NFL Preview: Tom Brady v Peyton Manning as Denver Broncos face New England Patriots
Sunday 2 November 2014 21:11, UK
Although you can’t have a one-man team in the NFL, this game is all about the two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks who will collide for the 16th time in their illustrious careers as they fight it out for supremacy in the AFC.
It's not an Ali V Frazier or Nicklaus v Palmer rivalry as the two men are never on the field at the same time going shot-for-shot, toe-to-toe, but with their incredible statistics and huge standing in the NFL they are truly giants of the game as two of the three most successful quarterbacks in history in terms of winning games, and even this season despite age creeping up on them they are performing as well as ever.
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Manning has picked up where he left off after a record-breaking regular season last year, leading his Broncos to a 6-1 record, while after being written off following a slow start, Brady has been unstoppable in the last month as the Pats have recovered to go 6-2.
Brady leads the series between the two 10-5, and in two meetings last season they shared the spoils, although Denver crucially won their AFC title showdown to book a place in the Super Bowl – and few would argue against them locking horns again with a place in the big dance at stake come January.
Age no barrier
38-year-old Manning faces 37-year-old Brady but the two oldest quarterbacks in the league show no signs of slowing down just yet – especially in the last month when they’ve been the best two QBs in the NFL. Both men have been flawless when leading their teams to 4-0 records in October with their winning margins roughly the same at around 18 points.
Their stats are so close that it only adds further intrigue to the meeting between these two knowing that they are both in flying form. Both men completed 100 passes in October for 14 touchdowns and no interceptions and whatever decline that comes with age clearly hasn’t started to take hold of these two legends.
Records
This is the first time in NFL history that a game has featured two quarterbacks with 150 regular season wins under their belts, clearly there’s not been a game with two such huge presences under centre on each team since, well, the last time they met in the AFC title game.
They’ve combined for 890 TD passes between them with record-setter Manning (513) ahead of Brady (377) but there’s no doubt New England are finding their offensive feet as Brady’s new bunch start to settle down – and we’d love this game to come down to a shootout between the two great men.
Home advantage
No doubt this is a key factor, Denver will play the Pats in New England for the third straight regular season due to the NFL’s scheduling format – and the Broncos have lost four straight in Foxborough, while the Pats have 13 straight wins on their home turf and 33 against AFC foes in the regular season.
Brady has won four of his last five battles with Manning, but that one loss in last year’s AFC title game will still be hurting. Brady has 27 TDs against 12 interceptions in games against Manning teams so while Peyton has more TDs (31) his 20 interceptions mean Brady has the efficiency edge.
Brady also has an amazing 87-14 overall record at home and, if the weathermen are to be believed, there’ll be high winds blowing around Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. On arm strength alone that would be in Brady’s advantage but given the manner of Manning’s dunk and dink offence then he could also find a way around it.
Supporting cast
Denver have the edge on the strength in depth of their receivers, they’ve had nine 100-yard games already between Julius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas - and former Patriot Wes Welker completes the high-quality bunch.
While the Broncos have the numbers, none of those create such a match-up nightmare as New England’s monstrous tight end Rob Gronkowski. The touchdown machine had three scores last week and nobody has visited the end zone more since 2010 than him (49 TDs). Gronk has four TDs in four career games versus Denver, and while Brandon LaFell is starting to gel with Brady there’s no doubt who his favourite weapon of choice is.
Defence
After scoring the most points in history and still not winning the Super Bowl last year, Denver overhauled their defence. Cornerback Aquib Talib joined from New England, so Brady will need to look out for him. Having Vonn Miller back from injury and signing DeMarucs Ware gives the Broncos a real presence on the edge to try and unsettle Brady.
New England replaced Talib with Darrelle Revis, and his cover skills will be needed to take at least one weapon out of Manning’s arsenal – the trouble is, he has so many and has no problem spreading the ball around among them. Also, no QB in the league has had less pressure in the pocket than Manning, while Brady’s offensive line has been inconsistent.
Fast starters
Denver jumped out into big leads in both games last season – they led 24-0 at halftime in Foxborough before Brady engineered a miraculous comeback and overtime victory. The Broncos again got 20 points in front in the Championship game but this time there was no way back for New England.
The Broncos have drawn first blood five times this season and playing from in front obviously suits them down to the ground. Look for the Patriots to try and make a fast start and make Manning this time play from behind.
Who’s the greatest?
We won’t find out just in this game, that debate must be left to the end of their careers, which will surely be sooner than later despite them defying age this season. As it’s always been it’s a case of records v results with these two, as prolific Peyton has rewritten the record books but picked up just one Super Bowl ring.
He’s got almost 16,000 more passing yards and 136 more TDs than Brady, but is two rings short of his great rival, and just cannot shake off the detractors who say he chokes in the big games – pointing to his losing post-season record (11-12) and losses in his last two Super Bowls that contained a pick six against New Orleans and two picks and a fumble in February’s thumping by Seattle.
Brady was a post-season stud with ten straight wins and three Super Bowl successes, but he’s gone 8-8 since, he’s lost his last two Super Bowls and hasn’t got a playoff win on the road in eight years – including last year’s AFC title loss in Denver. Winning on Sunday just might secure home advantage through the playoffs, which could be the crucial factor in deciding who represents the AFC in Phoenix.
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