NFL Live Betting: Peyton Manning Favored to Get Best of Tom Brady this Time
by Bovada Sportsbook Staff | Nov. 22, 2013
The greatest individual rivalry in the NFL so far this century has been between future Hall of Famer quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, arguably the two best regular-season QBs in NFL history. They have combined for six NFL MVP Awards and that’s likely to be seven with Manning a heavy favorite to win his fifth.
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Manning and Brady meet for the 14th time on Sunday night in the marquee game of Week 12. Denver opened as a 2.5-point Bovada favorite at New England, where the Pats rarely lose in November, with Live Betting available. It’s the first time New England is a home dog since 2005.
Certainly the Broncos and Patriots could meet again in the playoffs and this game could determine whether that would be played in Denver or New England. The Broncos are tied with Kansas City atop the AFC West with a 9-1 record, the best in the AFC. New England fell to 7-3 with Monday’s loss in Carolina, so another defeat this week would make it near impossible to finish with the AFC’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Patriots haven’t lost back-to-back games since Weeks 2-3 last season.
This could be one of the final regular-season meetings between Manning and Brady. The former will be 38 next season and the latter 37 before next season and they will have to retire at some point. The teams are scheduled to play in New England again next season. Manning is No. 2 in league history behind Brett Favre (186) with 163 wins and Brady is No. 5 with 143. This will be only the second time two quarterbacks with at least 140 regular-season wins will face off. The other was on December 21, 1998, when John Elway’s Broncos lost 31-21 at Dan Marino’s Miami Dolphins. Denver won its last Super Bowl title that season.
Brady leads the all-time series 9-4, although only one of those victories came while Manning was a Bronco. That was Week 5 of last season when New England won 31-21 at home as a 5.5-point betting favorite. Manning had the better numbers, passing for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Demaryius Thomas caught eight balls for 180 yards. Brady threw for 223 and one TD. New England rushed for 251 yards on 54 carries led by Stevan Ridley’s 151 yards on 28 carries. Manning is -30.5 yards passing against Brady on Bovada’s specials for this game.
The Broncos went on an 11-game winning streak after that defeat. Denver has lost just one regular-season game since, October 20 at Indianapolis in Manning’s return there. One of the Broncos’ biggest offseason additions and the Patriots’ biggest losses was receiver Wes Welker. He had 13 catches for 104 yards and a TD in last year’s game and is having another good season with 61 catches for 648 yards and nine scores. However, Welker suffered a concussion in Denver’s win in Kansas City on Sunday night and is questionable for his return to Foxboro.
Denver also lost starting safety Rahim Moore for the rest of the regular season in the win over the Chiefs. Broncos fans will remember him as the guy who was beaten by Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones for the game-tying 70-yard TD pass in the final minute of the divisional-round playoff game last season.
The Patriots welcomed back running back Shane Vereen in Monday’s loss. He had been out since Week 1 due to wrist surgery. Vereen caught eight passes against the Panthers. New England lost top cornerback Aqib Talib to a hip injury in the game and he’s iffy for Sunday. He hadn’t played in six games because of a hip problem. Already out for New England is fellow cornerback Alfonzo Dennard.
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