Stats on Pats Weekly - Sleeper Team Sunk: New England 31, Jacksonville 20 Article by Raleigh Dugal, southcoast247.com assistant editor
Apparently Christmas isn't over in New England. Not only did we get to see the Pats dismantled Jacksonville's vaunted running game and hang tight in a smash-mouth game of lore that saw a ton of skull cracking hits, but we were entreated to another Peyton Manning post-season meltdown as well as a teary TO blubbering over Tony Romo's inevitable tongue-lashing from the press. It'd be sour grapes to harp too much on Indianapolis fans who have clamored for weeks about being the highest profile sleeper team in NFL history, so back to the Patriots, who are still busting records in the playoffs. Tom Brady went 26-28 with a 92.9% completion percentage that was the highest in NFL playoff history.
While Jacksonville's tandem crew of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew ran like bruisers, they only combined for 80 yards. Meanwhile, the pass heavy patriots managed 145 on the ground, 122 of them coming from a Lawrence Maroney we've barely seen all year. No. 39 was dragging packs of defenders for six or seven yards and turning the outside corner like a man on a mission. So much for the critics who posit that New England can't win without dropping a couple of bombs to Randy Moss. Aside from a fluky 53 yard pass to Donte Stallworth and a 33 yard screen to Maroney, Brady mostly threw dink and dunk stuff underneath to his check down guys.
Who's that guy? Lawrence Maroney came through big time against hard-hitting Jacksonville.
All that bodes well for New England's rematch with the Chargers this Saturday. The Patriots already smacked LT and company in the mouth once this season, way back in week two, when Randy Moss was still kind of a secret weapon and San Diego was talking trash about 2006. Some of the Chargers have already started jawing it up, while the Patriots have taken their usual low-key approach and lauded San Diego as the toughest opponent they've faced all year. San Diego defensive lineman Igor something-or-other has already come out and said New England is "More worried than we are". I'm sure that sits fine with the Pats, who face in Norv Turner an opposing head coach whose career playoff record is 1-1 and inherited a Chargers team that continually took dumps in the playoffs under coach M arty Schottenheimer. Without a Super Bowl appearance since 1994, could it be that the coaching carousel in San Diego isn't the problem? Sure LT scored 30 TDs last year, but throw in Phillip Rivers and you have an offensive core that is an emotional mess.
I think the revenge factor will figure in pretty well Saturday afternoon, but overall I just don't see the Pats dropping a loss to San Diego. Sure, they upset Indianapolis twice this season, but don't forget they also failed to knock off New England in the regular season and had to play the game of their life to tear away the AFC Championship in 2006. I'll give it to the Pats 42-31 in a game with very little defense and a lot of crying at the end.
Apparently Christmas isn't over in New England. Not only did we get to see the Pats dismantled Jacksonville's vaunted running game and hang tight in a smash-mouth game of lore that saw a ton of skull cracking hits, but we were entreated to another Peyton Manning post-season meltdown as well as a teary TO blubbering over Tony Romo's inevitable tongue-lashing from the press. It'd be sour grapes to harp too much on Indianapolis fans who have clamored for weeks about being the highest profile sleeper team in NFL history, so back to the Patriots, who are still busting records in the playoffs. Tom Brady went 26-28 with a 92.9% completion percentage that was the highest in NFL playoff history.
