Associated Press
The Denver Broncos will meet the Carolina Panthers in this year’s Super Bowl after veteran quarterback Peyton Manning led the Broncos to a narrow win against the New England Patriots on Sunday while the Panthers dominated the Arizona Cardinals.
The 39-year-old Manning got the better of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in their longstanding rivalry, but it was the Broncos defence which took most credit for the 20-18 victory to clinch the American Conference championship.
Carolina quarterback Cam Newton threw for two touchdowns and ran for two others in a 49-15 romp over the Cardinals for the National Conference championship.
The Super Bowl on February 7 at Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, will be the first for Newton and the second for the Panthers, who lost to New England 12 years ago.
Denver’s victory was not settled until Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby picked off Brady’s pass on a 2-point attempt that would have tied the game with 12 seconds left.
The Broncos recovered New England’s ensuing onside kick and the celebration began.
Manning is now 6-11 in his vaunted series against Brady, but 3-1 when it has counted the most – with the AFC title on the line.
“He’s going to do what he has to do to win,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “He’s one of the greatest competitors ever in this league.”
Manning will surpass now Broncos executive John Elway as the oldest quarterback to take his team to the Super Bowl.
New England won’t get a chance to defend their title. The Patriots lost their last two regular season games to squander home-field advantage in the play-offs. In a game that came down to one play, that may have made a difference.
Throughout the season, Denver have depended on a defence that gave up the fewest yards and came up with game-saving plays time and again.
Von Miller finished with two and a half sacks and an interception. The Broncos harassed Brady all day. He completed 27-of-56 attempted passes for 310 yards with two interceptions.
After giving up possession twice on downs inside the Denver 20-yard line late in the fourth quarter, Brady lobbed a 40-yard pass to a double-covered Rob Gronkowski to keep a desperation drive going on 4th-and-10.
Then, on 4th-and-goal from the 4 with 12 seconds left, Brady found Gronkowski again, and the game came down to the 2-point conversion attempt.
The Broncos defence stood up again, and the franchise is now headed to its eighth Super Bowl. This marks No 4 for Manning, who could become the first quarterback to lead two different franchises to titles, having done so for the Indianapolis Colts. His last Super Bowl appearance was ugly; a 43-8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks two years ago.
The 17-for-32 passing performance proved enough for the Broncos, but was not up to the standard exhibited by Newton for Carolina.
He threw for two touchdowns and ran for two others, including a leaping effort in the third quarter that snuffed out all hope of an Arizona comeback.
Now he can look forward to a showdown against Manning, in what will be billed as a clash of two generations of quarterbacks.
“Playing the sheriff,” Newton said of Manning. “We’re going to live in the moment right now. We’re going to be excited.”
“We came out here and fought our tails off and we did what a lot of people said we couldn’t do. It’s not over yet. We’ll be ready to go in two weeks.”
Carolina’s defence intercepted Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer twice, and special teams also had a takeaway as the Panthers grabbed a 24-7 half-time lead.
The previous week they almost blew a 31-point lead against Seattle, but there was no relaxing this time.
Newton finished with 335 yards passing and 47 rushing as Carolina won their 13th straight home game, including three in the play-offs.
One of his biggest helpers was Ted Ginn Jr, who was dumped by the Cardinals after last season. Ginn had a 32-yard punt return to set up his weaving 22-yard TD run, and chased down all-pro cornerback Patrick Peterson to prevent a second-quarter touchdown. He also had 52 yards on two receptions.
“We wanted to come out and play a complete game and the guys up front played exceptional,” linebacker Luke Kuechly said. “There was pressure all day.”
The 49 points were the most this season for Carolina, who led the NFL with 500 points. The last time a team scored as many as 49 in a conference title game was 1990, when the Buffalo Bills beat the then Los Angeles Raiders 51-3 in the AFC.
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