For exactly a year, Peyton Manning had lived with the duplicitous burden of being the N.F.L.’s best quarterback and an underachieving one. On Sunday, the anniversary of a stinging home loss to the underdog Baltimore Ravens, Manning and Broncos fans awoke to a full-page photograph of the quarterback under a dark cloud against a towering Denver Post headline: A Legacy Under a Cloud.
One Super Bowl championship in a 16-year career is not enough, apparently, to keep away the doubters — especially in Colorado, where fans are starved for a title that Manning, 37, is supposed to supply.
As with last season, these Broncos were 13-3, seeded first and granted home-field advantage in the playoffs. Accompanying them into this postseason, though, were a sense of dread and the faint sound of a ticking clock.
Fending off a late surge by another underdog opponent, Manning and the Broncos slipped past the San Diego Chargers, 24-17, in a divisional-round playoff game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
It was just enough to give the Broncos a home date next Sunday against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for the A.F.C. title, the latest installment of the N.F.L.’s favorite reality series, Manning versus Brady.
“It always feels good to get a win at this time of the year,” said Manning, reminded that it was his first playoff victory since the 2009 season. “Everyone wants to keep playing, right?”
Denver’s performance on a cool and windy day was clunky and workmanlike and nearly overcome. Shut out through three quarters, San Diego scored 17 fourth-quarter points to put intrigue into a rout. It started to feel like last year, when the Ravens tied the score on a 70-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds left, and Denver lost in double overtime.
The Ravens eventually won the Super Bowl. The Broncos gathered themselves for another chance — this chance.
On Sunday, Manning’s two third-and-long completions to tight end Julius Thomas kept the ball from the suddenly hot Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. Suspense ended with Manning kneeling to kill the final seconds from the clock.
“This was a pretty intense game,” Manning said. “Philip got hot there in the second half. And I didn’t want to give them the ball back there at the end.”
Manning completed 25 of 36 passes for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns, with an interception. He was asked after the game whether a postseason exam of his surgically repaired neck weighed on his mind, leading him to consider that this could be his final season.
“What weighs on my mind is how soon I can get a Bud Light in my mouth,” Manning said.
Article courtesy of The New York Times
