AFC Championship Game, the Denver Broncos will host the New England Patriots, and these two will be meeting for the second time in a period of three years. This is bound to be a major tie. What is at stake is huge with the winner of the NFL game progressing on to Super Bowl 50 (Orr, 2016). Amongst the teams that have battled it out in at least eight conference championship matchups from the time of the merger, it is the Broncos that have a better record compared to the Patriots. The Broncos have seven wins and two losses while the Patriots have eight wins and three losses.

However, statistics indicate that the Patriots are the only second team since the conception of the Super Bowl to make it to five consecutive conference championships. The other team was Raiders, between the years 1973 and 1977, who only managed one title during that period. The Patriots are also presently stuck at one and Sunday offers an opportunity to make history and break the record (Wagner-McGough, 2016).

The New England Patriots have thus far journeyed to eight Super Bowls, the highest-tied number of appearances in the history of the NFL. On the other hand, the Broncos have journeyed to seven Super Bowls. This makes it an all the more interesting matchup for the history books. If the Patriots win, they overcome the Cowboys and the Steelers to make it the highest number of Super Bowl visits. If Broncos so win, on the other hand, they join these three teams for first place to make it a four-way tie for highest Super Bowl appearances.

The New England Patriots will be Belichick, who including this coming Sunday’s match, will have coached fourteen conference championship games in the whooping past thirty seasons. This upcoming match will be his 10th conference championship while coaching the Patriots. It is also keen to point out that he acted as an assistant coach for other NFL teams in four other games.

In all of his games, Bill Belichick has nine wins and four losses, with two of these losses coming against the Broncos in Denver. Taking these statistics into account, as a head coach, he has six wins and three losses. Belichick also has other remarkable playoff records, including the fact that he has six super bowl appearances. This is the highest of all time, and he is tied with Don Shula. He also has four super bowl wins.

This is the highest of all time, and he is tied with Chuck Noll. Significantly, Belichick holds the highest all time wins with 23 wins. On the other end, the Denver Broncos will be led by Coach Gary Kubiak, who also stands to make history on Sunday. By overcoming the Patriots, Kubiak will become the 7th head coach to make it to the Super Bowl with a team in his first season. The last coach to have done this was Jim Caldwell in 2009, and an interesting common factor is that Peyton Manning will have played for both of them (Wagner-McGough, 2016).

One of the key matchups in the game will be the battle of the quarterbacks. The game pitches two of the biggest names in the NFL in the form of Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. This will be the fifth time these two will be contesting against each other at a playoff match. This is the highest head-to-head matches amid starting quarterbacks of the teams in the history of the NFL. Manning has edged this matchup being 2-1 up in AFC championship matchups.

In addition, it is important to point out that Brady has not once defeated Manning in the playoff. Whichever team comes on top, either Manning or Brady will represent the AFC Championship in the Super Bowl for the 7th time in the preceding decade. Statistics indicate that Brady is 5-1 odds when the game starts, with a 40 degrees or less temperature. In addition, his two NFL match wins throughout his career in the playoffs against the Broncos came against Danny Kannell and Tim Tebow.

In this NFL season, Manning has thrown as many interceptions as Brady has in the past two seasons put together. However, Brady has thrown three touchdown passes in Denver this season compared to the single one thrown by Manning (Wolfe, 2016).

One other key point in the game will be the battle between the teams’ offense and defense. One major point is that the Broncos have the best defense in the NFL. The Patriots will head on to the game with an indefensible offence that is self-assured to scrap the star-studded defense of the Broncos.

The fast-paced tactic used by the Patriots and the team’s wide-ranged scheming will without question be the Broncos’ defense. A remarkable statistic is that the Patriots are 10 wins and 0 losses this current season, when Brady has played with Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, and Danny Amendola, his three best weapons.

These two are without doubt the best teams in the AFC Championship. With a progression to the Super Bowl at stake, these two teams will give their sweat and blood this Sunday afternoon. Whichever team that knocks the other off, history will certainly be made on a number of aspects. This should be a fantastic and remarkable game with historical inferences that will be talked about for years to come (Dussault, 2016).

Works Cited

Wolfe, Cameron. Game Plan: Who has the edge in Broncos vs. Patriots? The Denver Post, 2016. Retrieved 24 January, 2016 from: http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_29406526/who-has-edge-broncos-vs.-patriots

Dussault, Mike. AFC Championship Game Preview and Prediction: New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos. Athlon Sports and Life, 2016. Retrieved 24 January, 2016 from: http://athlonsports.com/nfl/afc-championship-game-preview-and-prediction-new-england-patriots-vs.-denver-broncos-2016

Orr, Conor. AFC Championship Game Preview: Can Peyton do it? NFL,2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016 from:http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000625783/article/afc-championship-game-preview-can-peyton-do-it

Wagner-McGough, Sean. 11 stats to arm yourself with for the Patriots-Broncos AFC title game. CBS Sports, 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016 from:http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25458164/stats-to-arm-yourself-with-for-patriots-broncos-afc-championship-game