Jacksonville Falls to the Perfect Patriots

Another victim has fallen once again to the Patriots after Jacksonville loses 31-20 in Foxboro. Tom Brady was almost perfect in this game going 26-of-28 for 262 yards and 3 touchdowns. He started off the game going 16 for 16, a single game postseason record, to break Phil Simms record for completion percentage in a game. Brady stayed very calm throughout the game and calmly took what the soft Jacksonville cover game him. The Jaguars where unable to pressure Brady into any interceptions as they pretty much stayed with their base front four rushing him in passing situations.

Jacksonville was so worried about giving up the big play to Randy Moss that they kept their safeties deep all game leaving the short routes wide open for Brady to hit eight different receivers and have an almost perfect passing percentage. Jack Del Rio never adjusted his defense all game long and ended up paying the price for it. Even though Jacksonville was in this game throughout, you never got the sense that they could get a lead on the Patriots.

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New England played error free football with no interceptions, no fumbles and winning the time of possession. Jacksonville on the other hand ended up with two turnovers both coming from David Garrard whom threw one and fumbled one. The only way Jacksonville was winning this game was if they two played error free and found a way to use their running game to keep New England off the field.

The league’s second-most productive duo during the regular season combined for just 66 yards. It ended up being the Patriots whom dominated the running game as Laurence Maroney rushed for 122 yards, including a 1 yard touchdown. The Patriots game played out in almost identical fashion as the Green Bay- Seattle game that played before. Green Bay dominated the running game as well as the time of possession while the Seahawks only got 20 yards on the ground from their star running back. In both games the underdog team forgot the run very early in the game which ended up being the downfall of them. Once the run was left behind it gave the opposing defenses the advantage by allowing them to drop more people into coverage.

Norv Tuner will have to learn from the mistakes that Jacksonville made if he’s going to have a shot next weekend. LaDanian Tomlinson and quarterback Phillip Rivers where both injured during Sunday’s contest against the Indianapolis Colts. It will be very interesting to see how Norv Turner game plans for the Patriots if these two starts cant’s compete. The only way San Diego will have a chance against the Patriots is if they can stick to the running game throughout the contest. New England going into the Jacksonville game was allowing 4.4 yards on the ground and most of those yards where right up the gut of New England’s line.

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The Patriots failed to cover the -13.5 point spread against the Jags, but the total did just go over 49 by posting a combined total of 51. New England has had trouble covering these big spreads especially in the second half of the season. This should be a big heads-up for handicappers when it comes time for their bout against the San Diego Chargers. Their’s plenty of football left to be played and it will be a test for the Patriots next week as they host the Chargers. Lets see if Tom Brady and the New England Patriots can continue to play error free football and stay down the path to a perfect season.

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