The Result
The Jacksonville Jaguars came to play and they played for most of the game. But when it came to crunch time the little things hurt them. Bad penalties, bad decisions by their coach and in the end the pressure on a fairly inexperienced quarterback added up to yet another win for New England Patriots as they beat the Jaguars 31-20 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA on Saturday night in the AFC Divisional round.
Led by the all round play of running back Laurence Maroney who ran for 122 yards and had another 40 yards receiving and Tom Brady who was damn near perfect as he went 26 of 28 and threw for 3 TD’s. His two incomplete passes were actually a pair of drops.
The offense tonight was more of the precision spread it around offense we’ve seen in the past from this team instead of the high powered offense they had this year. Four different players had rushes and 8 different players had receptions as Jacksonville concentrated on Randy Moss who had just 1 catch for 14 yards but had more receiving yards than Ben Watson who caught two TD passes.
The Jaguars hung tough as Garrard was pretty good himself and he had to be as the Jaguars decided they were going to rely on the pass as he went 22 of 33 for 278 yards 2 TD’s and 1 INT. He had several passes that went for 10 or more yards including big gainers of 34, 29, 25, 19, 18 and 15 yards. That’s too many single plays that become first downs and give up too much field position.
The Patriots did what they had to do to win and they did that for the 17th time this season.
Scoring Plays
| Jacksonville | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 20 |
| New England | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 31 |
1st Quarter
- JAX – Garrard 8 yard pass to Jones – kick good – Jaguars 7-0
- NE – Brady 3 yard pass to Watson – kick good – tied 7-7
2nd Quarter
- NE – Maroney 1 yard run – kick good – Patriots 14-7
- JAX – Garrard 6 yard pass to Wilford – kick good – tied 14-14
3rd Quarter
- NE – Brady 6 yard pass to Welker – kick good – Patriots 21-14
- JAX – Scobee 39 yard field goal – Patriots 21-17
- NE – Brady 9 yard pass to Watson – kick good – Patriots 28-17
4th Quarter
- JAX – Scobee 25 yard field goal – Patriots 28-20
- NE – Gostkowski 35 yard field goal – Patriots 31-20
Offensive Player of the Game
Laurence Maroney ran 22 times for 122 yards and 1 TD he also caught 2 passes for 40 yards.
Defensive Player of the Game
Vince Wilfork had 5 tackles and Rodney Harrison had 4 tackles, 3 assists, knocked one pass down in the end zone and had a late INT to help seal the win.
The C’s were led by Kevin Garnett who had 19 points. Paul Pierce chipped in with 15 points and 6 assists. Eddie House came off the bench to score 10 points while another former Husky product, Ray Allen, had a poor night from the field (3-13) and finished with just 8 points.
The Louisville Cardinals tested the UConn women tonight but each time the Cardinals got close, the Huskies had an answer in their 92-71 win in front of a sold-out Freedom Hall in Louisville.
UConn had been up 67-61 before two Georgetown 3-pointers tied the game up. The Huskies went back up by 2 points before the Hoyas tied it up again, setting the stage for Hibbert’s 3-pointer.
Top Ten Moves That Methinks Will Be Regretted [
Did you know the Patriots were the only team in the NFL to score a field goal or a touchdown on 50% or more of their possessions?
The Green were led by the “Three Amigo’s” as Kevin Garnett had a double double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, Paul Pierce had 18 points and Ray Allen had 16 in the teams 30th win against 4 losses. The 30-4 record matches the 1959-60 Boston Celtics championship team for the best start in franchise history.
A little while back, I wrote a post about how UConn soccer stud O’Brian White