Kansas City answered with Alex Smith connecting on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Albert Wilson to lift the Chiefs within 21-13.
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The Patriots scored the first points of the game when on 3rd and 7 from the KC 8 yard line, Brady found Gronkowski near the left pylon of the end zone versus super-tight coverage from Chiefs cornerback SEAN SMITH.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) goes over the top for a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, in Foxborough, Mass.
The Patriots advance to the AFC Championship, where they will face either the Denver Broncos or the Pittsburgh Steelers, who play each other on Sunday afternoon. The NFL suspended Brady the first four games of the 2015 regular season, but Brady had the suspension lifted by a federal judge less than a week before New England’s regular-season opener.
Rob Gronkowski and the Patriots advanced to the AFC title game with Saturday’s win over the Chiefs. Tom Brady laughed and drove his team 98 yards down the field for a touchdown.
“Well, they get Dan [Amendola], Gronk, you got guys in there that are good players”, Kansas City coach Andy Reid told reporters afterward.
The Patriots stretched their lead to 21-6 in the third on another touchdown pass to Gronkowski – a 16-yard pass play that included a nasty pump fake executed by Brady and the tight end.
One down and one to go before it’s Tom Brady-Peyton Manning 17. Gronkowski finished with seven receptions for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
That came one play after he ran 10 yards down to the one-foot line.
The Patriots would have some chances to close out the game in the fourth quarter on offense, but came up short on back-to-back drives. Edelman was targeted 16 times and caught 10 passes for 100 yards. Instead of throwing a pass that would stop the clock if it went incomplete, the Chiefs were stopped for a 1-yard loss on a running play. You could pull up nearly any game tape from the last 15 years and find some of the very same elements that were visited upon the Chiefs threaded throughout the rest of this remarkable era. However, Reid has won plenty of playoff games and needed something much more than just a Wild Card victory to truly change how he’ll be remembered after he leaves the game.
“I think we can be sharper next week”, said Brady.
The Chiefs won only one of their first six games of the 2015 season.
The Chiefs started the second half with the ball, but a fumble by RB Knile Davis gave it right back to the Patriots, who took advantage. Edelman also had New England’s longest run from scrimmage, an 11-yard scamper. On the next play, he ran his patented quarterback sneak to score and put the Patriots up 14-3. Kansas City just missed a lot of opportunities – getting field goals in the first half when touchdowns were crucial, missing a sure interception (Marcus Peters dropped a Brady pass in the second half as the Pats were driving in K.C. territory) – and that proved costly. The Patriots get a good return from Amendola and another field goal out of the drive, this time from 32 yards out.
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“He’s one of those people that, when it’s time to compete, when it’s time to win, he knows how to get things done”, said running back Steven Jackson, who joined the team last month and has learned quickly that Brady never lets up.
