The NFL calls this Championship Sunday

One out of two football games being exciting is as much as we could hope for, I guess. The Manning-Brady Bowl Episode XVII result surprised me and pointed out the importance of extra points after touchdowns. The rule change in the off-season which made the distance for PATs 33 yards rather than the 20 yards it had been for years had an obvious impact on the game, since New England’s kicker Gostkowski missed one in the first quarter, his first miss in 524 tries.

Denver had the top-rated defense in the league all season and it really showed today, sacking Brady 4 times and hurrying or hitting him about 20 more times.

So now Denver goes to Super Bowl 50, its eighth trip to the big game (it’s won just 2 of its previous 7).

The Broncos will face the Carolina Panthers, who positively embarrassed the Arizona Cardinals today 49-15. The Panthers forced seven turnovers, six by the Cardinals’ Carson Palmer (4 interceptions, two fumbles).

It will be the Panthers’ second trip to the Super Bowl; they lost in 2003 to the Patriots.