Super Bowl 2014: Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos to face the Seattle Seahawks

The Denver Broncos, with the number one offense in the NFL, will face the Seattle Seahawks, the team with the top-ranked defense, in the Super Bowl in New Jersey on February 2.

Quarterback Peyton Manning steered the AFC’s Broncos to a 26-16 win over the New England Patriots at Mile High Stadium in Denver then the NFC's Seahawks edged past the San Francisco 49ers, last season’s Super Bowl runners-up, 23-17 in Seattle.

It will be an intriguing matchup between the Broncos with their 15-3 win-loss record this season against the Seahawks, who are also 15-3, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey next month, and it’s the first time since 1991 that the Super Bowl pits the team that scored the most points in the regular season against the team that allowed the fewest.

When Manning, 37, was with the Indianapolis Colts he lost the NFL’s showpiece game to the New Orleans Saints in 2010 but he already had a winners’ ring having led the Colts to victory against the Chicago Bears in 2007.

He’s a four-time NFL Most Valuable Player and is set to earn a fifth accolade when this season’s MVP is announced on the eve of Super Bowl.

Manning completed 32 of 43 passes for 400 yards and two touchdowns to eclipse Patriots QB Tom Brady and the next passer aiming to outgun him in a fortnight is Seattle’s Russell Wilson. But he also has to contend with that defense, led by Richard Sherman, one that forced three turnovers in the fourth quarter alone, including an interception by linebacker Malcolm Smith after Sherman stretched to tip 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s pass away from receiver Michael Crabtree in the end zone.