After blowing a lot of their opponents away in the early going, New England has had several close games through the second portion of the season.
But, they won every one of them, and last night, passed another stiff test, holding off the pesky Jaguars to book a potential rematch with Indianapolis in next week’s AFC Championship Game.
The talk of the night was, unsurprisingly, Tom Brady, who went 26 of 28 (that’s not a typo, that’s 92.9%) for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
The Jaguars took an early lead, but the Patriots struck back with two straight touchdowns to take a 14-7 lead. Jacksonville tied the game at 14 in the second quarter, and that’s the way it was at halftime.
But, the Patriots came out of the locker room and put seven on the board, and didn’t relinquish the lead from that point, on the way to their 17th straight win.
Both teams moved the ball very well, as each team punted only once the entire night.
Jacksonville did all they could to keep up, but in the end, they just weren’t able to stop the offensive machine that is Brady’s bunch.
Player of the Game: Brady - Well, duh. He threw only one deep pass, which Donte’ Stallworth caught for a back-breaking 53-yard gain, and Randy Moss caught only one pass for 14 yards, but Brady accomplished a lot more by using a lot of short passes. He took time off of the clock, and he kept moving the ball, again and again and again. By the time he was done, he’d set a single-game record for highest completion percentage, both in regular season and playoffs.
Play of the Game: After pulling within 28-20 with 9:44 to go, the Jaguars needed a stop, but on second and 9 from the 21, Brady threw his only deep pass of the game, and made it count, with Stallworth hauling it in for the big gain, which put New England in field goal range. The Jaguars defense made the stop from there, but the damage was done, as Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 35-yard field goal to put the Pats up by the decisive margin with only 6:39 to go.
Why the Patriots won: Because they’re the Patriots, and it’s the playoffs. No, though that would seem like reason enough, wouldn’t it?
Firstly, the played mistake-free football on offense, and minus one Brady pass that could have been picked off, they didn‘t give the Jaguars a chance to get a huge defensive play.
But, more importantly, not only did Brady have a big game (surprise!), but New England also got a big night from Laurence Maroney, and having that extra dimension to their offense made them even harder to stop. Frankly, I might take that Player of the Game award from Brady and give it to Maroney, because he deserves it just as much, if not more.
Maroney ran for 122 yards and a touchdown, and had runs of 22 and 29 yards on touchdown drives, and he also had a 33-yard reception to get the Patriots into Jacksonville territory on their first touchdown drive. That was a play that took the momentum out of Jacksonville’s hands after their game-opening touchdown and a sack of Brady on New England’s first offensive play.
Why the Jaguars lost: Seven trumps three, and when you can’t take full advantage of your opportunities against the Patriots, it’ll burn you in the end.
After going down 21-14, the Jaguars responded by driving down the field, but were only able to get three. The Patriots followed with a touchdown to go up 28-17, and the Jaguars promptly drove down the field once again, but were again only able to get three. Had they scored touchdowns on both drives, the last several minutes could have gone very, very differently.
David Garrard did the best he could to match Brady throw for throw, and did for much of the game. But, with Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew unable to make an impact on the ground, thanks to some great run defense by the Patriots, it limited Jacksonville’s offensive potential.
The Patriots have done their part to set up a rematch with Indianapolis, now it’s up to the Colts to do theirs.
The Patriots already know that they’re going to host the AFC title game next Sunday, but will it be the Chargers or the reigning champion Colts that they face?
The Pats have recent history with both teams, having beaten the Chargers in San Diego in the divisional round last season, but if there’s an opponent that they would prefer to face, it’d likely be their former AFC East rivals.
The last time the Colts and Patriots got together was earlier this season, when New England overcame a 20-10 deficit to win 24-20 at the RCA Dome.
But, the meeting that everyone looks back to is the previous one, in last season’s AFC title game. The Patriots went up 21-3 in the second quarter before Peyton Manning and the Colts roared back, and in a tit-for-tat, back and forth affair, it was the Colts that prevailed 38-34 to advance to the Super Bowl.
That was the last time the Patriots lost, and no doubt they’d love to match up with their rivals again with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
Even with the loss, the Jaguars don’t have anything to be disappointed about. Garrard has proved himself to be a quality NFL quarterback, and with him at the helm, Jacksonville should give Indianapolis a run for their money in the AFC South for the next several seasons. They’ve got a lot of the pieces in place, and if they can get Garrard another weapon or two in the passing game, that could put them over the top.
As it happens, as productive as the Jaguars’ run game was during the season, that was their downfall in the postseason, as Taylor and Jones-Drew were held to 143 total yards in their two playoff games.
But, they’ll be back next season, and we should see them at this point come January 2009.
As for the Patriots, they’re still playing, and they’re two wins away from putting the icing on a historic season.
