NEW YORK — Going into Sunday’s highly anticipated matchup against the New England Patriots, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos are the unanimous choice as the NFL’s top team.

Denver received all 12 first-place votes Tuesday for the AP Pro32 power rankings, which are decided by a media panel that regularly covers the league.

The Broncos are 6-1 and coming off a 35-21 win over the San Diego Chargers on Thursday.

“The most complete team in the game right now,” Newsday’s Bob Glauber said. “Everything’s working on Peyton’s offense, but now the Broncos have the defense to match. Barring a string of key injuries, looks like another run to the Super Bowl.”

Tom Brady threw five touchdown passes and the Patriots (6-2) overwhelmed the Chicago Bears 51-23 on Sunday, helping New England move from No. 8 to No. 3 in the poll.

Sunday’s game will be the 16th time that Manning and Brady will play against each other.

“Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady never gets old,” Foxsports.com’s Alex Marvez said. “Round 16 comes Sunday in Foxborough.”

Brady is 10-5 against Manning, but Manning won the most recent matchup in the AFC title game last season.

Sunday’s game is the first in NFL history where two starting quarterbacks with at least 150 career regular-season wins each will face off. And Brady will be making his 200th career start.

The Arizona Cardinals, coming off a 24-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, moved from No. 5 to No. 2 in the poll.

BUCCANEERS: Tampa Bay traded safety Mark Barron to the St. Louis Rams and reserve linebacker Jonathan Casillas to the New England Patriots in exchange for draft picks.

Barron was the seventh overall selection in the 2012 draft, but has not made the type of impact on defense that the Bucs (1-6) anticipated when he entered the league. The Rams gave up fourth and sixth-round picks in 2015 for the third-year safety.

Casillas started the first three games of the season before losing the strong-side linebacker job to Danny Lansanah. The Bucs sent him and a sixth-round pick to the Patriots, receiving a fifth-round pick in return.

SAINTS: Champ Bailey has decided to retire after a 15-year NFL career that included 12 Pro Bowl berths, a record for a cornerback.

His agent, Jack Reale, said that Bailey had opportunities to play this season but decided to pursue other opportunities. Those presumably include television.

Bailey, 36, spent five years in Washington and 10 in Denver.

He was released by the Broncos after the Super Bowl and signed with the New Orleans Saints. But a left foot injury that sidelined him for all but five games last season continued to bother him during training camp and he was released.

COWBOYS: Coach Jason Garrett said Tony Romo’s latest back injury is unrelated to the herniated disk he sustained last season and the team is waiting on further testing to see if the quarterback will be available Sunday against Arizona.

Garrett said Tuesday that Romo “seemed good.”

Romo sustained what Garrett called a back contusion on a sack in the third quarter of Monday night’s 20-17 overtime loss to Washington. He returned for the final series of regulation and the only Dallas possession of the extra period.

FALCONS: Atlanta signed free agent safety Charles Godfrey and waived safety Sean Baker.

Godfrey made 75 starts in seven seasons with Carolina. He played in seven games this season before being cut on Oct. 21.

Baker began the season on Atlanta’s practice squad before being signed to the active roster on Sept. 30. He appeared in four games.

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