It's not often that the No. 1 seed gets written off in a conference championship game, but it sure feels as if the Denver Broncos are quickly becoming an afterthought as we approach Sunday's AFC title game against the New England Patriots. The Broncos are three-point underdogs at home, marking just the third time since 2000 that the top seed in a conference has been an underdog in the conference championship game. (Two of those teams, the 2012 Falcons and 2004 Steelers, lost. The 2000 Giants won 41-0.) The gap between the two teams is perhaps widest at quarterback, where the cruel hands of time appear to have passed by Tom Brady to choke Peyton Manning.
Barnwell: Denver needs pressure, and restraint, to topple the Patriots
