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Today in Patriots History
Pats win record 10th straight playoff game, 28-3 over Jacksonville
Willie McGinest leads defense with 4½ sacks, 8 tackles
Brady throws 3 TDs; Asante Samuel with 73-yard pick-six
Pats win record 10th straight playoff game, 28-3 over Jacksonville
Willie McGinest leads defense with 4½ sacks, 8 tackles
Brady throws 3 TDs; Asante Samuel with 73-yard pick-six
Saturday January 7, 2006 at 8:00
2005 AFC Wild Card Game at Gillette Stadium
New England Patriots 28, Jacksonville Jaguars 3
Head Coaches: Bill Belichick, Jack Del Rio
Quarterbacks: Tom Brady; Byron Leftwich, David Garrard
Odds: New England favored by 8
Weather: 24°, no wind, wind chill 0
Game MVP: Willie McGinest
Pats improve to 11-6
Jacksonville finishes 12-5
Key Stats:
3rd Down: Patriots 7-14, Jaguars 1-4
Turnovers: Patriots 0, Jaguars 2
The Patriots fumbled the ball four times, but retained possession all four times.
The Patriots outscore Jacksonville 21-0 in the second half to advance to the divisional round. Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes, including 63 yarder to Ben Watson to make the score 21-3 late in the third quarter. Jacksonville was driving into New England territory when Asante Samuel intercepted a Byron Leftwich pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and raced down the sideline 73 yards to put the game out of reach. Willie McGinest set NFL records for most sacks in a game (4½), and most postseason career sacks (16).
The Pats set an NFL record with their 10th straight postseason victory. New England’s milestone surpassed the nine straight playoff victories by Green Bay in the 1960s.
The #4 seed Patriots advanced to the divisional round, where they would play at either 14-2 Indianapolis or 13-3 Denver depending on the outcome of Sunday's other wild card game, #6 Pittsburgh (11-5) at #3 Cincinnati (11-5).
Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich wasn't prepared for the snap.
Benjamin Watson tiptoed down the sideline during his 63-yard scoring catch-and-run in the third quarter.
As Asante Samuel raced for the end zone with his interception return, Willie McGinest (55) began the celebration.
Deion Branch eludes a diving tackle attempt by Jacksonville’s Gerald Sensabaugh.
Alvin Pearman hit the deck and lost the ball after a jarring hit by Eugene Wilson; Richard Seymour recovered the fumble.
Willie McGinest crashes down on defenseless Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich.
Patriots still have it going on / Brady, McGinest make 10th straight playoff win look easy
Three proved a pretty good number for the Patriots on Saturday night. Maybe it's a good omen for a team beginning its attempt for the first Super Bowl three-peat.
With Willie McGinest setting an NFL postseason record by making 4 1/2 sacks, the Patriots broke open a close game after halftime and beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-3, setting another NFL record by winning their 10th consecutive postseason game.
Getting the next "three," however, will be more difficult.
New England, which moved on to an AFC semifinal game next weekend at Denver or Indianapolis, must win a total of three games to reach the Super Bowl, something only a handful of teams have managed to accomplish.
A deep roster enabled them to survive a season in which they had to use 45 different players as starters, a total exceeded only by the 49ers and Arizona, and that meant that, as the playoffs began, they could count on people little known outside their own locker room.
On Saturday night, the key player in that category was wide receiver Andre' Davis, who normally plays mostly on special teams.
Davis made two key plays in the third quarter after the Jaguars managed to keep it tantalizingly close, 7-3 at the half, because New England squandered two terrific opportunities to take command early.
While holding Jacksonville without a first down until the game's 19th minute, the Patriots took successive possessions of their own to the Jaguars' 24- and 27-yard lines, but failed to score any points.
Jacksonville's defense, meanwhile, sacked Brady four times in the first half, and the Jaguars, who are in the playoffs for the first time in six years, seemed to be gaining confidence after holding off the Patriots' early drives.
But with the Patriots at the Jacksonville 34-yard line, running back Kevin Faulk took a direct snap from center and handed the ball to Davis, who ran a reverse to the right. The play gained 13 yards. One play later, from the 20, Brady passed to tight end Ben Watson, who fumbled after an 8-yard gain, the ball bouncing toward the goal line before Davis recovered it at the three. On the next play, Brady threw a touchdown pass to David Givens, giving the Patriots a 14-3 lead.
Bill Belichick, the Patriots' coach, said Davis' fumble recovery -- at the Jaguars' 3-yard line -- "was a nice, heady play."
Four minutes later, the Patriots faced 3rd-and-13 at their own 37-yard line. Brady flipped a short pass to Watson, who was quickly wrapped up by linebacker Mike Peterson, one of the Jaguars' best players. Just as quickly, Watson managed to unwrap himself. He bounced off safety Deon Grant, headed to the right sideline, broke another attempt at a tackle by Gerald Sensabaugh, the other safety, and didn't stop until he turned it into a 63-yard touchdown play.
"That probably should have been a third down stop (for Jacksonville)," Belichick said.
Patriots Make It A Perfect 10; Brady Has 3 TD Passes for Two-Time Defending Champs: Patriots 28, Jaguars 3 | WaPo
Before the game, it was thought that linebacker Tedy Bruschi's calf injury would be critical because every time he didn't play during the year, the Patriots' defense was weakened. But the Patriots rested Bruschi and didn't miss a beat because the other linebackers, notably Willie McGinest and Rosevelt Colvin, played so well.
In fact, the secondary completed the scoring, with cornerback Asante Samuel returning an interception 73 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
This was the best New England has played on defense without Bruschi, who missed a total of seven games, including the season's first six following his recovery from a stroke. Until Saturday night, the Patriots had permitted 27.4 points a game without Bruschi and 16.2 with him, and had not held any team under 20 points without Bruschi.
But with Byron Leftwich, unable to move well, making his first start at quarterback for the Jaguars since breaking an ankle in a Thanksgiving weekend game, New England played aggressively on defense. The Patriots, who averaged only two sacks a game during the season, ranking 25th in the league, made six sacks and limited the Jaguars to just one third down conversion in 12 attempts.
New England's 10 consecutive postseason victories broke the NFL record of nine set in the 1960s by Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers, who are the last team to win three consecutive NFL championships -- the last pre-Super Bowl title for the 1965 season and the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and 1967 seasons.
Patriots 28-3 Jaguars (Jan 7, 2006) Game Recap - ESPN
Expert recap and game analysis of the New England Patriots vs. Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game from January 7, 2006 on ESPN.
www.espn.com
Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes, Willie McGinest broke two records for sacks and the Patriots set an NFL mark with 10 straight postseason victories by beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-3 on Saturday night.
Pursuing an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title, New England battered the overmatched Jags. Brady, who improved to 10-0 in the postseason, matched his playoff career high for TD passes, and McGinest set NFL postseason records with 4½ sacks and 16 for his career. The Patriots (11-6) last lost a playoff game in 1999, to the Jaguars. Since Bill Belichick became coach in 2000, they have won three Super Bowls in four seasons, butnever played in the wild-card round until now.
McGinest (who surpassed Bruce Smith's record for career playoff sacks) and the rest of the defense - even without co-Comeback Player of the Year Tedy Bruschi, who was in uniform but didn't play because of a calf injury - kept Jacksonville from mounting much of a challenge. The Jaguars (12-5) looked like a team making its first postseason appearance since 1999, and one that faced an easy schedule in compiling such a strong record.
While Brady had touchdown throws of 11 yards to Troy Brown, 3 to David Givens and 63 to Ben Watson -- the tight end did all the work on that one -- the defense never let Jacksonville's offense breathe. Cornerback Asante Samuel was particularly active with a 73-yard interception return early in the fourth quarter that clinched it, and New England finished with six sacks overall.
Although they sputtered early, the Patriots were plenty sharp in dominating the second half. They haven't lost a playoff game at home since 1978. The first half was marked by tenacious defense on both sides. The Jaguars had four sacks and yielded only 126 yards. New England got two sacks and allowed 115 yards. Jacksonville didn't get a first down until about 11 minutes remained in the second quarter. The Patriots also were forced to use Brown as a defensive back in passing situations, a ploy that worked well last season, but rarely was tried in 2005. Not surprisingly, he performed well in his part-time job.
Givens, who was wide open after a superb play fake by Brady, has a TD catch in six straight playoff games, two short of John Stallworth's NFL mark. Watson broke three tackles after taking a short pass on third-and-13, making it 21-3. Six plays later, Samuel stepped in front of Reggie Williams, stole Byron Leftwich's pass and motored down the left sideline to score.
"That was a great effort by Benjamin to break those tackles," Belichick said, "and make a big play out of what probably should've been a third-down stop."
Leftwich, in his first action since breaking his left ankle on Nov. 27, looked rusty and indecisive. New England's defense had much to do with that, of course, and he left midway through the fourth quarter.
Game notes ... Brady finished 15-of-27 for 201 yards. ... Leftwich was 18-for-31 for 179 yards. ... Belichick is 11-1 in the postseason as a head coach, the best record in NFL history. ... Jacksonville is 0-4 in Foxborough.
Patriots too strong for Jaguars as playoff streak builds - The Boston Globe
New England won its 10th straight postseason game behind a strong defensive performance that stifled the Jaguars in a 28-7 win in which Tom Brady had three TD passes.
www.bostonglobe.com
1/7/2006 Jacksonville Jaguars at New England Patriots AFC Wild Card Playoff
4:14 Highlight Video
NFL Primetime 2005 Wild Card Playoff Saturday (ESPN January 7th, 2006)
22:46 Telecast
2005 Wild Card - Jacksonville at New England
3:02:05 Full Broadcast
4:14 Highlight Video
NFL Primetime 2005 Wild Card Playoff Saturday (ESPN January 7th, 2006)
22:46 Telecast
2005 Wild Card - Jacksonville at New England
3:02:05 Full Broadcast
Wild Card - Jacksonville Jaguars at New England Patriots - January 7th, 2006 | Pro-Football-Reference.com
Jacksonville Jaguars 3 at New England Patriots 28 on January 7th, 2006 - Full team and player stats and box score
www.pro-football-reference.com
NFL Media Game Summary, with team & Individual stats, halftime summary, drive charts and complete play-by-play
