Monday 18 January 2016 11:28, UK
Peyton Manning set up another duel with great rival Tom Brady on Sunday after steering the Denver Broncos to a hard-fought 23-16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Veteran quarterback Manning will face off against New England Patriots opposite number Brady in the AFC Championship game next week for the fifth time in NFL play-off history after getting the better of Pittsburgh an attritional battle in Denver.
Manning threw for 222 yards against the Steelers, with his receivers dropping no fewer than seven passes. But the biggest mistake was running back Fitzgerald Toussaint's fumble in the fourth quarter.
The Broncos drove 65 yards on the following possession and took the lead when running back CJ Anderson scored their only touchdown, putting the home side up seven points late in the game.
Ben Roethlisberger, who was playing with a sore right shoulder, threw for 339 yards, despite missing his top receiver Antonio Brown.
The Broncos had taken a 6-0 lead thanks to field goals from Brandon McManus early in the first quarter as Pittsburgh's defense kept Manning's aerial game in check.
But the Steelers hit back with a Toussaint touchdown to take the lead, the running back crossing from one yard out to put the seal on a five-play, 80-yard drive marshalled by the battle-weary quarterback Roethlisberger.
A 43-yard field goal from Chris Boswell extended Pittsburgh's lead before McManus added his third three-pointer of the afternoon to make it 10-9 at the half.
The sides traded a further field goal each in the third quarter and then as the tension mounted in the fourth, the Broncos offence finally began to fire and they took the lead through Anderson's one-yard touchdown run.
Anderson's decisive score was the culmination of a 14-play, 65-yard drive which crucially took nearly seven minutes off the clock after cornerback Bradley Roby had punched the ball from Toussaint's arms for the only turnover of the game - DeMarcus Ware recovering the ball at the Denver 35-yard line.
A successful two-point conversion gave Denver a seven-point lead, leaving Pittsburgh with just over three minutes to try and find a touchdown to level the game and force overtime.
Yet Denver's defense were in no mood to let victory slip and Roethlisberger was sacked on an unsuccessful fourth down conversion attempt deep in Steelers territory.
McManus then kicked the Broncos into a 10-point lead with less than a minute remaining and although Boswell's 47-yard field goal cut the Denver lead back to seven points with 19 seconds remaining, the Broncos successfully gathered Pittsburgh's onside kick attempt, and the game was over.
