As a disclaimer, I would like to say that I am a very passionate Patriots fan who, like the rest of Patriots Nation, is livid following the Patriots' 18-20 AFC Championship loss. However, despite my feelings, I will highlight the key moments of the AFC Championship game. I will mainly focus on the Patriots because, to be honest, I just really don't care about Peyton Manning and the Broncos.
I was extremely nervous about this game. I say this like I was the one who had to get suited up and go out there to win for a ticket to the Super Bowl, but that got me thinking. How does someone like Tom Brady, the GOAT, prepare for a game like this? Is there a "right" way to prepare for one of the biggest games of your life? Whatever Brady did pre-game obviously did not help him much, as he and the Patriots got off to a rough start.
When the referees began to throw their flags like it was nothing during the first half, I thought that there was going to be a repeat of Week 12 where the Patriots got cheated out of a win. To make matters worse, the tablets on the sideline of the Patriots just so happened to stop working. As a result, the Broncos scored a touchdown because of a defensive breakdown. At this point, it seemed like Roger Goodell had somehow found a way to make it as hard as possible for the Patriots to make it to Super Bowl 50. (We all know that he hates the Patriots.)
Despite all of the wacky business, the Patriots managed to make it to the end zone. But things quickly got weird again after the almost perfect kicker, Stephen Gostkowski, missed the extra point attempt. That was his first miss since he was in college in 2006. Before this miss, he successfully made 523 consecutive extra point attempts. (You picked a great day to miss, Stephen. I still love you, though.) That number will haunt me forever. The missed extra point would haunt the Patriots as well.
Needless to say, Tom Brady did not have a great game with two interceptions, many incomplete passes, and taking 20 hits. However, this is Brady that we're talking about. Any other quarterback would have quickly folded and the team would've been counted down and out. Since this is Tom Brady and the Patriots, they managed to stay in the game. By making big plays late in the game, including huge receptions by Rob Gronkowski, Brady kept the Patriots in it. The Patriots Nation felt some hope when Brady found Gronkowski in the back of the end zone to make the score 18-20, but that was short lived when the Patriots weren't able to complete the two-point conversion. The Broncos would be heading to the Super Bowl.
Aside from being a Tom Brady fan, I don't think that Peyton Manning deserves to be going to the Super Bowl. The quarterback with the most heart, drive, and grit deserves to go and that just isn't Peyton Manning. To me, he didn't do anything special in this game. I believe that the Broncos' outstanding defense, with the help of mistakes made by the Patriots, won this game. If Brock Osweiler was in the game, then the outcome probably would have been the same. The Broncos caught the Patriots on a bad day, luckily for them.
With that, I can't wait for the Panthers to mop the floor with the Broncos. Congratulations in advance to Cam Newton and the Panthers, you all actually deserve to be Super Bowl champions.
