Tom Brady had his weapons back and the New England Patriots are heading to their fifth straight AFC championship game.
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NFL: The New England Patriots have hung on to beat Kansas City 27-20 in their NFL divisional showdown, ending the Chiefs’ 11 match winning streak. You’ve got to grind throughout the entire year. Should the team’s offense play the way he did Saturday, it won’t matter how many yards they produce running the ball; Brady is good enough to take them where they want to go.
After winning their first 10 games, the reigning Super Bowl champions limped to the regular season finish line.
The Gronk missed a couple of practices this week and reportedly spent some time in a hospital receiving treatment, which sent a portion of New England into panic mode.
Sounds like the Pats become big Steeler fans, right? It’s hard when you do it that way.
“It’s tough for every player to go through injuries”, Edelman said. If the Steelers win, the Patriots host. “I mean, it’s over just like that”.
Kansas City made the game closer on one-yard touchdown run by Carcandrick West with 1:13 left.
J. Edelman 10 rec, 100 yards.
Since 2001, four teams (Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Broncos) will have accounted for 22 AFC Championship Game appearances, illuminating just how good Brady, Roethlisberger and Manning have played for their respective teams in the last 15 seasons.
On a second-and-12 at the K.C. 46-yard line, the Patriots wanted to pick up a first down to seal the game. However, most teams don’t have Tom Brady at quarterback. He is also tied for second among all National Football League quarterbacks in postseason rushing scores.
For as much consternation as there was about Edelman’s health, there was just as much involving tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was in and out of practice this week with knee and back injuries, with reports varying about the severity of his ailments and whether he did or did not have injections in his knee, or even whether he went to the hospital for his knee or for his back. Maclin was limited to two catches for 23 yards.
Brady (28 of 42) threw for 302 yards and the New England defense was stout when it needed to be, buckling down after the Chiefs marched 17 plays on their opening possession. And Stephen Gostkowski, who kicked field goals of 40 yards and 32 yards to give the Pats a 27-13 lead. “They battled like insane and came up a little short, so we’ll be a better team for it next year”. The first drive of the game was the lightning bolt striking the rest of the field, a crisp, efficient, no-huddle, passes-on-fire drive that was a reminder of what the Patriots really are, not what they were.
Alex Smith completed 29 of 50 passes for 246 yards and one touchdown for Kansas City (12-6).
NOTES: New England LBs Jamie Collins (back) and Gerod Mayo (shoulder) left the game in the third quarter because of injuries….
NOTES: Amid speculation that he might sit out for a series or two as punishment for last week’s off-field incident that sent him to the hospital for a reaction to synthetic marijuana, Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones started. He forced a fumble…. The Chiefs managed to keep him out, but on the next snap, Brady leaned forward and reached into the end zone to make it 14-3.
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The Patriots are nonetheless a fearsome opponent, now one victory from a return to the Super Bowl – their seventh since Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001 – and the clearest reason is their driven, unsympathetic, unstoppable quarterback.
