After a 13-3 regular season, and holding off the San Diego Chargers in the divisional round last weekend, the Denver Broncos defeated the New England Patriots in today’s AFC Championship Game, 26-16. Peyton Manning completed 32-43 of his passes for 400 yards and two touchdowns, spreading the ball around to his dangerous quartet of targets: Demaryius Thomas(7 receptions 134 yards 1 TD), Julius Thomas( 8 catches 85 yards), Eric Decker(5 catches 73 yards) and Wes Welker(4 catches 38 yards). Running Back Knowshon Moreno had 14 carries for 59 yards and two catches for 22 yards, but left the game in the 4th quarter after injuring his chest on his 14th carry of the game. Montee Ball replaced him, carrying the ball 13 times for 43 yards.
Tom Brady and the Patriots were held to only 155 yard of offense and 3 points in the first half. Tom Brady missed at least three wide open targets for big plays, possibly touchdowns in the first two quarters of the ball game. After running the ball for an average of 251 yards over their prior two games, the Patriots rushed for only 64 yards on 16 carries. The Patriots got away from pounding the ball after running it 44 times last week versus the Colts. The Denver defense did a nice job versus the run, but Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels did them a big favor by not sticking to the run as well.
Now Peyton Manning will have a chance to cement his legacy with a 2nd Super Bowl victory, but the Moreno injury is big. He had his best season as pro, rushing for over 1,000 yards and catching 60 passes. He is also very good in pass protection, making him hard to replace.
