The Denver Broncos won over the New England Patriots on Sunday to advance to Super Bowl 50 and they will face off against the Carolina Panthers or Arizona Cardinals on February 7 in Santa Clara at Levi's Stadium.
UPDATE: The Panthers have advanced to the Super Bowl over the Cardinals.
The Broncos won 20-18 against the Patriots after the Denver defense sealed things with an interception in the fourth quarter. The Broncos defense came through against the Patriots after Tom Brady threw a late touchdown to Rob Gronkowski to set up a potential game-tying two-point conversion. Brady's pass was tipped and went into the hands of Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby with 12 seconds left to clinch the victory for the Broncos.
Denver recovered an attempted onside kick by the Patriots and that helped send the team to the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons. The Patriots were down by eight as Brady drove the team down to try and add a touchdown and the reason the score was like that was because All-Pro kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed an extra point in the first quarter of the game.
Manning improved to 6-11 in his meetings with Tom Brady all-time and now the Broncos will try and get a Super Bowl win two years after being blown out by the Seattle Seahawks. Manning now has two straight wins against Brady and the Patriots in matchups in the AFC title game, as the Broncos advanced over New England when they went to the Super Bowl two seasons ago. Von Miller made a huge impact for the Broncos in the game, putting up 2.5 sacks and an interception.
Manning only had 176 passing yards in the game, but he had two touchdowns and did not throw any interceptions. Tom Brady had 310 passing yards and one touchdown in the game along with two interceptions. Gronkowski scored a touchdown late in the game to set up the chance to tie things with a two-point conversion, but the Patriots could not get it done and that means it will be two new teams in the Super Bowl with the Pats and Seahawks out of the playoffs.
CJ Anderson had a solid game with 72 rushing yards for the Broncos, while Owen Daniels came through with both touchdown receptions from Manning. This matchup could mark the final time that Brady and Manning face off and now Manning has won three of the five times the two have met in the playoffs. The Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals are battling in the NFC and early in the game the Panthers have taken a solid lead, going up 24-7 in the second quarter. Update: the Panthers are looking like they will win. And they have.
