They Don't Call Him MVP for Nothing

In the week leading up to the Jacksonville Jaguars-New England Patriots AFC Divisional Round playoff game, I was reminded how much hype accompanies this time of year. Therefore, I didn't preview the game like I had originally planned. Everywhere you turned/tuned in, you heard a breakdown of the game. There's more than enough pseudo-experts out there, so I'm content just to recap the action.

I can say that this game pretty much played out as any devoted but rational Patriots fan would have expected. New England won 31-20 last night at Gillette but not before the Jaguars gave them their best shot.

By taking what the Jaguars gave him (mostly short stuff, to the backs and underneath to the receivers), Tom Brady completed 26 of his 28 passes (an NFL playoff record) for 262 yards three touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Jaguars gameplan was clearly to limit the deep ball and Randy Moss. In both cases, they were pretty successful as they only gave up two long passes (53 yards to Donte' Stallworth and 33 yards to Laurence Maroney) which were catch and runs and Moss was limited to one catch for 14 yards.

The main problems for the Jags were that the Patriots have many more weapons outside of Moss and also Jacksonville's offense while good, simply couldn't match the points that New England can put up in a hurry.

Jacksonville had the best possible start as they took the opening kick and drove 80 yards in nine plays for a touchdown. The Jaguars were playing to win as they converted a fourth-and-one when David Garrard (22 of 33, 278 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) completed a 34-yard pass to tight end Marcedes Lewis (4 catches, 74 yards). Even crazier than that was the scoring play where Garrard was being pulled down by Mike Vrabel but was still able to find Matt Jones in the end zone for a 8-yard score.

New England answered with a 10 play, 74 yard scoring drive, capped off by a 3-yard fastball from Brady to Ben Watson.

Garrard made two costly mistakes in the game. The first was late in the opening quarter when he fumbled after Ty Warren hit him. Vrabel fell on it and the Pats had a short field. Maroney (22 carries, 122 yards) plunged in from a yard out to put New England up 14-7 early in the second.

Proving they were legit, Jacksonville responded with an 11 play, 95 yard drive, finished off when Garrard found Ernest Wilford on a perfect 6-yard touchdown pass. The throw was beautiful as he put it in the corner of the end zone, away from Asante Samuel and where only Wilford could grab it.

The Pats had a chance to take the lead but Stephen Gostowski missed a 35-yard field goal so the teams headed into halftime tied at 14.

The 11 play, 82 yard drive that the Pats had to open the third quarter was great and they finished it off in style as Brady found Wes Welker (9 catches, 54 yards; 1 rush, 13 yards) in the back of the end zone after a statue of liberty play. It was reminiscent of Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl last season as Brady faked the handoff to Kevin Faulk (5 catches, 36 yards), spun around with the ball behind his back then threw a laser to an open Welker.

The king of second half adjustments, Bill Belichick's team only allowed six points in the second half as Jacksonville had field goals in the third and fourth quarter.

Another Watson TD, this one from 9-yards put the Pats up 28-17 late in the third. The teams traded field goals in the fourth and New England effectively sealed it when Rodney Harrison picked off Garrard.

The Jaguars second-best rushing attack in the league never really got started. Fred Taylor (13 rushes, 47 yards), the dynamic Maurice Jones-Drew (6 carries, 19 yards; 6 catches, 49 yards) and Garrard (3 rushes, 14 yards) were stuck in neutral most of the night.

The Patriots M.O. for the last seven years has been taking away teams favored offensive style and making opponents beat them with other guys or doing things they're not as good at. Mission accomplished once again.

Brady spread it around to eight different receivers and even more impressive, the Patriots never turned it over. Jacksonville played a pretty nice game but by now it's obvious that if you want to beat New England this season, you have to be flawless in every facet of the game.

Junior Seau played like a man possessed as he had a team-high 10 tackles. James Sanders added nine while Randall Gay, Harrison and Tedy Bruschi all had seven in the win. Jaguars linebacker Daryl Smith had a game-high 14 tackles in a losing effort.

The Patriots now await the winner of the Colts-Chargers game. Regardless of that outcome, New England will host the AFC Championship next Sunday afternoon at Gillette. Two more wins and the Patriots will be 19-0, the greatest team in NFL history.

File this under: some people will never learn

Through the past seven years while the Patriots have won three Super Bowls and been the model franchise in the NFL, they have taken every tiny criticism against them and used it as rallying points. The no respect act gets tiresome but you certainly can't argue with the results. Make no mistake, this isn't high school football. Bulletin-board material doesn't win or lose the games since they're all highly-paid professionals but nobody takes more pleasure in opponent's absent-minded trash talk then the Pats.

Enter Anthony Smith, a second-year safety out of Syracuse, who is currently starting for the Steelers only because Troy Polamalu is out with an injury. For some reason (probably to get famous), Smith guaranteed a victory against New England last Tuesday. Therefore this game was won back on Tuesday. It was the perfect motivational tool the Patriots needed after coming out flat and barely surviving against the Eagles and Ravens the past two weeks. There would be no letdown yesterday at Gillette as the Pats picked up a well-deserved 34-13 thrashing of Pittsburgh.

Now the Patriots (13-0) only have three regular season games left in their quest for perfection and with this win they gave head coach Bill Belichick his 100th career victory. Pittsburgh (9-4) came out sharp as they held New England to a three-and-out on their first possession. Next, the Steelers went 59-yards in 15 plays (taking 8:14 off the clock) before stalling in the red zone and settling for a 23-yard field goal by Jeff Reed.

New England quickly responded as kick returner Chad Jackson (remember him?) returned the kickoff 39-yards to the Patriots 48. Tom Brady (32 of 46, 399 yards, 4 touchdowns) drove the team 52-yards in nine plays which ended with a four-yard pass to Randy Moss (7 catches, 135 yards, 2 touchdowns) in the back of the end zone. Need proof that the Pats relished Smith's wake up call? After the first TD, Brady sought out Smith and was jawing with him, something that Moss also did on multiple occasions.

After a Pittsburgh three-and-out, the Patriots caught the Steelers secondary off-guard as Brady hit Moss in stride on a perfect, play-action pass, 63-yards for another score at the start of the second quarter.

The Steelers are a solid team (probably the third-best in the AFC) and they didn't fold as they came back with a touchdown of their own. Running back Willie Parker was sprung for a 30-yard gain and later on the drive, Ben Roethlisberger (19 of 32, 187 yards, 1 touchdown) found backup running back Najah Davenport in the end zone for a 32-yard TD pass. Somehow, Davenport did a wheel route down to the goal-line and Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs couldn't get over quickly enough to fully cover him.

The Pats caught a huge break as they recovered their own punt after the next drive. They had first-and-10 at the Pittsburgh 34-yard line but could only gain four yards in three plays. Stephen Gostowski missed a 48-yard field goal as the Steelers dodged a big bullet.

Pittsburgh later added a 44-yard field goal by Reed on a drive where they converted twice on fourth down. Gostowski had a 42-yard kick with less than a minute before the half to give the Patriots a 17-13 lead.

The Steelers took the kickoff to start the second half but couldn't do anything after Parker gained 19-yards on the first play. It was an omen of things to come as they were shutout in the second half.

The Pats took over as Brady hit Moss (22 yards), Donte' Stallworth (9 yards) and Kyle Brady (7 yards) with passes before the play of the game. With 1st-and-10 at their own 44, Brady threw a lateral to Moss on the right. Moss fumbled the bad pass then tossed it back across the field to Brady. By that time, Jabar Gaffney (7 catches, 122 yards) was wide open down the field. Brady hit him just in time as he caught the 56-yard bomb in the end zone, right in front of our boy Smith.

The Pats stepped on the gas and went up 31-13 as Brady finished another drive with a two-yard pass to Welker. Wes had been held in check until then but he was on fire early in the fourth quarter as he caught five passes in a row at one point before Gostkowski notched a 28-yard field goal, the final score. At any level of football, have you ever seen five catches in a row on the same drive by one player? The Pats had broken the Steelers will.

The last signature moment of the game was provided by the Patriots defense as they stuffed the Steelers on a goal-line opportunity. For some reason, Pittsburgh chose to give a handoff to Hines Ward on fourth-and-goal from the 2. Pats safety Rodney Harrison (9 tackles, 2 assists) corralled Ward and also had a key deflection in the end zone on the preceding play: a fade to Santonio Holmes in the corner. It was a great game for Harrison, who had a tough season up until then. Since returning from the four game suspension, Rodney had looked a step slow. He's still the emotional leader on a gritty, veteran Patriots defense. Vince Wilfork (7 tackles, 1 sack) was another guy, who seemed to have his best game. He's usually battling multiple blockers in the trenches but he got some glory yesterday, even recording a sack of Big Ben in the third quarter. Vince fittingly celebrated with the Superman (thanks Soulja Boy) which finally made me realize that's what Moss has been doing all season after TD's.

Parker had 124 yards rushing but it didn't really matter as the Steelers passing game was never much of a factor. The Pats only ran nine times the whole game but that seemed to be a function of the game-plan. The Steelers came in with the top-ranked defense and the long ball was their obvious weakness in the secondary so the Pats went repeatedly for the kill with much success.
The numbers for the Pats are staggering. Brady has 45 TD's, four shy of Peyton Manning's record. Moss has 19 TD's, his personal best and a Pats record. He's three shy of the NFL record set by Jerry Rice. New England has 503 points (the 11th team in history to top 500), the record of 556 from the '98 Vikings is well within reach. Ditto for the touchdown record: the Pats have 65 and the '84 Dolphins had 70. Finally, Welker has 93 catches (4th best in Pats history) and is only eight behind Troy Brown's record.

The Jets (3-10) come to Gillette next Sunday and honestly, the Pats are going to bury them after all the Spygate drama from the season-opener. The Jets are a garbage team and New England could put up 50 or 60 next Sunday, look out.

Pats defense has big holes to fill

I was minding my own business at a bar in Cambridge on Friday night when I saw the following message pass on the bottom line: Rodney Harrison has been suspended four games after admitting he used HGH. I had to wait for Sportscenter and make sure I wasn't in an alcohol-fueled haze. Sadly, it was true. He'll miss the first four games: at the Jets, home to the Chargers, home vs. Buffalo and at Cincinnati.

Without getting too dramatic, this was heart-breaking. Rodney has missed good portions of the last two seasons after suffering numerous injuries. He's won two Super Bowls since he's been here, quickly proving that he wasn't washed up like the Chargers believed back in 2003. Sports fans are naturally naive about their own teams and players; we feel like they're saints on and off the field, never doing anything wrong. The fact that the Sox and Patriots have been so good lately makes the blinders that much more powerful. While the wins pile up, we tend to look the other way more and more. Did I see this coming? Certainly not. Harrison has looked great in the preseason and in training camp. Somewhat surprising for a 34-year-old coming off so many career threatening injuries. Will I look down on him when he comes back? That's a little complicated but I'd say no. Everyone makes mistakes and being in the public eye as a professional athlete tends to magnify any transgression. It's inexcusable but he's been a model teammate prior to that. Truth be told too, the Patriots defensive secondary has also learned how to adjust to him being out in recent years. They'll use a patchwork secondary until Rodney comes back and hopefully has a healthy season.

The other big news this weekend from the Pats was that Richard Seymour will be on the PUP list at the beginning of the season (meaning he's out the first six weeks). Seymour hasn't participated in the preseason games and much of training camp so this shouldn't have been a surprise. Still, the Pats mask injuries better than anyone else in pro sports so who outside the team ever knows the full story? Seymour being out hurts obviously but the defensive line is probably the biggest strength of the team outside Tom Brady. Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork-the other starters in the 3-4 are budding stars while Mike Wright and Jarvis Green are capable backups.

At the beginning of the week, Asante Samuel finally agreed to a one-year deal, proving that his holdout was simply a waste of his time. The Pats won't franchise him next year but he's risking getting hurt since he didn't have a full training camp and preseason to get ready to go. It's great to see him back though. Going into the season with Ellis Hobbs and Randall Gay as the two starting cornerbacks was a nightmare. It'd be hard for Samuel to surpass his production last season (10 INT's) but he's an upgrade over the mostly bums who would replace him.