FOXBOROUGH , Mass. — The legend grows.
Maybe Tom Brady really can walk on water.
Tom versus Time?
Tom, at age 40, is not only winning, he’s dominating — Father Time staggered and in concussion protocol at the moment.
The Patriots quarterback, with his team firmly mounted on his back, is headed to his eighth career Super Bowl by virtue of Sunday’s scintillating 24-20 comeback win over the Jaguars in the AFC Championship game at a positively delirious jam-packed Gillette Stadium.
“When it’s all over,’’ a gutted Jaguars coach Doug Marrone told The Post on his slow walk to the team bus, “he’s going to go down as the greatest player of all time.’’
Brady, completing 26-of-38 for 290 yards and two touchdowns, led the Patriots back from deficits of 14-3 in the first half and 20-10 in the fourth quarter and now the Patriots (15-3) are in position to win their second consecutive Super Bowl and third in the last four years.
They’ll play the Eagles, who defeated the Vikings in the NFC Championship on Sunday, in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.
Thanks to Brady.
“After that Super Bowl comeback last year, you never count him out,’’ Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. “He’s done it for us so many times … we never give up hope.’’
If you listened to the frantic reports all week about Brady’s injured throwing hand, hurt on a botched handoff in Wednesday’s practice and requiring stitches, and you listened to the Patriots’ typical clandestine dissemination of (no) information, you weren’t sure if amputation was in order or if this was a gamesmanship ruse on the part of coach Bill Belichick.
Brady, after skipping scheduled press conferences Wednesday and Thursday, partook in a comical gathering with the media on Friday, wearing red gloves on both hands and refusing to say how the hand was hurt, how it felt or whether he thought he’d be able to play in the game.
Newscasts in New England, despite a government shutdown in Washington and many more important events taking place in the world, led with the state of Brady’s right hand — even though there really was no information on it.
“I said, ‘We’ll see,’ ’’ Brady told the Gillette crowd after the game in the trophy presentation. “So, how’d it go? I think pretty well.’’
Alas, when Brady first trotted out onto the field about 50 minutes before kickoff, he did so without a glove on the right hand, just some dark taping around the thumb area.
It didn’t take long before it was obvious the injury wasn’t affecting him at all. He was 6-for-6 for 57 yards on New England’s opening possession, which ended in a 31-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal.
“I assumed I was playing — really right up until today,’’ Patriots backup quarterback Brian Hoyer said. “It was awesome to see him out there.’’
Brady, who completed his 54th fourth-quarter comeback and 11th in the playoffs, said he’s “never had anything like’’ this injury, adding, “I’ve had a couple crazy injuries, but this was pretty crazy.’’
As for his progress during the week, he said, “I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do on Wednesday, Wednesday night, and then Thursday wasn’t sure. And then Friday, [I] gained a little confidence and then Saturday was trying to figure out what we could do, and Sunday, try to come out here and make it happen.
“I think it sounds kind of arrogant to say, ‘Oh yeah, it bothered me,’ when we had a pretty good game. So, I wouldn’t say that. Doesn’t that sound arrogant if I said that? It’s like when Tiger Woods said, ‘That was my C game,’ and he won the tournament.’’
Leave it to life-of-the-party Belichick to douse the Brady story with cold water, saying in his typical deadpan: “Look, Tom did a great job and he’s a tough guy. We all know that, all right? But, we’re not talking about open-heart surgery here.’’
No, but Brady did rip the heart out of a game and an unafraid Jaguars team that had the Patriots right where they wanted … until Brady put his cape on and became Brady again.
His first trick was a six-play, 85-yard drive that took 1:07, climaxed by a 1-yard James White scoring run to cut the Jacksonville lead to 14-10 with 55 seconds remaining in the first half to change the momentum of a game that Jacksonville had been controlling.
Then came his 9-yard scoring pass to Danny Amendola to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 20-17 with 8:44 remaining in the game.
And finally, Brady won the game with a 4-yard scoring pass to Amendola with 2:48 remaining in the game.
“He’s a legend for a reason,’’ Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell said.
By this time, any questions about his bloodied throwing hand had long before been answered.
The legend continues to grow. When (if?) it ends, no one knows.
New England Patriots Sportblog Tom Brady was vulnerable against the Jaguars – but he refuses to break A hand injury was supposed to hamper the New England quarterback but – as ever – he took apart the opposition when it mattered Tom Brady celebrates as he seals Super Bowl appearance No8. Photograph: Cj Gunther/EPA
“We’re not talking about open-heart surgery,” New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Sunday evening.
Belichick was talking about Tom Brady’s throwing hand, injured in practice last week. But Brady was pretty surgical as he carved apart the Jacksonville Jaguars on the way to his eighth Super Bowl. In a fourth quarter the Jaguars will never forget, he took away their heart and then he pulled the Super Bowl dream to which they so precariously clung those final few minutes, until it was gone for good.
Across America there was a familiar groan as it became clear the Patriots were on their way to another Super Bowl, off to face the Philadelphia Eagles in Minneapolis. Not the Patriots. Not again! After having been to just two Super Bowls before 2002, the Pats are heading to their eighth in 17 seasons. The plot rarely changes. Belichick’s secretive empire – one that has twice been caught cheating – and its dashing quarterback will dominate the lead-up to the America’s biggest game once again.
And yet for the first time since maybe the first championship run back in the winter of 2002, may actually attract some sympathy. The last months have not been easy for them. They headed into the postseason under a haze of rumors that cracks were appearing in the relationship between Belichick, Brady and owner Robert Kraft. Some of those suspicions were laid out in a lengthy ESPN story that focused – in part – on the looming passage of power from the 40-year-old Brady to the next quarterback. The story hinted at a possible breakup of the three. Then, last Wednesday, Brady somehow banged his throwing hand into running back Rex Burkhead at practice and the always-silent Patriots became extraordinarily evasive about Brady’s health.
For the first time in many years, the stoic and despised Pats looked … vulnerable.
This suspicion was confirmed when Brady looked unsure as he made some of his throws and his star tight end Rob Gronkowski was knocked from the game with a concussion and Jacksonville led 20-10 with under nine minutes left in the game. And then Brady became Brady and the Patriots became the Patriots and New England thundered back as they do so often. The precision with which Brady took apart the Jaguars defense was almost beautiful to watch as long as you didn’t realize he was slicing apart the Jags’ hearts as he broke those of the majority of the American public.
After going through an absurd monosyllabic press conference on Friday in which his injured hand – encased in a protective glove – was the topic of conversation, Brady seemed almost human on Sunday. He choked up as he talked about the coming Super Bowl being played in his mother’s home state (she has been battling cancer). When asked about his hand he said he has had worse pain from football injuries but admitted that he was concerned about the severity on Wednesday when it happened.
“I thought, ‘of all the plays my season can’t end on a handoff in practice,’” Brady said after the game in a rare admission of doubt.
The stitches were supposed to make it hard for him to throw. They were supposed to break him apart. But the Patriots machine does not break. They march through the second half of seasons and the playoffs with all the joy of a fleet of robots.
I remember the last time Brady and the Pats played Philadelphia in a Super Bowl. This was back in 2005 and to give context to Brady’s career, Donovan McNabb was the Eagles’ starting quarterback. Philadelphia has had five regular starters since then, including the current fill-in Nick Foles, who is back in Philadelphia for the second time.
After the game – won by who else? – I followed Brady as he went from the Pats locker room to an interview tent set up behind the stadium. He was 27 at the time and he and his team-mates were like teenagers as he turned to his friends and put a finger to his lip and said: “shhhhh” and the other young men put their fingers to their lips and said: “shhhhhh” too.
Who would have known then there would be so many more Super Bowls and he would be playing into his 40s and the Patriots would have remained intact, still hated by an America who had long tired of seeing them in their Super Bowls?
Brady looked so young that night, invulnerable. On Sunday he tried to hide his hand until the last possible moment. He barked at photographers who got too close to him before the game and he shook it several times after the Jags pass rushers knocked him to the ground. He looked every bit of 40 even if his passes didn’t show it.
For a few moments it almost made Brady and his team, well, likable.
Fantasy player of the week
Nick Foles. Really, who else could it be? Foles was supposed to be the reason the Eagles had no chance in these NFL playoffs, why the odds makers picked them to lose last week’s division round game to Atlanta and Sunday’s NFC championship game to Minnesota. Always unwanted and unappreciated, Foles stumbled back to Philadelphia for a second run with the team, this time as the backup to Carson Wentz. Then when Wentz went down with a torn ACL, Foles went to work
In Sunday’s 38-7 rout of the Vikings he completed 26-of-33 passes for 352 yards and three touchdowns against no interceptions. His passer rating of 141.4 was close to perfect. Mocked as a retread who would fumble the Eagles mighty offense he instead had the best day of all four quarterbacks left in this NFL season. Instead of being the reason the Eagles had no chance of going to the Super Bowl, he’s the reason they are going to the Super Bowl.
Stat of the week
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Danny Amendola was everywhere for the Patriots on Sunday. Photograph: Elsa/Getty Images
132. The number of combined yards for Danny Amendola on Sunday. He was everywhere for New England when they needed him most. As a receiver! The Patriots most-versatile offensive player caught two touchdown passes – the second of which was the game-winner. In total he had seven receptions for 84 yards. As a punt returner! He had the critical 20-yard punt return that set up the winning score. As a running back! He rushed for three yards. As a quarterback! He even threw a 20 yard pass to Dion Lewis that the running back actually wound up fumbling at the end, the Pats only turnover.
Amendola is the perfect Belichick player, one who can be used in several different ways depending on what the Pats need. When Rob Gronkowski was knocked out of the game with a concussion just before halftime, New England turned to Amendola to bail them out, partly playing his usual role and partly playing Gronkowski’s. Next to Brady, it’s the procession of Amendola-like players that have put the Patriots in eight Super Bowls since 2001.
Video of the week
gifdsports (@gifdsports) Bill Belichick treated that AFC Championship trophy like it was a piece of garbage LMAO pic.twitter.com/9HwmWqHy1H
What’s funnier than watching Belichick being handed a trophy he doesn’t want? The Patriots coach has famously had little use for the hunk of metal given to the AFC champions, more formally known as the Lamar Hunt Trophy. AFC title trophies are not Super Bowl trophies and since Belichick already has hoisted five of those in his time at New England, the trinket given for just getting to the big game has never held much appeal for him.
Of course, there are ways to gracefully accept such trophies … and then there’s Belichick’s way.
Quote of the week
“We’ve been the underdogs since the beginning of the season and we scratched and clawed to get to this point” – Philadelphia running back LeGarrette Blount on the Eagles making the Super Bowl.
It’s not exactly like Philadelphia were everybody’s underdogs all season. Many people believed they were the best team in the NFC East. That said, few believed they would be this good, going 13-3 in the regular season with a dominating offense and suffocating defense And even fewer believed they would go to the Super Bowl once Wentz went down and Foles became the quarterback.
Blount knows something about Super Bowls. He’s been to two of them with, of all teams, the Patriots and last year he was the Pats leading rusher. With the Eagles, Blount has been a key piece of an explosive offense, putting up 766 rushing yards. If nothing else, he will be able to give Philadelphia coaches a sense of what the Pats will try to do to win the Super Bowl.
FOXBORO — His hand hurt — a lot — on Wednesday. But Tom Brady wasn’t about to let his season end on the practice field.
Brady, who engineered a comeback from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to lead the Patriots past the Jaguars for a 24-20 win and a berth in Super Bowl LII, admitted he wasn’t sure about his status for today’s game when he originally cut his hand in practice on Wednesday.
“I wasn’t sure,” he said when asked if he was worried he wouldn’t be available to play due to the cut on his right (throwing) hand. The cut, along the fatty part of the hand, by the thumb, required 12 stitches.
“I thought out of all the plays, my season can’t end on a handoff in practice,” Brady said. “We didn’t come this far to end on a handoff.”
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Instead, the Patriots’ season will end in Minnesota bidding for their third Super Bowl in four seasons.
“Never had anything like it,” Brady said of the injury. “Had a couple crazy injuries but this was pretty crazy.”
He said he was dour about his status on Wednesday and Thursday (when he skipped practice) but started to gain “a little confidence” on Friday, when he returned to practice.
On a day when the Patriots lost Rob Gronkowski in the first half to a head injury, Brady tried to keep the injury in perspective.
“This was a little injury at the end of the day,” he said.
“If this was on my left hand I could care less. But it was based on where it was and we had to deal with it.”
FOXBORO — The more unbelievable it seems, the more believable it becomes.
The Patriots stunned the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-20, yesterday to win the AFC Championship for the eighth time since 2001, and they’ll play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis. And for the fourth time in the last four postseasons, the Pats erased a double-digit deficit in the second half.
“Amazing,” Tom Brady said after orchestrating the 11th playoff game-winning drive of his career.
The comeback had shades of the two most recent Super Bowl victories, from the ugly start against the Atlanta Falcons to the well-executed, situational madness during the ending against the Seattle Seahawks. And through each affair, the Patriots relied upon their experience to slow down each necessary moment.
“We’ve been in this situation, and we’ve been able to get out of the situation and come out victorious,” Duron Harmon said. “When you’re in a situation like that, it gives you a sense of comfort and confidence to be able to know if we do what we’re supposed to do, play good situational football in the fourth quarter, we’ll make it a game and eventually come back and win.”
Brady had 12 stitches on his right hand from a midweek collision in practice with Rex Burkhead, but he was 26-of-38 for 290 yards and two touchdowns. Now the Patriots are a victory shy of winning their third Super Bowl in a four-year stretch for the second time.
It wouldn’t have been possible if Brady weren’t 8-of-10 for 120 yards and both of those scores in the fourth quarter. Danny Amendola had seven receptions for 84 yards and both late TDs, and Brandin Cooks hauled in six balls for 100 yards to pace a passing attack that lost Rob Gronkowski to a second-quarter concussion.
“We always have confidence. We really do,” Brady said of the hectic comeback. “It’s never really over until it’s over with this team. I was proud of the way we fought.”
The Pats have rewritten this script many times over in Brady’s career, and they erased a 20-10 fourth-quarter deficit with even more magic from perennial playoff co-star Amendola. Staked to third-and-18 with 10:49 remaining, Brady and Amendola connected for 21 yards to keep hope alive, and Brady then delivered a 31-yard strike to Phillip Dorsett on a flea flicker a play later. Shortly thereafter, Brady and Amendola hooked up for a 9-yard touchdown to trim the deficit to 20-17 with 8:44 remaining.
The Pats defense followed with two stops, including a three-and-out to force a punt with 5:10 to play. Brady proceeded to make it look easy with three completions for 27 yards, and Amendola reeled in a magnificent, toe-tapping 4-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 24-20 lead with 2:48 to go.
Stephon Gilmore delivered an addendum to the Pats’ well-rehearsed story, climbing the ladder for a fourth-and-15 breakup on Blake Bortles’ final throw for Dede Westbrook at the 12-yard line, which allowed Dion Lewis to then run out the clock.
“Just make the play,” Gilmore said of his thought process. “I kind of knew he was going to run it, and I did everything I could to not let him catch it.”
Brady completed all six passes for 57 yards on the game’s opening drive, but they stalled in the red zone and settled for Stephen Gostkowski’s 31-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.
The Jaguars fired back with a dominant stretch in the second quarter. Eric Lee turned Marcedes Lewis loose shy of the goal line, and Bortles hit Lewis for a wide-open 4-yard TD and 7-3 lead. Leonard Fournette (24 carries, 76 yards) capped Jacksonville’s next march with a 4-yard TD plunge that made it 14-3.
The Patriots snapped out of their funk, which included three scoreless possessions, with a quick score inside the two-minute warning, but it was a costly drive. Gronkowski couldn’t corral Brady’s throw up the right seam, and Barry Church sent the Pats’ leading receiver into the concussion protocol with a helmet-to-helmet hit that yielded a personal foul penalty. Cooks then drew a 32-yard pass interference penalty, and James White’s 1-yard touchdown run cut the deficit to 14-10.
Josh Lambo’s 54-yard field goal extended the Jags’ advantage to 17-10 on the opening possession of the third quarter, and he delivered a 43-yard boot to push it to 20-10 in the fourth.
Lewis lost his first fumble of the season on the next drive, which only delayed the Pats’ latest comeback.
“You cherish these moments and opportunities,” Brady said. “We’ve had quite a few of them, which we’ve been blessed to do. It’s just been an unbelievable run.”
