Brady Manning Reuters Pic
Meeting for the 15th time overall and fourth time in the postseason, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady hope to guide their respective teams to another Super Bowl with a win in the AFC Championship Game. Reuters

Following an entertaining slate of games in the Divisional Round of the 2013-2014 NFL Playoffs, four teams remain alive in the quest for a Super Bowl championship. Thanks to an impressive home performance against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots will appear in their eighth Conference Championship in 13 seasons. Set to take on a Denver Broncos team that upended the San Diego Chargers 24-17 in the second AFC Divisional game, Tom Brady and the Patriots know a tough challenge lies ahead against the top team in the conference.

“I think we've overcome a lot of things, a lot of injuries, we've had some amazing comebacks to get to this situation where we finished the regular season 12-4 with a lot of players filling some big roles over the course of the year,” Brady, who threw for over 4,300 yards and 25 touchdowns this season, said recently. “And then to having really played our best football the last three weeks, and now to get a chance to go play one of the best teams in the league, it's everything you could ask for. This is what football is all about. This game is going to come down to who plays the best. And we'll be able to take some things that we did when we played and study them and prepare for them, but we'll have different things to do, they'll have different things to do.”

Brady will be matched up against Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning for the fifteenth time in his career Sunday afternoon in Denver and the contest will be the third time the friends have battled in an AFC Championship game, with each quarterback earning one victory in the previous two postseason meetings. Despite the hype around the showdown between the future Hall of Fame QB’s, Peyton Manning says the focus will be on moving the ball against the Patriots defense and not on the quarterback match-up.

“Tom Brady has just been an outstanding quarterback for such a long time, but the game next week is Broncos versus the Patriots,” Manning said following Denver’s Divisional Round win over San Diego. “I know there will be some individual matchups that will get headlines. But it will be a battle between two good teams, teams that have been through a lot, that have overcome a lot to get to this point, and that's where my focus will be, trying to help the Broncos get a win over the Patriots.”

Kaepernick Wilson Reuters Pic
Colin Kaepernick (L) and Russell Wilson will meet Sunday in Seattle with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Reuters

While Denver and New England battle for the first ticket to the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks will be making their final preparations for the NFC Championship Game. Meeting at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, San Fran and Seattle will take the field against one another for the first time in the postseason, with the 49ers looking to reach their second-straight Super Bowl. The two NFC West squads split two match-ups during the regular season but with a trip to the big game on the line, Colin Kaepernick knows playing against the Seahawks will be an extremely physical game.

His Niners will also look to upend a Seattle team that is 16-1 at home over the past two seasons.

“I think we were the two teams that everybody was kind of looking at from the beginning,” he said. “It’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out game. We have to go up there and win.”

AFC Championship – New England Patriots at Denver Broncos

DATE: Sunday, Jan. 19

TIME: 3 p.m., ET

TV COVERAGE: CBS

NFC Championship – San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks

DATE: Sunday, Jan. 19

TIME: 6:30 p.m., ET

TV COVERAGE: FOX

© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.