New York Jets off to AFC Championship game after defeating the New England Patriots – (Part I)
New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady said the New York Jets were all talk and no substance. It’s unlikely that Brady would say something like that now, after the Jets showed the Patriots what they were made of. Weeks of trash talk came down to Sunday’s
playoff game and the Jets won 28-21.
They have proved to the Patriots and to the rest of the National Football League (NFL) that they are not just talk. Having knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs, the Jets are now going to Heinz Field to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the American Football
Conference (AFC) Championship game.
Bill Belichick’s Patriots had an almost flawless season right until the Playoffs. Quarterback Tom Brady, who hadn’t thrown an interception since week six against Baltimore, ended his flawless streak when the Patriots needed him to be at his very best. In
the very first offensive drive of the game Brady made his first mistake after 340 passes.
The pass was intended for BenJarvus Green-Ellis, but Brady overshot the pass. Right next to Green-Ellis was New York’s linebacker David Harris. Harris caught the ball and ran it past the offensive line. Tom Brady tried to redeem himself and dived at Harris,
but the linebacker was able to evade the tackle just in time and kept running down the field.
Harris had a clear path to the endzone and would have scored the touchdown right then and there had it not been for tight end Alge Crumpler. He hustled across the field and past the other Patriots chasing Harris, and brought him down before the endzone on
the 12-yard line. The Jets were all set for a touchdown and it seemed like nothing could take away the field, but New York squandered the opportunity.
Shonn Greene lost 3 yards on the first play after he stumbled behind the line of scrimmage. Then Mark Sanchez threw a pass at LaDainian Tomlinson, who ended up being tackled by the offensive line for a loss of 5 yards.
New York lost 8 yards on those two horrible plays, but on the third they took back those 8 yards. After three downs and no yards, the Jets had to attempt the field goal from the 12-yard line. It should have been easy, but kicker Nick Folk managed to kick
the ball wide.
The Patriots got luck on that occasion but the Jets would come back stronger. Immediately after Folk’s botched field goal attempt, Brady was sacked for 7 yards by defensive end Shaun Ellis. Wes Walker, who didn’t start the game, gained 10 yards for the Patriots
on the fourth play of the drive. On the 7th play Brady connected with Alge Crumpler for 28 yards and took the Patriots into the redzone. He tried to end the drive with the touchdown pass to Crumpler again but was unable to connect.
On 3rd and 5, Brady was sacked for 9 yards by Shaun Ellis, and the Patriots had to attempt the field goal from the 16-yard line. Shane Graham attempted the field goal and it was good.
Brady was sacked five times in the game. In the second quarter the third sack of the game for Brady was delivered by cornerback Drew Coleman. New England was forced to punt the ball from 16 yards, and the Jets ended up back on the offensive inside Patriots
territory. From the 45-yard line, Sanchez threw a deep left pass to Braylon Edwards while Darius Butler was on his tail.
He caught the pass and was pushed out of bounds on the 8-yard line. Tomlinson rushed one yard in the next play and Sanchez scored the first touchdown of the game with a 7-yard pass to Tomlinson. This was the first receiving touchdown for the running back
of the season. With the extra point, the Jets established a 4-point lead over the Patriots within five minutes of the second quarter.
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