NEW YORK (Reuters) — The Denver Broncos
and the Seattle Seahawks won their National Football League conference
championships in brilliant style on Sunday to set up a historic Super
Bowl between the top two ranked teams in the United States.
The Broncos, led by their unflappable quarterback Peyton Manning,
beat the New England Patriots 26-16 in Colorado to make it to their
first Super Bowl in 15 years.
The Seahawks overturned a 10-0 deficit to defeat the San Francisco
49ers 23-17 in Washington state and advance to the NFL's title game
for just the second time in the franchise's history.
"This feels even sweeter," said Seattle owner and Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen. "What an amazing job in a super tough game."
The two teams will meet in the 48th Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium in
New Jersey on February 2 in a game that has all the makings of a
classic with the Broncos boasting the best offense in the league and
the Seahawks the best defense.
The Broncos will be appearing in the Super Bowl for the seventh
time, one less than the record jointly shared by the Pittsburgh
Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, and chasing their third win after
back-to-back victories in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
MASTERFUL DISPLAY
Manning played in two Super Bowls with his former team the
Indianapolis Colts, tasting success in the 2006 season, and has the
chance to win a second ring at age 37 after another masterful
display against the Patriots and his old rival Tom Brady.
"Well, it's an exciting feeling," he said.
"You do take a moment to realize that we've done something special
here and you certainly want to win one more."
Manning broke the record for the most touchdown passes in a regular
season with 55 strikes and continued his devastating form against
the Patriots, completing 32-of-43 passes for 400 yards and
touchdowns to Jacob Tamme and Demaryius Thomas.
Brady threw one touchdown pass and rushed for another but was unable
to prevent his team from suffering another agonizing loss.
Although New England has been the dominant force in the NFL for the
past decade and a half, winning three titles between the 2001 and
2004 seasons, the Patriots have lost their last two Super Bowl
appearances and have now lost the last two AFC Championship games.
"It's tough to get to this point, two weeks from now there's
only one team that's going to win that game and that's a tough
one to win," Brady said.
"Anytime you come up short of what you're trying to accomplish,
it's not a great feeling but I'm proud of our team and the way
we fought."
HOPES DASHED AGAIN
The 49ers were also cursing their postseason ill-fortune.
Beaten by the New York Giants in the NFC title game two years
ago, then by the Baltimore Ravens in last season's Super Bowl,
the Niners still had a chance to beat the Seahawks.
But their hopes were dashed when Seattle linebacker Malcolm
Smith intercepted a pass from San Francisco quarterback Colin
Kaepernick with just 22 seconds left on the clock.
"I didn't play good enough to win," said a dejected Kaepernick.
"I turned the ball over three times, I cost us this game."
Seattle trailed 17-10 in the third quarter but piled on 13
unanswered points to seal the win, highlighted by a 35-yard
touchdown pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to Jermaine
Kearse in the final quarter.
"This team was ready to finish," said Seattle coach Pete
Carroll.
"We knew we weren't in the lead but that didn't matter.
"They were going to go out and get it done no matter what it
took."
(Reporting by Julian Linden; editing by Gene Cherry)
