Peyton Manning stuffed the football into his helmet and handed it to an equipment man for safekeeping

DENVER -- Peyton Manning stuffed the football into his helmet and handed it to an equipment man for safekeeping. Luke Falk Titans Jersey . The connection: Flawless, as usual. The keepsake: Certainly one hell want to hang on to. The Broncos quarterback had an answer for everyone Sunday -- from Tom Brady to the New England defence to anyone who thought he couldnt win the big one. Manning is taking the Broncos on a trip to New York for the Super Bowl after another of his impeccably crafted victories -- this time, a 26-16 win over the Patriots on Sunday in the AFC title game. "Being in my 16th season, going to my third Super Bowl, I know how hard it is to get there," Manning said. Especially this time. Only three years ago, he could barely grip a football as he started the long comeback from surgeries that ravaged his neck and nerve endings. And only 53 weeks ago, he suffered a devastating loss to Baltimore in the divisional playoffs that derailed what looked like a Super Bowl trip in his comeback season. But Manning will get his chance for a second Super Bowl ring, after all. Hell try to become the first starting quarterback to win one with two different teams, at the Meadowlands on Feb. 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, who beat San Francisco 23-17 in the NFC title game. "Hes been remarkable," said Broncos coach John Fox, off to his second Super Bowl as a head coach. "Its unprecedented what he did." After packing away his football, Manning ran to the 30-yard line to shake hands with Brady. A bit later in the locker room, he celebrated with his father, Archie, and brothers Cooper and Eli, the Giants quarterback who surprised Peyton much the way Peyton surprised him by showing up at the NFC title game two years ago. The Indy-turned-Denver quarterback improved to 5-10 lifetime against Brady, but is now 2-1 in AFC title games. "I have a lot of respect for him," Brady said. "Certainly, hes a great player and he played great today." Though Manning threw for 400 yards, it was more dink-and-dunk than a fireworks show in this, the 15th installment between the NFLs two best quarterbacks of a generation. Manning set up four field goals by Matt Prater and put his stamp on this one with a pair of long, meticulous and mistake-free touchdown drives in which nothing came cheap. He geared down the no-huddle, hurry-up offence that helped him set records for touchdown passes and yardage this season and made the Broncos the highest-scoring team in history. The result: 93- and 80-yard touchdown drives that each lasted more than seven minutes; they were the two longest, time-wise, of the season for the Broncos (15-3). The Broncos held the ball for 35:44. They were 7 for 13 on third-down conversions. "To keep Tom Brady on the sideline is a good thing," Manning said. "Thats something you try to do when youre playing the Patriots." Manning capped the second long drive with a 3-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas, who got inside the overmatched Alfonzo Dennard and left his feet to make the catch. It gave Denver a 20-3 lead midway through the third quarter. From there, it was catch-up time for Brady and the Pats (13-5), and they are not built for that -- at least not this year. "We got in a hole there," Brady said. "It was just too much to dig our way out." A team that averaged more than 200 yards on the ground the last three games didnt have much quick-strike capability. Brady, who threw for most of his 277 yards in comeback mode, actually led the Patriots to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. But they were a pair of time-consuming, 80-yard drives. The second cut the deficit to 26-16 with 3:07 left, but the Broncos stopped Shane Vereen on the 2-point conversion and the celebration was on in Denver. "Losing is never easy," Patriots defensive lineman Rob Ninkovich said. "But when you have somebody as talented as (Manning), who puts in as much work and effort, and has done it for so long, its a little bit easier to swallow." The trip to New York, where it figures to be at least a tad cooler than Sundays 63-degree reading at kickoff, will come 15 years after John Elway rode off into the sunset with his second straight Super Bowl victory. The Broncos have had one close call since -- when they lost at home to Pittsburgh in the 2005 seasons AFC title game -- but what it really took was Elways return to the franchise in 2011. He slammed the door on the Tim Tebow experiment and signed Manning to a contract, knowing there were risks involved in bringing to town a thirty-something quarterback coming off multiple operations to resurrect his career. Even without Von Miller on the field, Elway put enough pieces in place around Manning to move within a game of the championship. Thomas. Wes Welker (four catches, 38 yards). Eric Decker (5-73). Tight end Julius Thomas (8-85). "Its been a terrific group," Elway said as he hoisted the AFC championship trophy. "They worked their tail off all year." Manning knows how to make the most of all the options hes been given. This game started getting out of hand at about the same time Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib went out with a knee injury. Nobody else could cover Thomas, and Manning, who finds mismatches even under the toughest of circumstances, found this one quickly. "Talibs an excellent player," Manning said, "but Demaryius was going to be a big part of the game plan, either way." Thomas finished with seven catches for 134 yards, including receptions of 26 and 27 yards that set up a field goal for a 13-3 lead before the half. Denver got the ball to start the third quarter and Manning hit Thomas for 15 and 4 yards as part of the 80-yard, 7:08 touchdown drive that gave Denver the 17-point lead. It was 23-3 before Brady began the comeback that came up short. "Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning," Patriots defensive end Andre Carter said. "Hes a smart player and able to make adjustments when he needs to." New England came up a win short of the Super Bowl for the second straight year. The thought this week was that Bill Belichicks team was playing with house money, having well exceeded expectations for a team that lost a number of stars -- Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski -- and has been plagued by injuries all year. But a loss is a loss and facts are facts. Belichick is stuck on three titles and hasnt won one since the NFL busted him for the Spygate videotaping scandal. "There were a lot of opportunities in the game that, if we were able to coach better, play better, execute better in any of those areas, it would have given us a chance," Belichick said. Manning said Belichick is the best coach hes ever had to go against. The quarterback insisted this weeks showdown against Brady was more Broncos vs. Patriots than Manning vs. Brady. He lets others decide whos the greatest at this or that. But he earned a chance to improve on his already-sterling legacy -- one that figures to leave him holding his fifth MVP trophy come Super Bowl week. A win at MetLife Stadium in two weeks would put him in the same company brother Eli, along with Elway, Roger Staubach and a few others as a two-time Super Bowl winner. Two weeks for Manning to prepare might feel like a lifetime. At times, his long, difficult comeback has felt like a lifetime, too. "Weve definitely come a long way in two years," Manning said. "And bouncing back from last years playoff loss to put ourselves in this position, it definitely feels very gratifying." Luke Falk Jersey . A better question yet may be this: How many times has the same player been involved in both? Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday. Bennie Logan Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (4) – He had a strong game Sunday; was very good in tight with big saves on Crosby, Malkin and Neal in-crease. http://www.titansstoreonline.com/Black-96-Bennie-Logan-Womens-Jersey/ . The Irish golfer, whose father Patrick died from cancer, says he underwent surgery for sun spots. The 42-year-old Harrington told Irish radio station Today FM: "Ive had a number of skin cancers removed off my face.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins hope to avoid their first three- game slide of the season. The clubs recent success against the Washington Capitals could work in its favor. After suffering consecutive losses prior to the Christmas break, the Penguins are hoping to bounce back Saturday at home when they aim for a ninth consecutive victory against the Capitals. Pittsburghs two recent setbacks both came in the Sunshine State. The Pens dropped the back end of a home-and-home against Florida on Monday, losing 4-3 in a shootout before falling in regulation by the same score the next night in Tampa. The Pens havent lost three in a row since an 0-3 stretch from March 23-27 of last season. Mike Johnstons club made a valiant effort to earn a point from Tuesdays contest, but came up short in the end. Tyler Johnson completed a hat trick at the 2:37 mark of the second period to give the Lightning a 4-0 lead, but Tampa would have to hold on for the win as Pittsburgh scored once in the second and twice more in the third. The Penguins third goal made it a 4-3 game with 1:31 left in regulation, but Pittsburgh was unable to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for the equalizer. Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz and Kris Letang scored for the Penguins. We just made some big mistakes, said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. Sometimes you make mistakes in games and you get away with them and it felt like every one we made (tonight) ended up in the net. Jeff Zatkoff took the loss in relief, having allowed the game-deciding goal on 17 shots. Marc-Andre Fleury got the start but was yanked after yielding three goals on 10 shots in nearly 21 minutes of action. Fleury is expected to start again tonight. He owns a career mark of 16-7-2 and a 2.41 goals against average in 26 games against the Caps. Pittsburgh continues to be short-handed due to innjury and illness. Dion Lewis Jersey. Forwards Beau Bennett, Blake Comeau, Pascal Dupuis and Zach Sill, and defensemen Robert Bortuzzo, Christian Ehrhoff, Paul Martin and Olli Maatta are all out with injury. Also, the Penguins sent forwards Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie along with backup goaltender Thomas Greiss back to Pittsburgh to be tested for the mumps. Washington lost its final test before the Christmas break, dropping a 4-2 decision to the New York Rangers at the start of a three-game road trip. The Capitals are 10-6-2 as the visiting team this season, but have lost in their last five trips to the Steel City, where Washington hasnt tasted victory since Oct. 13, 2011. The Caps last win of any kind against the Penguins was a 1-0 home win on Jan. 11, 2012. Washington had a three-game winning streak halted on Tuesday after allowing New Yorks Rick Nash to post a hat trick. The Capitals, however, would make a game of it late before falling in regulation. Nashs second goal of the game made put New York ahead 3-0 at 5:12 of the third period, but Evgeny Kuznetsov tallied 41 seconds later for Washington. Alex Ovechkins power-play goal cut the deficit to 3-2 with 9:02 left in the third. The score would stay that way until Nash completed the hat trick with a power-play tally of his own with 3:48 remaining. Braden Holtby turned aside 23 shots in the loss, the Capitals first loss in regulation since Dec. 2 against Vancouver. Washington entered Tuesdays matchup with a 7-0-2 mark in its previous nine games. Holtby is expected to start tonight for the Caps despite posting an 0-4-0 record and 4.38 GAA in four career outings against the Pens. Washington will complete its road trip Monday against the New York Islanders. The Pens, who play five of their next six at home, are 13-4-1 at Consol Energy Center this season. 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