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Manning, Ware Healthy For Rematch With Brady, Patriots

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - Peyton Manning and DeMarcus Ware watched the previous New England-Denver game from an equipment room at Sports Authority Field on a snowy November night two months ago.

From the room adjacent to the Broncos' showers and lockers, the pair of sidelined superstars offered their own commentary and clues on the pivotal showdown.

Manning met with Brock Osweiler at halftime that night to talk about Bill Belichick's blitzes, advice his longtime backup credited for helping him lead Denver back from a two-touchdown, fourth-quarter deficit for a 30-24 win in overtime.

That triumph ultimately landed this weekend's AFC championship game between the 13-4 teams in Denver, with temperatures in the 40s, instead of frigid Foxborough.

Manning was out for that Nov. 29 game with a tear in the plantar fascia near his left heel and Ware was sidelined with a bad lower back. The two had already spent a lot of time rehabbing together. They even stayed behind in Denver when the Broncos played at Chicago the week before.

Manning and Ware are both relieved to be back on the field for the rematch, but they reminisced about their quality time together that snowy Sunday evening in November.

"DeMarcus is a big-time second-guesser: `Wrap up, Von! Wrap up, Malik!' I really enjoyed his commentary during the game," Manning said with a laugh Wednesday.

"He and I were smiling before the team meeting that it would be nice to be out onto the actual playing field this time around as opposed to being in an equipment room where you're watching it on TV on mute so you don't have to hear all the analysis.

"The hot dogs aren't bad in there, I'll say that," Manning added. "But I'd much prefer to be on the playing field. I know he does, as well."

Manning missed seven starts altogether, relieving Osweiler in the third quarter of the season finale and driving Denver on four scoring drives to beat San Diego 27-20 and secure the AFC's top seed for the Broncos.

Ware returned to the lineup a month ago and has had huge plays in each of the past three games, including a game-sealing fumble recovery in overtime against Cincinnati and a huge fumble recovery against Pittsburgh in the divisional round of the playoffs that preceded Manning's game-winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.

While Manning missed midseason games for the first time in his career, excluding the year he sat out following neck fusion surgery, Ware missed a career-high five games and parts of three others.

Ware laughed about all that quality time he got to spend with Manning in the trainer's room and, on Nov. 29, the equipment room.

"We went out there in the first half when we were on the sidelines. I think after the halftime show it started snowing, Peyton and I looked at each other and said, `We're about to go in this locker room and do what we need to do,'" Ware recalled. "We put our headsets on and we were in the equipment room."

There, they got a unique perspective into each other's football philosophies.

"It's so weird to see when a quarterback gets a call and how he feels about the play. We're watching it on national television and then all of a sudden I get a defensive play in the headset, he looks at me and I'm like, `Ah, we should have called this play.' He's like, `We should have called this play,'" Ware said.

It went back and forth like this all night.

"One time Malik (Jackson), I think he missed a tackle or something and he said, `DeMarcus, go out there and tell them that we need to run this play,'" Ware recounted.

"I'm running all the way back out there on the sideline and telling them about some pass rush play - and it actually worked. They got a sack and I told Peyton, `Hey, tell Brock that he needs to do this.' He puts his stuff on and goes out there and says that. It was just funny to see that."

Brady fell to 2-6 in Denver that night, with his only victories coming against Broncos teams led by Tim Tebow in 2011 and Danny Kanell in 2003.

"It's always frustrating for me when we lose," Brady said. "So, yeah, I know we've had a lot of lonely feelings when you're driving out of that stadium. We've had some pretty tough losses there over the years, because they've had really good teams.

"It's always a challenge going out and playing anybody on the road, especially a team that's as talented as they are," Brady added.

"They've just got a lot of great players, really good coaches that put those guys in a position to play their best. It's not easy to go in there and win, but we're going to give it everything we've got. It should be a lot of fun."

Manning and Ware get to participate this time.

By ARNIE STAPLETON, AP Pro Football Writer

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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