November 1st, 2014
by Dakota Antelman
When the Patriots and Broncos face off Sunday afternoon in Foxboro they will be facing a bracingly cold and windy weather scenario. Beyond that, the game will be a showcase of the skills of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
Brady and Manning enter the game with nearly identical numbers in the past few weeks. Manning only recently set the all-time touchdown record for a quarterback while Brady has recently climbed past the 50,000 passing yards milestone.
With each milestone, the rivalry between Manning and Brady intensifies. As their respective careers reach their final days and their career statistics climb past previous norms, these meetings become increasingly spectacular.
"Peyton has been a phenomenal player -- so consistent and durable for a long period of time," Brady said. "We've had a great rivalry in the AFC East (when Manning was with Indianapolis), and this year is no different."
Supercharging this game with emotion is the fact that its winner will be granted the best record in the AFC. If the past is any indication of who will grab that positive record, the Patriots are at a serious advantage. Brady is 10-5 all-time against Manning with an even bigger discrepancy becoming evident in Brady’s record in “cold weather games”.
If the past few games applies any direct influence on the outcome of this game however, the Broncos hold a decisive advantage. They beat the Patriots in their last meeting back in the AFC Championship while nearly beating them in last year’s regular season clash. It took the biggest comeback in Patriots history to seal that win.
Starting fast will be key for the Patriots.
"They've played from ahead, which has been a great advantage for them all season," Brady said. "Hopefully we can get off to a fast start and make them play from behind for once, because you don't want to get behind these guys too much."
Beyond Brady/Manning, this game does feature another huge clash of old and new and good and great. Darrell Revis and Aqib Talib are two of the best corners in the game right now. Revis is coming off of a shut down performance last week against Chicago while Talib comes back to his old home riding the momentum of a 7 tackle game vs the Chargers.
The big story in this game will be how Manning deals with Revis who has, in the minds of many, been much better than Talib.
"We're trying to get everybody involved," Manning said. "If you're throwing against (Revis), you better be accurate."
With bragging rights for Brady and Manning as well as the number one spot in the conference on the line, Sunday’s game against Denver will be a memorable one.
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