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New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos is Most Important Week 9 Matchup

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By @calling_allfans

Patriots vs. Broncos

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Some of the Week 9 games, including New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers, are extremely important and they should be great. But one game stands above the rest in importance and entertainment:

New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos.

This game will mark the 16th time Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have shared the field, and that definitely adds some intrigue to Sunday’s game. Brady is 10-5 when his teams play Manning’s, but the Manning-led Broncos beat Brady and the Patriots last season in the AFC Championship game. Brady has been a starter for two fewer seasons than Manning and he has more Super Bowl appearances (five) and rings (three) than his counterpart (one win in three appearances), but Manning holds more records and the overall edge during the regular season. Given their ages (Brady, 37, and Manning, 38), fans never know when it will be the last time these two future Hall-of-Fame QBs face-off.

But all of that is not why this game is so important. Brady and Manning don’t actually face each other directly. This is a crucial game because the Patriots and Broncos both want the No. 1 overall seed when the playoffs roll around. Denver is currently 6-1 and New England is 6-2. Manning and company have already beaten the Indianapolis Colts (5-3) and San Diego Chargers (5-3) this season, and if they beat the Patriots on Sunday, it his highly unlikely that any team in the AFC will catch them for the No. 1 seed.

If the Patriots win, they will be 7-2 (bye week in Week 10) while the Broncos will be 6-2, and New England will be in much better shape to have the AFC visit Foxborough come playoff time. That’s what New England ultimately wants. The Patriots want all of the other AFC teams, including Denver, to have to try to beat them in Gillette Stadium. If the Patriots lose Sunday, it is virtually certain they will not overtake the Broncos for the No. 1 seed.

That’s what makes this game so compelling and the best of those slated for Sunday. It’s only Week 9 of the season and this is as much of a must-win game as there can be at this point. Must-win is an overstatement, since that is reserved for when teams will be eliminated from playoff contention or from the actual playoffs, but Brady and the Patriots and Manning and the Broncos have one goal in mind this season: win the Super Bowl.

The losing team will certainly still be in play for the big game. No one doubts that. But a win certainly makes the road their much easier.

Justin Patrick is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @calling_allfans, like him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google. You can also email him at [email protected].

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