As I prepare to make my predictions for the NFC and AFC
Championship Games, I am doing a lot of research, most of which will show up in
my previews on Saturday. Today and tomorrow, though, I want to look back at how
these teams got to this point.
I will do a similar thing for the two Super Bowl teams next
week or the week after, but in order to avoid writing the same thing twice,
here are excerpts from, and links to, posts I have written this season, all
regarding the four remaining teams in the postseason.
Week 1, 34-13 Win at
Tennessee Titans
The Vikings beat Jacksonville 26-23 in the season’s first
overtime game; Mark Sanchez threw 3 touchdowns as his Jets routed the Bills
48-28; and Tom Brady injured his nose but still led the Patriots to a win in
Tennessee as Chris Johnson ran for only 4 yards in the game (Peyton Manning ran
for more than that in Sunday’s late game!).
Week 2, 18-20 Loss vs
Arizona Cardinals
I ranted about the
replacement officials the next day and didn’t touch this game. Just know that
the Patriots should be embarrassed to have lost to Arizona, despite their 4-0
start.
Week 3, 30-31 Loss at
Baltimore Ravens
The Sunday Night game was interesting. There were a lot of penalties, but the game moved at
a quick enough pace that it didn’t lose my interest like many games over the
past two weeks have.
Of course, the story of the night was Ravens receiver, and
Maryland grad, Torrey Smith, who played despite his younger brother Tevin being
killed in a motorcycle accident early in the day. Smith had 6 catches for 127
yards and two scores.
Flacco played well, as did Ray Rice. Baltimore’s defense, as
always, was strong. But the Patriots did not look very good on offense. Brady
had a decent second half as New England finally got Wes Welker involved in
their game plan, but Brady has not looked like Brady this year when he’s
throwing to just about anyone else.
With little time remaining, the Ravens were in range for a
27-yard field goal try. Last year Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal
that gave New England the AFC Championship and a Super Bowl bid. This year,
rookie Justin Tucker was the man to try and give Baltimore the win. His kicked
sailed high over the uprights, but the official beneath said it went directly
over, which constitutes a successful field goal attempt. The kick gave the
Ravens a 31-30 victory and a 2-1 record.
New England drops to 1-2 with the loss. Their streak of
consecutive games played without being below .500 ends at 145, a streak that
spanned nine seasons. In 2003 they lost their season opener, 31-0 against the
Chiefs. After that they won two straight games, lost to the Redskins, then did
not lose again as they went on to win the Super Bowl against the Carolina
Panthers.
Week 4, 52-28 Win at
Buffalo Bills
I was tuned in to FOX yesterday at 1:00 o’clock, only
occasionally flipping over to CBS for the Bills/Patriots game. That game
reminded me of too many instances last year when a team like Buffalo would play
a fantastic first half against the Patriots, holding them defensively and
taking advantage of all their opponents’ mistakes in order to generate points
of their own, then let it all slip away in the second half. New England scored
45 points in the second half of their 52-28 victory over the Bills, the most
second-half points scored in an NFL game in four decades.
Week 5, 31-21 Win vs
Denver Broncos
The game of the week for many of us, myself included, was
the Broncos-Patriots game in New England. On Denver’s first drive, Manning
lofted a perfect pass to Demaryius Thomas, which he caught then fumbled. New
England took over and turned the takeaway into a touchdown. Manning drove
Denver back down the field to tie the score on their ensuing drive, but the
Broncos’ offense stalled after that.
New England took off and led 31-7 in the 3rd
quarter. Manning led a furious comeback against a defense that was somewhere
between a standard Belichick defense and a prevent scheme. Despite the
secondary being backed up a bit, Manning still threw fantastic passes over the
top and found receivers deep. When they couldn’t get over top, Manning still
found ways to get them the ball on ‘go’ routes. It wasn’t enough, however, when
a fumble by Willis McGahee deep in Patriots territory late in the 4th
quarter ended all hope of a full comeback. New England held on, 31-21 in yet
another epic Manning v. Brady/Belichick battle. Brady is now 9-4 all-time in
their matchups.
Week 6, 23-24 Loss at
Seattle Seahawks
For that [4-way divisional] tie to be, New England had to
lose in Seattle, and lose they did. Up 23-10 in the final quarter, there was no
way New England should have expected to lose. Seattle started with a 5-play,
83-yard drive that capped with a 10-yard touchdown strike from Russell Wilson
to Braylon Edwards. Still, New England felt like they had control of the game.
Seattle got the ball back, but went 3-and-out. Then they stopped New England
again and Seattle went on a 4-play touchdown drive ending with a 46-yard pass
from Wilson to Sidney Rice.
Week 7, 29-26 Win vs
New York Jets
The game I got to watch was, thankfully, the good one. As
always, the Jets proved that Rex Ryan builds his team specifically for this
matchup. It hasn’t worked consistently against anyone but New England. The Patriots escaped. Giants’ players said that’s
how they felt against RGIII and the Redskins, and the Patriots should feel the
same way about the Jets. Mark Sanchez played a really good game, but a couple
key drops killed drives and kept New York from putting the game out of reach.
Predictably, the Jets held a lead late in the fourth quarter and Tom Brady let
his team on a drive to a game-tying field goal. As in Oakland, an overtime
field goal gave the home team the victory.
Week 8, 45-7 Win at
St. Louis Rams in Wembley
The Patriots came off the close win with their first win
over an NFC West opponent this season. After losses to Arizona and Seattle,
they scored touchdowns on each of their first five drives and rode that to a
45-7 victory over the Rams, who were playing as the home team in this year’s
edition of the NFL’s Europe series.
Week 9, Bye
Week 10, 37-31 Win vs
Buffalo Bills
Last time the Patriots and Bills met, it was a typical Patriots/Bills
matchup. Buffalo held a lead for a while, looked like they would finally knock
off New England, and suddenly Tom Brady and Co. took off. This time, Buffalo
was around to the end, but an interception in the end zone by Ryan Fitzpatrick
sealed Buffalo’s fate as they lost 37-31 in New England.
Week 11, 59-24 Win vs
Indianapolis Colts
As big a win as [the Saints’] was, it was nothing compared
to the 59-24 route in New England. Indianapolis kept the game close early but a
punt return touchdown and two pick-sixes were enough by themselves to keep New
England in it. Of course, that wasn’t all they had as the offense contributed
early and poured it on late. If only the Patriots had stopped pouring it on one
score earlier. After their final touchdown of the game, on the extra point try,
Rob Gronkowski, easily a top 2 Tight End in the league and probably the better
of the two (sorry Jimmy Graham), broke his arm. He had surgery today and
expects to be out four to six weeks. He thinks he’ll be back in time for the
team’s playoff push. In the mean time, I’m just glad I have Graham and not
Gronk on my fantasy team.
Week 12, 49-19 Win at
New York Jets
The late game was interesting for about five minutes, during
which the Patriots scored 28 points to take a 28-0 lead after going into the
first quarter break tied at 0-0. The second half was kind of boring with no
more exciting plays to speak of.
The slaughter began deep in Patriots territory, when Mark
Sanchez threw pass that was undercut by a safety and taken the distance. A
couple minutes later, the Patriots had the ball at their 17-yard line and
nobody covered Shane Vereen on a swing route and he caught a pass from Brady
and took it 83 yards to the house. A minute or so later, Mark Sanchez made a
huge mistake by turning the wrong way on a handoff, tried to run with the ball,
slammed into his lineman’s rear end, and fumbled the ball when he hit the
ground. That turnover was taken the distance. On the ensuing kickoff, Joe
McKnight fumbled directly into the hands of Julian Edelman who took it to the
end zone.
It was the most bizarre five minutes of football I’ve ever
seen, but not nearly as bizarre as the Jets’ meltdown was hilarious.
The Jets build their team to beat the Patriots, and they
have now lost four consecutive games to their rivals. If they can’t even beat
the team that they focus on throughout the offseason, how do they expect to
ever make the playoffs?
Week 13, 23-16 Win at
Miami Dolphins
Tom Brady didn’t look great, but he got the job done in
Miami with the help of a good ground attack from Stevan Ridley and Danny
Woodhead. Miami did a great job of getting pressure on Brady, but a late
time-killing drive was the dagger as New England clinched the AFC East division
title, it’s ninth in the last ten years.
Week 14, 42-14 Win vs
Houston Texans
After a Sunday of fairly boring games – even the
Packers/Lions ordeal lacked a certain level of excitement for me – I had hoped
that the Monday Night game on ESPN would reveal itself as Week 14’s true game
of the week.
Instead the Patriots scored on each of their first three
drives while their often-struggling defense shut down Arian Foster and
contained the Texans’ passing attack. Houston’s defense settled down and kept
New England from scoring on their next four drives, but their offense had no
such luck. The Patriots did get things rolling again later and eventually
finished with 42 points against arguably the best overall defense in the NFL.
Tom Brady threw for 4 touchdowns and no interceptions and
has now done so twice more than any quarterback in NFL history and he did so on
fewer than 300 passing yards, a testament to a better rushing attack than we’ve
seen from New England in recent years. Brady also tied former Chiefs great Len
Dawson for the most starts at quarterback resulting in 40 or more points, an
impressive feat for Dawson to have his name anywhere near considering he threw
for fewer than 30,000 yards in his 19-year career.
Week 15, 34-41 Loss
vs San Francisco 49ers
The late game was just odd, and a second-half hissy fit by
Tom Brady really caused me to lose interest in the game. I, of course, didn’t
stop watching, but it just didn’t feel like football. Tantrums are barely okay
on the sidelines, but it’s just unprofessional and childish on the field,
especially when you’re wrong.
Anyway, a 21-point deficit entering the fourth quarter
proved to be just too much for the Patriots to overcome. They tied the game up,
but a couple more scored by the 49ers made it a successful road trip for San
Francisco. The Patriots are now at a disadvantage in their search for a
first-round bye and will likely have to play two road games to reach the Super
Bowl.
Week 16, 23-16 Win at
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tom Brady played awful early and at one point was 9/18 with
no scores and 2 interceptions, letting Jacksonville lead early. He cleaned it
up after that, though it was surprising not to see the Patriots run away with
is like they usual do after poor starts to games. Brady finished with two touchdown
passes in New England’s 23-16 win in Jacksonville.
Week 17, 28-0 Win vs
Miami Dolphins
While Denver was romping Kansas City, New England was doing
the same to a division opponent of their own in a 28-0 thrashing of the
Dolphins. Miami had a decent year and will look to improve on it with a young
quarterback who had enough good and bad games this season that he will learn
anything he needs to in order to improve next year.
Wild-Card Playoffs,
Bye
Divisional Playoffs,
41-28 Win vs Houston Texans
Tune in to The All-Sports Crew today at 5 p.m. on
WMUC Sports to hear my Divisional Round predictions. Tomorrow I will publish my
previews of both Conference Championship games.
