Editors Note: Sorry for the delay on this week’s “In The Red Zone” but with the team having been given Monday off plus working on a bye week it was decided to push it back a few days from its usual Tuesday morning run.
First off I hope everyone had a nice holiday season, no matter which ones you and your family and friends celebrate. Also thanks to all the readers of “In The Red Zone”, the weekly game previews and recaps for stopping by each week for my look at the New England Patriots.
Overall the season for New England was a successful one; they finished 13-3 won another division title and clinched the top seed in playoffs securing home field advantage through the conference championship. Now they just need to get there.
As we all remember the most recent Patriots playoff endeavors haven’t been all that good. Since starting 18-0 in 2007 the Patriots are 48-16 in the next 4 regular seasons but 0-3 in playoff and Super Bowl games, with the loses coming at the hands of the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXLII, the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 AFC Wild Card Round and the New York Jets in the AFC Division Round last season.
Since winning his first 10 playoff games, Tom Brady has won 2 NFL MVP Awards but is just 4-5 in the post season. In addition to the above losses are an AFC Conference Championship game loss to Indianapolis in 2006 and a road playoff beat down by Denver in 2005.
New England needs to get back to its winning playoff ways. Brady is a key cog and must play better than he has in some of those previous playoff losses. And the defense needs to be able to hold its own at key moments in the game.
They can’t afford to fall behind like they have the last two weeks and depend on a comeback. It’s time for 60 minutes of solid New England Patriots football, let’s hope they come to play next Saturday night as they make a run at Lombardi Trophy #4 in Indianapolis in February.
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New England head coach Bill Belichick now has 190 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.
Here’s the transcript to Belichick’s weekly day after the game media conference call he even closed with a little nugget on Miami DE Jason Taylor’s retirement.
Patriots clinched the Top Seed in the AFC with the win over Buffalo.
The AFC Playoff Seeds are as follows:
- New England
- Baltimore
- Houston
- Denver
- Pittsburgh
- Cincinnati
It sets up for Wild Card Weekend games of Cincinnati at Houston and Pittsburgh at Denver.
The Patriots will play either Cincinnati or the winner of Pittsburgh/Denver.
The NFC Playoff Seeds are as follows:
- Green Bay
- San Francisco
- New Orleans
- New York Giants
- Atlanta
- Detroit
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.
New England finished the season with 13 wins it was the first time they ever earned that win total in a season.
They 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 8 consecutive games after a 2 game losing streak. It is their longest win streak of the season.
Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, New England is 74-15 at home including the playoffs it is the best record in the NFL in that time period.
The Patriots have lost their last three playoff games. Two at Gillette Stadium (Baltimore and New York Jets) and Super Bowl XLII (New York Giants). 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 had 3 TD passes to give him 300 TD passes in his career he is now tied with Hall of Fame QB John Elway for 5th place.
Brady has 124 career wins; he is tied with Hall of Fame QB Fran Tarkenton for 5th all-time.
Brady also eclipsed 5,000 passing yards in a season.
Here are the all-time single season passing yards leaders:
- Drew Brees 5,476 (New Orleans 2011)
- Tom Brady 5,235 (New England 2011)
- Dan Marino 5,086 (Miami 1984)
- Drew Brees 5,084 (New Orleans 2009)
- Matt Stafford 5,038 (Detroit 2011)
Brady also checked in with WEEI-AM/FM for his weekly talk about the game and the upcoming playoffs.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 98 consecutive games including playoffs, 81 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
TE Rob Gronkowski set a NFL record for most receiving yards in a season by a tight end with 1,327.
TE Aaron Hernandez also eclipsed the 1,000 yards receiving mark possibly making them the most prolific tight end combo in NFL history.
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis became just the third running back in franchise history with consecutive 10 TD seasons.
DE Mark Anderson had 1 sack on Sunday to give the Patriots two players with 10 or more sacks in a season joining injured team mate Pro Bowler, Andre Carter.
The New England defense sacked the opponents quarterback 40 times in the 16 game season.
CB Sterling Moore was named Pepsi NFL Defensive Rookie of the Week for his 2 INT; 1 TD performance against Buffalo last Sunday.
The Patriots released TE Garrett Mills from the practice squad and signed WR Britt Davis.
New England finished PLUS 17 in turnover differential. The offense gave up 12 INTs and 5 fumbles, while the defense had 23 INTs and 11 fumble recoveries.
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.
Russ Goldman of Pats Fans has five positives to take away from the Patriots victory over the Bills.
Mike Reiss charts the Patriots offensive snaps and defensive snaps played vs. Buffalo.
He also charted the hits QB Tom Brady took in 2011.
This is good stuff; Ian Logue of patsfans.com has a searchable table of all the team stats.
Patriots Haven has his Patriots report card on the Bills game.
Just for fun here’s The Big Lead’s view on the implosion of the Jets.
The Patriots have a playoff bye and are idle. They will next play Saturday January 14 at 8 p.m. on CBS with a home game at Gillette Stadium against either Cincinnati or the winner of the Pittsburgh/Denver game. Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on the Friday before the game.
Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem
