Knowshon Moreno was knocked out with a knee injury. Von Miller had the wind knocked out of him. Future Hall of Famer Champ Bailey got beaten badly on two touchdown passes.

No, it wasn’t the prettiest of efforts for the Denver Broncos last night in the AFC semifinals against the Baltimore Ravens, even in a game in which Peyton Manning provided plenty of highlights and Trindon Holliday was turning in the greatest effort by a returnman in postseason history.

But what eventually did in the Broncos 38-35 102 seconds into the second overtime at Sports Authority Field last night? Not just a clutch kick by Justin Tucker, but one of the best blocks you’ll ever see, by Pro Bowl lineman Marshal Yanda.

The situation? The Ravens had just intercepted Manning late in the first overtime but were bogged down on a third-and-3, still out of field-goal range. Ray Rice, who rushed for 126 yards, one more than the entire Denver team, was going to be short of the first down, allowing Manning one more chance to win in sudden death. But Yanda wouldn’t allow that to happen.

He came from behind, pushed the pile forward and Rice got the first down that put Denver, a team with an 11-game winning streak, on the verge of extinction. Three plays later, Tucker tucked a kick just inside the right upright and Manning was denied another chance at a second Super Bowl.

For a team that rallied from behind four times, including Joe Flacco’s incredible 70-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter, it was the appropriate ending.

Terrell Suggs, the player no one thought would play this season, registered 10 tackles and two sacks. Ray Lewis, the future Hall of Famer on the verge of retirement, registered 17 tackles. And Torrey Smith, the oft-criticized receiver, burned Bailey in the air and with his speed.

But the unsung hero was Yanda, who at a time of game when players don’t expect to be playing, showed that he wanted to play one more week and maybe beyond.

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis celebrates following a 38-35 win in overtime over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisonal Playoff at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.

HALLS OF FAME — As far as Hall of Fame votes go, it was a week of two extremes for the two most significant halls in America: for baseball's voters, a crisis of conscience was revealed regarding performance-enhancing drugs with potentially several innocent bystanders needlessly being punished and denied. For football, excitement was built as the final 17 were revealed in one of the strongest Hall of Fame lists ever with a possibility of as many as seven candidates being named In three weeks.

In the past, we criticized the clique of voters in pro football for being too small in number. It only takes nine nay votes for a player to miss the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But the opposite of this problem is apparent in baseball; too many voters with a strain of self-righteousness did the one thing you don’t want to do with any hall: vote for no one. Halls of fame are there not only to honor legacies, players and teams, but to promote and strengthen sports. Not voting in players promotes apathy and baseball in general and Cooperstown in particular will pay the price for this vote.

So who would be atop my list of Hall choices this year in football? My two favorites are offensive linemen: Dallas’ Larry Allen and Baltimore’s Jonathan Ogden. The 1990’s Cowboys may have had the best offensive line in history (maybe right there with the 1960’s Packers) and Allen was the best player on that line. Ogden, meanwhile, might be one of the five best left tackles ever. Two slam dunks.

It’s also pretty difficult to imagine a Hall of Fame without Michael Strahan and Bill Parcells in it in the near future.

ODDS AND ENDS — What began as an awful season officiating thanks to replacement officials hasn't gotten substantially better. In fact, we may have seen the worst officiated play in recent NFL memory in the third quarter of the Baltimore at Denver game. Situation: Ravens appear to have recovered a fumble in Denver territory, only to be denied the ball by not one, but two hands-to-the-face penalties. Replay evidence appeared to show that neither should have been called.



Meanwhile, officials missed Peyton Manning's knee being down before the Ravens recovered it. That's three big errors on one play..

Contact Barry Federovitch at bfederovitch@njtimes.com

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