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Denver Broncos 20
New England Patriots 18
The Denver Broncos are the first team through to the Super Bowl after ending the Patriots’ hopes with a 20-18 win at Mile High Stadium.
The Broncos got off to a brilliant start with their defence showing why they finished the regular season as the first seed in the AFC Conference.
The home side were dominant and kept the Patriots at bay finishing the first half with the 17-9 lead.
The third quarter was relatively quiet with the game evenly contested however, the Broncos struggled on the injury front with their defensive line falling apart.
Like the previous, the final term of the game was quiet with no real chances of scoring until late in the game when the Patriots came close to scoring. A strong defensive performance from DeMarcus Ware and Brandon Marshall gave the Broncos the ball back however the Patriots were given one last drive on-goal.
Gronkowski scored a touchdown with Brady looking for a two-point conversion only to be tipped by Aqib Talib and intercepted by Bradley Roby.
The Denver Broncos will face the Carolina Panthers or Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.
Will the Denver Broncos‘ home advantage help steer them to the AFC Championship or will the New England Patriots earn a chance to defend their crown at Super Bowl 50 with a win? Join The Roar from 7am (AEDT) for live scores and coverage.
The Patriots will hold no surprises with the reigning AFC Champions set to rely heavily on quarterback Tom Brady and their offensive line.
New England have one of the best offences in the NFL and Tom Brady works very well against top teams. Brady has Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola by his side with the trio having never lost when all playing together.
The Patriots are fourth in the league for red zone scoring with a 66 per cent conversion rate and are set to put plenty of pressure on Denver’s defence.
The Broncos will not be pushed around however as they have a case of their own.
New England have given away more sacks than any other team in the league with 38 total. Denver have the highest total sacks of any franchise with 52 for the season and will definitely give Tom Brady a rough time.
In fact, last time the two teams met the Patriots only converted two third downs of a possible thirteen attempts, an alarming statistic for the franchise with one of the best offences in all of the NFL.
Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware will no doubt step up once again with the Broncos the only team to have allowed less than 200 pass yards per game in 2016.
They cannot rely solely on their defence however and require Peyton Manning to step up and play the deep ball.
Denver’s offence has been a major liability for the franchise having produced just 52 plays of over 20 yards this season, tied last in the league.
Manning has been seen to struggle in creating big plays and now is the time the veteran needs to show what he is capable of and guide his team to a Super Bowl berth.
Last time the two franchises met was back in week 12 with the Broncos winning 30-24 after the game went into overtime and the Patriots’ unbeaten record was ended.
Prediction
The Denver defence will be far too much for the Patriots to handle which will see the Broncos head to Super Bowl 50.
Broncos by seven
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