Well what do you say in recapping that one sided win over Denver in the AFC Division Round of the NFL Playoffs? A lot has already been said regarding Tom Brady, the Patriots offense, Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow and Tim Tebow by everyone else that I am going to skip all that nonsense.
I also fully understand that they played the Denver Broncos, for the second time in a month, a team that is running a college option oriented offense and won big in part because the defense was dominating.
It had to be expected to some extent but there was no way anyone could have predicted that defensive prowess we all witnessed on Saturday night. The stat sheet says five sacks, but I counted six, 15 plays for negative yardage…FIFTEEN! I don’t think this team had more than 2 or 3 in a game prior to this week.
The biggest change in the defense was the healthy returns of S Patrick Chung and LB Brandon Spikes. Both guys can really bring the wood shed when it comes to hitting people and that little edge, that toughness has been missing through the middle of the field the second half of the season.
There were a lot of players, in addition to Spikes and Chung, who came to play on defense Saturday night. Among them were DE Gerard “Big Money” Warren, DE Shaun Ellis, DT Vince Wilfork, DT Kyle Love, LB Rob Ninkovich, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty, DE Mark Anderson, S Sterling Moore and S James Ihedigbo. It was a true team effort and they looked very good all game.
Now the team prepares for it’s next opponent the Baltimore Ravens, who know about defense themselves. It’s offensively that the Ravens appear to be challenged and you have to wonder if their defense can keep the Patriots point total down low enough for the Raven offense to outscore them.
Then there is the issue of retribution. Sure they beat the Ravens in the regular season last year at Gillette 23-20 in OT but you can bet one of this week’s motivational posters is a picture of Baltimore RB Ray Rice going 83-yards on the games’ first play in the 2009 AFC Wild Card Game.
That was New England’s first home playoff loss at Gillette and their first overall at home since 1978 when they had lost to the Houston Oilers. That day Baltimore embarrassed them badly and Bill Belichick will not allow his team to forget it. In fact I will say this, anyone left over from the 2009 team won’t need a reminder. They’ve been waiting for this day for two years.
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New England head coach Bill Belichick now has 191 career wins including playoffs, which are good for 9th all-time. Former Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks head coach Chuck Knox is 8th with 193 wins.
He is now tied for 4th in post season coaching wins with Steelers legend Chuck Noll with 16. Long time Redskins coach Joe Gibbs is 3rd with 17. Former Dolphins coach Don Shula is 2nd with 19 and Tom Landry, formerly of Dallas, is 1st with 21.
He is 16-6 in the post season overall, 15-5 with New England.
Here’s is the audio to Belichick’s weekly radio visit to WEEI-AM/FM on Monday afternoon.
The Patriots were 1-2 against playoff teams in 2011 beating Denver and losing to the New York Giants and Pittsburgh.
Awful Announcing has your full NFL Playoffs Announcing Schedule.
The Patriots were 7-1 at The Razor, 6-2 on the road, 5-1 against the AFC East, 0-1 against the AFC North, 1-0 against the AFC South and 4-0 against the AFC West for a 10-2 record vs. the AFC. They finished 3-1 against the NFC East.
New England has won 9 consecutive games after a 2 game losing streak. It is the longest current win streak in the NFL.
Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, New England is 75-15 at home including the playoffs it is the best record in the NFL in that time period.
The win over Denver on Saturday night snapped a three game playoff losing streak. Before Saturday, their last post season win was the 2007 AFC Championship game played in Foxboro when they beat San Diego to go to 18-0.
Tom Brady is now 15-5 in the post season. He second all time in post season wins behind his idol, Joe Montana who has 16.
Brady has the 3rd most post season TD passes all-time with 36. Brett Favre is 2nd with 44 TD passes in the post season. Montana is first with 45.
Brady set a NFL record with five TD passes in one half of a playoff game.
He also tied Daryle Lamonica and Steve Young with 6 TD passes in one playoff game.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 99 consecutive games including playoffs, 82 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
The New England defense sacked Denver QB Tim Tebow 6 times in Saturdays 45-10 win and caused him to fumble once.
New England is MINUS 1 in playoff turnover differential. The offense gave up 1 INT and 1 fumble, while the defense had 0 INTs and 1 fumble recovery. They finished the regular season as a PLUS 17.
In 15 of the 16 games this season the Patriots opened on defense. They won 7 of 16 coin flips and elected to defer each time. Opponents won the coin toss 9 of 16 times and 8 times elected to receive.
The lone game the Patriots opened on offense was Week 3 in Buffalo, a game they lost.
Saturday night Denver won the coin toss and deferred so New England started on offense and quickly scored the games first touchdown in less than two minutes.
This is New England’s 8th AFC Championship Game appearance; they are 6-1 in the game with their lone loss coming after the 2006 season at Indianapolis.
The 8 appearances are the 3rd most in the conference tied with Denver. Only the Oakland/LA Raiders (11) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (15) have more.
7 of the 8 AFC Championship Game appearances have come since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994.
This will be the 4th time (1996, 2003, 2007 and 2011) the Patriots have hosted the AFC Championship Game.
The Patriots are 12-3 at home in the playoffs all-time. They are 8-2 in the post season at Gillette Stadium.
Overall in the playoffs they are 22-15.
Saturday the Patriots set a team record with 45 points most ever scored in a post season game.
As part of a draft day trade in April with New Orleans (Mark Ingram) the Patriots have the Saints 1st round draft pick this year and it’s locked in at #27.
ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss has the Patriots offensive snaps and defensive snaps vs. Denver and his 3 up, 3 down.
The Patriots report card.
The team finally played a 60-minute game on both sides of the ball.
The Ravens aren’t such a menacing match up for the Patriots.
The TV Ratings for the Denver-New England game did a prime number.
The Patriots defense rose to the occasion on Saturday night.
Want tickets to the AFC Championship game? You can try getting them here.
The Boston Globe’s photos from the Broncos-Patriots game.
Ravens LB Ray Lewis on giving the Patriots a game, “we’re not the Denver Broncos”.
A bit of sadness early this week in the locker room WR Chad Ochocinco’s dad passed away early Monday morning.
Early line on the game has the Patriots MINUS 7 and an over/under of 50.
One of the people responsible for the Patriots player development, Jason Licht, was interviewed by the Chicago Bears for their open general manager job.
The Patriots will face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in the AFC Championship Game. Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on the Friday before the game.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
