It would be Brady's 6th Super Bowl appearance (most ever for a QB) against Manning's two appearances. Win or lose the Super Bowl, Brady would have cemented his superiority over Manning.
Manning will never have a better opportunity to beat Brady in a postseason. It's a home game for Manning, in Denver, where he's 15-3. NE has struggled on the road this season, going 4-4, and two of those victories were 4th quarter comebacks against bad teams. Overall Brady led 5 fourth quarter comebacks this season, three in particular were highly improbable and should have been loses for NE (vs New Orleans, Denver, Cleveland), so in essence NE is closer to a .500 football team.
Statistically, Manning led the highest scoring offense in the history of the NFL (averaging nearly 39 points per game). Manning set multiple passing records, continually abused defenses throughout the season, and will be facing NE's 26th ranked defense that is completely gutted with injuries and featuring rookies (some undrafted) at some key positions.
Manning has far superior weapons to work with than Brady. D. Thomas, Decker, Welker, J. Thomas, Moreno…the best collection of receiving options in the NFL this season and probably the best collection of receiving options he has ever had in his career (and he's had many impressive combinations). Brady has Edleman (the only reliable receiving option for Brady), Amendola (hugely disappointing season), Collie (a completely broken player who's hanging onto his career by a thread), and Hoomanawanui (a poor excuse for an NFL TE). Otherwise Brady has two injured rookies (Dobson and Thompkins) who have been inconsistent contributors at best. And Vereen, who since returning from his latest injury has had meaningful contributions in one game.
Presumably NE will attempt to run the ball with Blount who's recently caught fire in bad weather games against teams who can't defend the run (ranking 28th and 26th). That flawed strategy won't work because Denver's actually decent at stopping the run (7th) and really NE should try to exploit Denver's pass defense that is already minus their best pass rusher (Miller) and now without a starting CB (Harris). So even with the highly questionable weapons, NE should lean on Brady to attempt to keep the game competitive.
This game will also serve as a final referendum on Belichick's decision to essentially replace Welker with Amendola. Thus far the decision is among the very worst of his at best checkered career as a GM. NE fell one win away from hosting this AFCCG and their last loss resulted after Amendola dropped a would-be game-winning TD pass in the end zone. So that single play alone has cost the team a lot. If Denver wins this game (as they should), and Welker contributes, and Amendola does his usual nothing, then Belichick will be made to look a fool. Fair or not (and I think it's plenty fair), that will be the perception.
Ultimately I'm picking Denver in what should be a comfortable victory in this legacy matchup between Brady and Manning. Then Manning will have to win the Super Bowl to preserve the relevance of the AFCCG victory.
Although I think San Francisco has developed into the better team, I think Seattle will prevail in the NFCCG because of their home field advantage. If SF gets through Seattle, then they will be a tough out in the SB. I think Denver would beat Seattle in the SB. NE would probably lose to either NFC team.
Manning will never have a better opportunity to beat Brady in a postseason. It's a home game for Manning, in Denver, where he's 15-3. NE has struggled on the road this season, going 4-4, and two of those victories were 4th quarter comebacks against bad teams. Overall Brady led 5 fourth quarter comebacks this season, three in particular were highly improbable and should have been loses for NE (vs New Orleans, Denver, Cleveland), so in essence NE is closer to a .500 football team.
Statistically, Manning led the highest scoring offense in the history of the NFL (averaging nearly 39 points per game). Manning set multiple passing records, continually abused defenses throughout the season, and will be facing NE's 26th ranked defense that is completely gutted with injuries and featuring rookies (some undrafted) at some key positions.
Manning has far superior weapons to work with than Brady. D. Thomas, Decker, Welker, J. Thomas, Moreno…the best collection of receiving options in the NFL this season and probably the best collection of receiving options he has ever had in his career (and he's had many impressive combinations). Brady has Edleman (the only reliable receiving option for Brady), Amendola (hugely disappointing season), Collie (a completely broken player who's hanging onto his career by a thread), and Hoomanawanui (a poor excuse for an NFL TE). Otherwise Brady has two injured rookies (Dobson and Thompkins) who have been inconsistent contributors at best. And Vereen, who since returning from his latest injury has had meaningful contributions in one game.
Presumably NE will attempt to run the ball with Blount who's recently caught fire in bad weather games against teams who can't defend the run (ranking 28th and 26th). That flawed strategy won't work because Denver's actually decent at stopping the run (7th) and really NE should try to exploit Denver's pass defense that is already minus their best pass rusher (Miller) and now without a starting CB (Harris). So even with the highly questionable weapons, NE should lean on Brady to attempt to keep the game competitive.
This game will also serve as a final referendum on Belichick's decision to essentially replace Welker with Amendola. Thus far the decision is among the very worst of his at best checkered career as a GM. NE fell one win away from hosting this AFCCG and their last loss resulted after Amendola dropped a would-be game-winning TD pass in the end zone. So that single play alone has cost the team a lot. If Denver wins this game (as they should), and Welker contributes, and Amendola does his usual nothing, then Belichick will be made to look a fool. Fair or not (and I think it's plenty fair), that will be the perception.
Ultimately I'm picking Denver in what should be a comfortable victory in this legacy matchup between Brady and Manning. Then Manning will have to win the Super Bowl to preserve the relevance of the AFCCG victory.
Although I think San Francisco has developed into the better team, I think Seattle will prevail in the NFCCG because of their home field advantage. If SF gets through Seattle, then they will be a tough out in the SB. I think Denver would beat Seattle in the SB. NE would probably lose to either NFC team.
