Tom Brady: We'll be underdogs vs. Broncos in AFC Championship Game

New England's golden boy with the golden arm is relishing in the underdog role.

By Matt Verderame Jan 13, 2014, 10:43am EST

It's January, and the New England Patriots are in the AFC Championship Game with Tom Brady leading the way.

You have probably heard this sentence or some variation of it quite often over the past dozen years. In fact, it has been a true statement seven times in Brady's career, now eight after his 43-22 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night.

Yet, Brady and his Patriots find themselves in an unfamiliar role coming into this weekend against the Denver Broncos and Brady's chief rival, Peyton Manning, per NFL.com.

"It would be as satisfying as any victory we've ever had if we could go in there and win."

"We've overcome a lot of things with some injuries. We've had some amazing comebacks ... it's everything you could ask for."

"We've got a bunch of underdogs on our team and I'm sure we'll be underdogs again," Brady said of going to Denver. "It's how we play, it's not where we play."

Brady has played against Manning three times in the postseason, all while Manning was wearing horseshoes on his helmet. Brady is 2-1 in those contests, splitting the two AFC Championship matchups and winning in the 2004 Divisional round. Incredibly, this is the 15th overall meeting between the two future Hall of Famers.

Should Brady win on Sunday at Mile High, it would punch his ticket for a sixth Super Bowl appearance, the most of any quarterback in history. Per Pro Football Talk:

"I know when we played Baltimore no one picked us to win and no one’s gonna pick us to win this week," Brady said. "We’ve had our backs against the wall for a while, really the whole season. We’ve lost players and teams have really counted us out."