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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." Earl Edwards Jr Orlando City SC Jersey . The Hall of Fame defenceman told Landsberg that he believes fighting still has a place in todays game, but thinks staged fighting needs be outlawed. Darwin Ceren Jersey . 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DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Jose Bautista kept up his torrid start to the spring, hitting two doubles and driving in two runs Thursday that sent the Toronto Blue Jays over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5. A day after hitting a long home run against the Phillies in his first at-bat of exhibition play, Bautista had an RBI double in the first inning off Philadelphia ace Cliff Lee. Bautista finished 2 for 2 with a walk. The former two-time major league homer champion missed the final six weeks last year because of a hip injury. Jose Reyes, Brett Lawrie and Melky Cabrera also drove in runs for Toronto. "I thought we swung the bats pretty good," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. Gibbons liked how many of Torontos hits were up the middle or to the opposite field. "Against a lot of lefties and things like that, you have to be able to do that and I think it was progress for us," he said. Lee allowed two hits and a run in two innings. He struck out three and walked none. "Obviously Im trying to throw strikes," Lee said. "I made a couple mistakes. The first double was, for sure, a mistake. I tried to throw a backdoor cutter and it ended up right down the middle." "And then Bautista, I just missed on the pitch before and tried to throw the same pitch. It wasnt a bad one, its just you get into a 2-2 count with him in that situation is not where you want to be. He put a good swing on it." Philadelphias offence was powered by a pair of home runs from bench hopefuls: Darin Ruf hit a two-run shot in the third and John Mayberry Jr. had a solo drive in the sixth. Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey allowed one unearned run in two innings. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out two. STARTING TIME Phillies: Lee gave up doubles to two of the first three batters he faced, then stopped the Blue Jays. He is the odds-on favourite to start on opening day March 31 at Texas. Blue Jays: Dickey got through an uneasy first inning to feel good about his spring debut. The knuckleballeer walked back-to-back batters with one out in his opening inning.dddddddddddd "Im feeling a lot better than I was at this point last year, so Im hoping that will carry out through the rest of spring and opening day," Dickey said. RUF RIDER Ruf hit a long home run off Esmil Rogers with one on and no one out in the third inning. The shot was the first for any Phillies player this spring. Ruf finished 1 for 3 with a walk. KNUCKLED Dickey worked with new battery partner Erik Kratz for the first time this spring. Kratz, a catcher acquired from the Phillies in a trade this winter, wore a first basemans glove in an attempt to have a better chance at catching Dickeys arsenal of knuckleballs. Kratz allowed one passed ball in the games first inning. "Its a hard thing to do," Dickey said. "The game speed, and runners on -- its just going to take some time. But I felt like he looked real comfortable back there. Outside of the one passed ball, I felt like he handled it pretty well." TRAINERS ROOM Philadelphia right-handed reliever Mike Adams threw off the mound for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery on July 31. He was limited to 28 games in his first season after signing a two-year, $12 million free agent deal with the Phillies. The veteran setup reliever hopes to join the Phillies bullpen at some point in April. "It went good -- really good," he said. "It was probably an 85 per cent bullpen or so. I wasnt trying to let loose right off the bat. I was trying to get a good feel for throwing off the slope again." Philadelphia right-hander Ethan Martin, who entered camp competing for the fifth starters job, left after facing four batters in the fifth inning with shoulder discomfort. Hell be examined by the team medical staff on Friday morning. "He was pain-free pitching, but the ball just wasnt coming out, throwing 85 miles per hour," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. 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