This past Sunday, the world was able to witness two of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, battle it out for a chance to play for the Super Bowl.  Tom Brady has owned the head-to-head meetings between the two quarterbacks during the regular season, but the story changed when they squared off in the playoffs.  Brady is 11-6 against Manning in the seventeen times they played but now just 2-3 in playoff games.  In what could possibly be the last meeting between the two greats, Manning’s Broncos came away victorious in overtime, 20-18.

The Broncos got off to a fast start as Manning was throwing the ball as if he was 29, not 39.  He found Owen Daniels down the middle of the field for the game’s first score.  Brady and the Patriots answered with a long drive capped off with a Steven Jackson one-yard touchdown plunge.  Manning found Daniels again in the second quarter to put Denver back on top.  Both teams then traded field goals, and the score at halftime was 17-9 Denver.  A New England field goal brought the Patriots to within five, but another field goal by Denver pushed the lead back to eight.  With time about to expire, Brady found Rob Gronkowski is the back of the end zone to cut the lead to 20-18.  A missed extra point on New England’s first touchdown of the game came back to haunt them as they would be forced to go for two instead of needing just an extra point to tie.  Brady’s pass on the two-point conversion was tipped and intercepted.

Manning finished the game completing 17 of 35 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns.  Brady, who was hit seventeen times and sacked four times, was never able to get comfortable and finished 27 of 56 for 310 yards to go along with one touchdown and two interceptions.

If this was the last time the football world would witness a matchup of arguably the best quarterback rivalry, the game lived up to the hype, and both quarterbacks showed why they will undoubtedly be Hall of Famers.