Peyton Manning vs. Russell Wilson (Draft Facts)

Did anyone else notice the average price of a car for Russell Wilson? Haha - Awesome #30303 !! :D

Super Bowl XLVIII Storylines Start with Peyton Manning

10 Biggest Factors for Super Bowl XLVIII (ESPN - Clayton)

Who's No. 1? In Super Bowl XLVIII, aces are wild.

The Denver Broncos had the No. 1 offense in the regular season. The Seattle Seahawks had the No. 1 defense. Both teams were the No. 1 seeds in their conferences.

And the No. 1 story is Peyton Manning, returning to the Super Bowl for the third time and trying to earn his second ring. For the NFL, it doesn't get any better than that.

In the big picture, it's also an amazing shift. About four years ago, the AFC West and NFC West were the two worst divisions in the league. John Elway, who made the Broncos a Super Bowl contender as a player, has proved to be equally successful as a front-office executive.

He signed Manning, produced 13 regular-season wins in two consecutive years and now is hoping to get another ring.

Pete Carroll completely turned around the Seahawks, modeling the rebuild on his restoration of USC into a national power. He's going for his first Super Bowl win as a coach.

Here are the 10 most important questions for Super Bowl XLVIII.

Continue to Read article on ESPN...

High Octane Broncos Offense can Grind it out too

SUPER BOWL 

Who: Broncos (15-3) vs. Seahawks (15-3)
When: Sunday, Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m.
Where: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Line: Broncos by 2
TV: Fox



ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — After hurrying Denver’s quick-strike, high-octane offense through a record-shattering regular season, Peyton Manning has turned the Broncos into a slow-grinding, clock-eating machine in the playoffs.

Denver’s three most time-consuming drives of the season have all come in the last two weeks, helping to render opposing passers short-tempered sideline spectators.

In dispatching the San Diego Chargers and the New England Patriots, Manning 'dinked and dunked' his way downfield.

“To keep Tom Brady on the sideline is a good thing,” Manning said after directing two epic drives in Denver’s 26-16 win in the AFC Championship.

Denver’s downshift, some of it by design, some due to circumstance, has thrown a new wrinkle into an already formidable test that Seattle’s stingy defense will have to prepare for in the Super Bowl.

After averaging seven plays, 65 yards and just over 3 minutes, 10 seconds on their 71 touchdown drives during the season, the Broncos have doubled the time to 6:23 in the postseason and the touchdown drives have averaged 12 plays and 79.4 yards.

With a wealth of receivers in Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, +Wes Welker and Julius Thomas and a rejuvenated running back in Knowshon Moreno, the Broncos are the first team in NFL history to sport five players who each caught 60 or more passes. Each member of this quintet also reached the end zone 10 or more times, something that’s never been done before.

Offensive coordinator Adam Gase capitalized on all that firepower, Denver’s altitude and Manning’s deciphering of defenses at the line of scrimmage to ramp up the Broncos to breakneck speed with a no-huddle offense that created mismatches in 2013 after taking over from the more conservative Mike McCoy following last year’s playoff upset.

The +Denver Broncos scored an NFL-record 606 points. Their 37.9-point average was the highest of the Super Bowl era and second only to the 1950 Los Angeles Rams, who averaged 38.8 points.

The Broncos could have beaten that mark, too, had Manning not sat out the second half at +Oakland Raiders in Week 17 after guiding Denver to a 31-0 halftime lead.

Taking away the three field goals backup Brock Osweiler led the Broncos to this season and Denver’s five return touchdowns, Manning’s offense accounted for 565 points in just over 453 minutes on the field.

AP Photo: Peyton Manning, Knowshon Moreno

Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno has carried

the ball 479 consecutive times, without a fumble

 That’s 1.25 points per minute. 

Scoring doesn’t come as easily in the playoffs, however.

The most prolific team before this season was the 2007 Patriots, who scored 589 points, an average of 36.8, in the regular season and then averaged just 22 in the postseason, losing the Super Bowl 17-14 to the New York Giants.

While the Broncos have scored on 10 of their 14 drives this postseason, not counting the two possessions that ended in victory formation, half of those have been field goals by Matt Prater after promising drives stalled at their opponents’ 27, 9, 17, 2 and 35.

In the regular season, they had 71 touchdown drives and 25 field goals.

That accounts for a lot of their dip to a 25-point scoring average in the playoffs.

Yet, they’re in greater control and their defense is better than it’s been all season, yielding just 17 and 16 points after allowing 24.93 points per game in the regular season.

Credit Manning for keeping the Broncos on the field for an average of 35 minutes, 35 seconds to his opponents’ 24:25.

Philip Rivers, whose +Chargers led the league in time of possession and had controlled the clock for more than 38 minutes in both of their regular-season matchups against Denver, watched helplessly as Manning converted 9 of 13 third downs in their divisional playoff game.

Manning had a tone-setting, 14-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that took 7:01 to start the scoring, then staved off San Diego’s furious fourth-quarter rally by converting two key third down passes to Julius Thomas to chew up the final four minutes.

“If we got it one more time, I believe deep down that we would’ve tied that thing up,” Rivers said after San Diego’s 24-17 loss. “Those are all a bunch of what ifs.”

Against +New England Patriots, Manning directed drives that lasted 7:01 and 7:08, covering 93 and 80 yards in 15 and 13 plays, respectively.

It was quite a change for the Broncos, who kicked off the NFL season against +Baltimore Ravens with a 24-yard touchdown that took all of 5 seconds, one of Manning’s record-tying seven that night.

Demaryius Thomas’ third-quarter TD Sunday capped a drive that took almost as long as those seven TD drives in the opener combined.

“Usually we score fast,” he said. “But we had a 13-play drive and I got to the sideline, that’s all everybody was talking about. I didn’t know. I just knew we scored.”
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org
___

Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Setting up for Super Bowl Trips

Broncos & Seahawks Have Retained Many Preseason Prognostications

Peyton Manning (18) & Russell Wilson (left) after
preseason match up (Seattle won 40 - 10 in PRESEASON)
Photo Rights: USA Today (AP)

A good read from +ESPN's Jon Clayton. Good insight. +Denver Broncos and +Seattle Seahawks looking to be considered the favorites for many pundits out there. +BRONCOS CR3W has the #Broncos and +San Francisco 49ers has the slight favorites to come out of the AFC and NFC. With the dark horse label going to the surging +Carolina Panthers. One asterisk to the NFC especially, is that if the +New Orleans Saints or the Seahawks get home field advantage for the playoffs, then they take the 'label of favorite' to emerge from the NFC. Other considerations include the +Chicago Bears and +Detroit Lions who square off against one another this Sunday, in Chicago. The winner of that game could take a big step from emerging in one of the toughest divisions in the +NFL, the NFC North Division.

From the AFC, the "Hoodie" always keeps the "Patsies" around. The credit goes to the "Hoodie" more than Brady. Remember Cassel, peeps? In fact, we still question the validity of what should have been deeply investigated and perhaps like the "shady" +NCAA , stripped of their trophies.... #SpyGate (enough said). Story for another day. Please don't provide anything other than they have failed to win one since then and that on any normal prep week without visual evidence of a walk-through (as close to a blueprint of a game plan as one can attain) of the #GreatestShowOnTurf and a loaded +St. Louis Rams squad. I don't know how the NFL were able to mussel up true professionals, Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, and Holts opposite deep threat WR, Isaac Bruce, but somehow they have. 

Jamaal Charles (25) of the KC Chiefs led the NFL
in all purpose yards after week 9
Photo Courtesy of Sports Illustrated (AP)

Their is your introspective on teams emerging as +Super Bowl contenders. Other clubs from the AFC, include the very well coached, lead, and clutch +Kansas City Chiefs along with the sporadic, but very talented +Cincinnati Bengals (who we relate to the Detroit Lions) in many respects. #GoOrange #Broncos #BroncosCountry #BroncosCr3w.

We are only 50% of the way through the regular season though, so a lot has yet to happen. Who will be the froth rising to the top of a golden ale and who will be just a few bubbles with a flat taste. #TimeWillTell as we like say. Carolina, although they are on the road, have a chance to make a big move and statement this weekend as well. The trip to the west coast will more than likely be a bit too much, but do not discount the way the Panthers are playing on defense. With the steal of the first round playing like it on their interior defensive line, #3 overall defense in the NFL. Star Lotuleilei, has proven to be an anchor in the trenches (where football is almost always won) from the former +University of Utah standout. A drastic change to last years Panthers. An interview with Cam Newton shed some light on what this young kid has inside of him and that he may have the intangibles to be remembered in a very good light. #TimeWillTell