DENVER -- Peyton Manning stuffed the football into his helmet and handed it to an equipment man for safekeeping. The connection: Flawless, as usual. The keepsake: Certainly one hell want to hang on to. The Broncos quarterback had an answer for everyone Sunday -- from Tom Brady to the New England defence to anyone who thought he couldnt win the big one. Manning is taking the Broncos on a trip to New York for the Super Bowl after another of his impeccably crafted victories -- this time, a 26-16 win over the Patriots on Sunday in the AFC title game. "Being in my 16th season, going to my third Super Bowl, I know how hard it is to get there," Manning said. Especially this time. Only three years ago, he could barely grip a football as he started the long comeback from surgeries that ravaged his neck and nerve endings. And only 53 weeks ago, he suffered a devastating loss to Baltimore in the divisional playoffs that derailed what looked like a Super Bowl trip in his comeback season. But Manning will get his chance for a second Super Bowl ring, after all. Hell try to become the first starting quarterback to win one with two different teams, at the Meadowlands on Feb. 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, who beat San Francisco 23-17 in the NFC title game. "Hes been remarkable," said Broncos coach John Fox, off to his second Super Bowl as a head coach. "Its unprecedented what he did." After packing away his football, Manning ran to the 30-yard line to shake hands with Brady. A bit later in the locker room, he celebrated with his father, Archie, and brothers Cooper and Eli, the Giants quarterback who surprised Peyton much the way Peyton surprised him by showing up at the NFC title game two years ago. The Indy-turned-Denver quarterback improved to 5-10 lifetime against Brady, but is now 2-1 in AFC title games. "I have a lot of respect for him," Brady said. "Certainly, hes a great player and he played great today." Though Manning threw for 400 yards, it was more dink-and-dunk than a fireworks show in this, the 15th installment between the NFLs two best quarterbacks of a generation. Manning set up four field goals by Matt Prater and put his stamp on this one with a pair of long, meticulous and mistake-free touchdown drives in which nothing came cheap. He geared down the no-huddle, hurry-up offence that helped him set records for touchdown passes and yardage this season and made the Broncos the highest-scoring team in history. The result: 93- and 80-yard touchdown drives that each lasted more than seven minutes; they were the two longest, time-wise, of the season for the Broncos (15-3). The Broncos held the ball for 35:44. They were 7 for 13 on third-down conversions. "To keep Tom Brady on the sideline is a good thing," Manning said. "Thats something you try to do when youre playing the Patriots." Manning capped the second long drive with a 3-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas, who got inside the overmatched Alfonzo Dennard and left his feet to make the catch. It gave Denver a 20-3 lead midway through the third quarter. From there, it was catch-up time for Brady and the Pats (13-5), and they are not built for that -- at least not this year. "We got in a hole there," Brady said. "It was just too much to dig our way out." A team that averaged more than 200 yards on the ground the last three games didnt have much quick-strike capability. Brady, who threw for most of his 277 yards in comeback mode, actually led the Patriots to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. But they were a pair of time-consuming, 80-yard drives. The second cut the deficit to 26-16 with 3:07 left, but the Broncos stopped Shane Vereen on the 2-point conversion and the celebration was on in Denver. "Losing is never easy," Patriots defensive lineman Rob Ninkovich said. "But when you have somebody as talented as (Manning), who puts in as much work and effort, and has done it for so long, its a little bit easier to swallow." The trip to New York, where it figures to be at least a tad cooler than Sundays 63-degree reading at kickoff, will come 15 years after John Elway rode off into the sunset with his second straight Super Bowl victory. The Broncos have had one close call since -- when they lost at home to Pittsburgh in the 2005 seasons AFC title game -- but what it really took was Elways return to the franchise in 2011. He slammed the door on the Tim Tebow experiment and signed Manning to a contract, knowing there were risks involved in bringing to town a thirty-something quarterback coming off multiple operations to resurrect his career. Even without Von Miller on the field, Elway put enough pieces in place around Manning to move within a game of the championship. Thomas. Wes Welker (four catches, 38 yards). Eric Decker (5-73). Tight end Julius Thomas (8-85). "Its been a terrific group," Elway said as he hoisted the AFC championship trophy. "They worked their tail off all year." Manning knows how to make the most of all the options hes been given. This game started getting out of hand at about the same time Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib went out with a knee injury. Nobody else could cover Thomas, and Manning, who finds mismatches even under the toughest of circumstances, found this one quickly. "Talibs an excellent player," Manning said, "but Demaryius was going to be a big part of the game plan, either way." Thomas finished with seven catches for 134 yards, including receptions of 26 and 27 yards that set up a field goal for a 13-3 lead before the half. Denver got the ball to start the third quarter and Manning hit Thomas for 15 and 4 yards as part of the 80-yard, 7:08 touchdown drive that gave Denver the 17-point lead. It was 23-3 before Brady began the comeback that came up short. "Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning," Patriots defensive end Andre Carter said. "Hes a smart player and able to make adjustments when he needs to." New England came up a win short of the Super Bowl for the second straight year. The thought this week was that Bill Belichicks team was playing with house money, having well exceeded expectations for a team that lost a number of stars -- Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski -- and has been plagued by injuries all year. But a loss is a loss and facts are facts. Belichick is stuck on three titles and hasnt won one since the NFL busted him for the Spygate videotaping scandal. "There were a lot of opportunities in the game that, if we were able to coach better, play better, execute better in any of those areas, it would have given us a chance," Belichick said. Manning said Belichick is the best coach hes ever had to go against. The quarterback insisted this weeks showdown against Brady was more Broncos vs. Patriots than Manning vs. Brady. He lets others decide whos the greatest at this or that. But he earned a chance to improve on his already-sterling legacy -- one that figures to leave him holding his fifth MVP trophy come Super Bowl week. A win at MetLife Stadium in two weeks would put him in the same company brother Eli, along with Elway, Roger Staubach and a few others as a two-time Super Bowl winner. Two weeks for Manning to prepare might feel like a lifetime. At times, his long, difficult comeback has felt like a lifetime, too. "Weve definitely come a long way in two years," Manning said. "And bouncing back from last years playoff loss to put ourselves in this position, it definitely feels very gratifying." 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Wholesale Orioles Jerseys .com) - Rajon Rondo turned in a game-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists as Dallas claimed a 102-98 win over the Lakers on Friday. BOSTON -- When their game against Boston was postponed Wednesday due to inclement weather, the Tampa Bay Rays made it clear they had no interest in playing a doubleheader Thursday. The Red Sox got their way. The Rays got the last laugh. Yunel Escobar homered off Boston closer Koji Uehara leading off the ninth inning to propel Tampa Bay to a 6-5 win and a day-night doubleheader sweep on Thursday night. The Rays won the opener 2-1. "I really believe that we had vociferously fought for just one game, for a lot of obvious reasons," said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. "I mean, Im not going to hide from the reasons -- we have a lot of guys injured, we had a lot of very difficult games more recently, so we wanted one game and pick it up later when were at greater health. "It just did not work out that way, thus our players came out and made a statement today and I kind of enjoyed it." Escobar crushed the second pitch from Uehara (0-1) over the Green Monster in left field for his second homer of the year, and Grant Balfour recorded the final three outs for his second save of the day and sixth of the season. "Hes a very good relief pitcher and it was a very uncomfortable at-bat," Escobar said through a translator. "(I) got a splitter up and (I) just tried to get good wood on the ball and (I) was able to hit it out." Sean Rodriguez and Desmond Jennings also went deep for last-place Tampa Bay, which won for just the third time in nine games. "I didnt know we didnt want to play. No one asked me," Balfour said with a laugh. "Im pretty happy that we did." So is Maddon. "Im so proud of our guys, the way they handled the entire moment," he said. "Nobody complained about anything. Nothing -- and they just went out and played really good baseball for 18 innings. It was pretty astounding to watch the whole thing play out." The first game was just as wild, but for an entirely different reason. With Tampa Bay leading 2-1 in the seventh, Dustin Pedroia was called out on a close play at the plate, thrown out on a relay from Escobbar at shortstop while attempting to score from first on Ortizs double high off the Monster.dddddddddddd After a 1 minute, 52 second delay, it was announced the call "stands." Boston third base coach Brian Butterfield was ejected by first base umpire Toby Basner for slamming his helmet to the ground. "I just dont like the whole inconclusive deal," said Pedroia, who didnt think he was tagged before crossing the plate. "Replay, you should go check it out and youre either out or safe. I dont know what inconclusive means. Maybe that means someone doesnt want to make a decision." Pedroia may have beaten catcher Jose Molinas sweeping tag with a feet-first slide, but it was unclear if he touched the plate before the tag. Basner, rotating as the umpires moved on the play, made the call at the plate. "I thought not only did Dustin beat the throw, beat the tag, but felt like his left foot made some contact with home plate," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Our video internally showed that that was the case." The Rays then charged back from a 5-2 deficit in the nightcap. Rodriguezs two-run homer off Boston starter Felix Doubront in the sixth brought Tampa Bay within one, and Rodriguez tied it in the seventh off reliever Junichi Tazawa, doubling and scoring on James Loneys single. Uehara then uncharacteristically surrendered Escobars blast, just the fourth homer he has allowed at Fenway Park since joining Boston before last season. "It happens every year, April, May," Uehara said through a translator. "I think even last year I didnt pitch that well." NOTES: It was the first doubleheader for both teams since last year when the Red Sox swept the Rays in Fenway Park on June 18. ... The Rays open a three-game series against the New York Yankees on Friday. Tampa Bay LHP David Price (3-2, 4.75) will oppose New York LHP Vidal Nuno (0-0, 6.59). . Boston will host the Oakland Athletics for a three-game series beginning Friday, with Red Sox RHP Clay Buchholz (1-2, 6.66) facing Athletics RHP Dan Straily (1-1, 5.14). 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