Originally, I was going to take a little time today and talk to you all about the wonder of Peyton Manning once again.  Because well, he's amazing. 37 years old. Two years removed from four different neck procedures to restore strength into his throwing arm and oh, I almost forgot.  He has thrown the most touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season with 55, he broke the record with 51 last week and added four more on Sunday. He also has thrown the most passing yards by a quarterback in a single season with 5,277 yards amassed, another record he shattered on Sunday.  

There was going to be a lot of talk about this.  Instead, there was another record that needs to be discussed among other things, the fact that the Broncos are the only team in the NFL's history to score 600 points in a season, in fact they scored 606 points this year to be exact and to watch such a feat occur before my very eyes by my favorite team absolutely took my breath away.   

I've never seen so many records fall in succession, and I'm still reeling over the fact that my Broncos are the ones sitting atop so many precious records.  But I also saw something equally as incredible.  This was the first time I saw lights out football from the Denver Broncos all season long.  

We've seen the offense drop TD's by land and air all day.  But we have only seen the defense play as a solid unit in spurts. The sheer domination that the offense has brought to the table for most of the season is rarely on display on the other side of the ball...until yesterday. That defense was incredible, there was rarely a moment they weren't completely shutting down the Raiders offense and while Oakland may have scored twice...it was during garbage time after the offense put 31 points on the board.  

The fact is, this is what we as Broncos fans have been waiting for, domination on both sides of the ball.  It took an entire season but I can only hope that this is just the beginning because what we learned about the Denver Broncos on Sunday is that when they put together a complete game...they are truly unstoppable, and they now have a week to figure out how to do it again in the Divisional round of the playoffs.  

Here we go ladies and gentlemen!  After 17 grueling weeks of incredible football the regular season has at last come to its end and the playoffs are finally upon us.  So we  thought it would be a good idea to get you all the information you need regarding who is in the hunt for a chance to play in Super Bowl XLVIII.  This is just the beginning folks, we will have more NFL coverage coming your way, so without further ado, here are the teams in the hunt and the schedule of the first set of games for Wildcard Weekend!   

AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE 
1. Denver Broncos -  AFC West Division Champions with a First Round Bye and Homefield Advantage throughout the playoffs. 
2. New England Patriots - AFC East Division Champions with a First Round Bye.
3. Cincinnati Bengals - AFC North Division Champions.
4. Indianapolis Colts - AFC South Division Champions.
5. Kansas City Chiefs
6. San Diego Chargers 

NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE 
1. Seattle Seahawks - NFC West Division Champions with a First Round Bye and Homefield Advantage throughout the playoffs. 
2. Carolina Panthers - NFC South Divison Champions with a First Round Bye.
3. Philadelphia Eagles - NFC East Division Champions. 
4. Green Bay Packers - NFC North Division Champions.
5. San Francisco 49ers 
6. New Orleans Saints 

SATURDAY - JANUARY 4, 2014
AFC Wildcard Matchup - 4:35 p.m. EST on NBC
Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts 

NFC Wildcard Matchup - 8:10 p.m. EST on NBC
New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles 

SUNDAY - JANUARY 5, 2014
AFC Wildcard Matchup - 1:05 p.m. EST on CBS
San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals

NFC Wildcard Matchup - 4:40 p.m. EST on Fox
San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers

This has been an incredibly strange year for the Denver Broncos.  They have seen starter after starter fall to injury.  They have seen one of their franchise players suspended for six games.  Heck, they have even seen Head Coach John Fox need time off for heart surgery.  

This should have been, hands down, a disaster season for the Broncos.  No team survives losing so many starters and a Head Coach for a month...right? At least in my many years of watching football I've never seen a team survive this many devastating moves, yet the Denver Broncos are now 12-3.

They have clinched the AFC West Division Championship for the third straight year. They have clinched a playoff berth and a first round bye and if they beat the Raiders they snag home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  

Yet at times it seems they should not be in this fine of a position.  The Denver defense has some major issues still facing it.  They have major difficulty stopping the run, and at times they are just plain awful.  Now, they have to contend with Von Miller being out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.  

So here we go again, time for the next man up.  For those of you unfamiliar with that phrase, it has been in place since John Fox took over as Head Coach of the Denver Broncos.  The idea is simple.  If any man on this squad goes down due to injury, or suspension and what not, the man behind him on the depth chart is the next man up.  He must not only fill in that slot, but do the job of the last guy as good as if not better than him.  

So far it's been a pretty effective method for the team, but as I said before, cracks are beginning to show on Defense.  The last major wave of defensive injuries incurred in a game was against Dallas and it showed with the Cowboys putting up forty eight points on us.  Not to mention the fact the Chargers ran wild at Mile High and the D was unable to stop them.  It's major cause for concern especially with the playoffs on the horizon.  

Yet, the Broncos keep winning.  

It could be due to the fact that Peyton Manning can will a team to victory.  It may be that the Defense manages to show up at just the right time.  Or quite possibly, next man up works like a charm and we have solid depth.  Or maybe, something special is happening in Denver this year and good old fashioned luck keeps heading our way.  Either way, it makes for exciting and nerve wracking football, and we'll find out the real answer come the Divisional round of the playoffs. 

Earlier in the season, in fact right after Peyton Manning dropped seven touchdowns on the Baltimore Ravens to kick off the season, I talked about what an incredible time it is to be an NFL fan as incredible feats continue to appear before our eyes week after week, year after year.  

Well...it happened again.  Yesterday, Peyton Manning shocked the football world once again by becoming the only quarterback in NFL History to throw 51 touchdowns in a single season.  

Yes, 51 touchdowns.  It may not seem like that great of a feat considering how liberal the rules are when it comes to offense in the NFL, but in reality, this is more than a feat, this is something of legend. Let's bear in mind the fact that Manning is mentioned twice in the single season TD record discussion when he broke the record in 2004 with 49 TD passes, only to see Tom Brady break it with 50 in 2007.  That alone is pretty impressive, but what has impressed me more is what a warrior this man is on the field and well...it seems like nothing can stop him anymore.  

It was only two short years ago that there were nothing but question marks surrounding Peyton Manning.  With the nerve damage he suffered in his neck and the stories that later came out about his arm strength from said injury...there was a fair chance this man would never play football again.  In fact I even recall a good friend of mine say that Denver signing him was a bad idea because he was "broken."  

It's almost as though the chance of seeing his career end gave Manning a nothing to lose mentality that has now translated over to his game.  I don't know if any football fans will see an incredible year like this ever again, not from another future Hall of Famer who could have been washed up. In fact what impresses me more, was that yesterday's record came about from a set of pedestrian circumstances.  Denver was ahead, there was no need to throw to win.  Manning was simply doing what he does best, throwing passes and the two that mattered, the ones that tied the record and subsequently broke it...were just perfect.  

Super Bowl Championship come February or not, this is just incredible.  I've never seen quarterback play in Denver like this, and I grew up watching John Elway make miracles happen on the field.  Now before I get some ugly hate mail regarding the first sentence of this paragraph, I expect a Super Bowl win.  But for some, when things like this happen, these football miracles if you will, throughout the season and it ends without confetti an the Lombardi Trophy, they will say it meant nothing. I call the b.s.card on that one, let's not forget Favre only has one Super Bowl Ring and Dan Marino has none.  Sometimes it's just not meant to be, but something tells me...Peyton will get another ring in Denver before hanging up the cleats.

Either way, it was a proud moment in Bronco Country, it was our quarterback that broke the record.  It was our team that helped him do it and we will always remember the number 51 when they add 18 to the Ring of Fame at Mile High Stadium and enshrine his likeness in the Hall of Fame.