Tom Brady shook off a hand injury and threw for 290 yards and a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns Sunday afternoon, to lead the New England Patriots past the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-20 in the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
With the Patriots star tight end Rob Gronksowki sidelined with a concussion since the second quarter and out of the game, and the Patriots facing a 20-10 deficit in the fourth quarter, Brady came through with 138 yards passing alone in the final 15 minutes. Danny Amendola caught a nine yard touchdown with 8:45 left to cut the deficit to 20-17. Amendola had kept the drive alive earlier with a 21 yard catch from Brady on third and 18 with the Patriots in their own territory. Amendola did it again with 2:49 left, with a beautiful catch in the very back of the endzone from four yards out for the game winning score.
Brandin Cooks caught six passes on the day for 100 yards, while Amendola finished with seven catches for 84 yards and the two scores. Brady was 26-38 passing, despite stitches in his throwing hand suffered at practice earlier in the week. James White had a short rushing touchdown, but the running game was pretty ineffective against a stingy Jaguars defense. Dion Lewis had nine carries for 34 yards. Lewis had a key 18 yard run to pick up a first down with less than two minutes remaining, and let the Patriots kill the clock and end the game. Devin McCourty led the defense with six tackles.
Jacksonville (12-7), got a good performance from quarterback Blake Bortles. Bortles went 23-36, 293 yards, and one touchdown. Leonard Fournette had 24 carries for 76 yards and a touchdown. Allen Hurns led the receiving core with six catches for 80 yards, while tight end Mercedes Lewis caught a four yard score for the other Jacksonville touchdown. Telvin Smith led the defense with eight tackles.
New England (15-3), will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52 in Minnesota on February 4th at 6:30 p.m. This will be the eighth Super Bowl appearance for Brady and coach Bill Belichek together. It is the Patriots 10th appearance overall, the most in NFL history.
