Somebody mentioned Diane Lane in the comments of the first half thread. Such a beautiful woman, such poor movie choices.
Heath Evans is in at receiver. Bradichick is not messing around to begin the second half.
They’re slowly but surely working Welker back into the offense. He’s got three catches, all since late in the second quarter, if memory serves.
Again, Brady goes to Faulk for the first down. That’s four catches for about thirty yards. Welker to the left for eight, then Maroney takes the handoff and rumbles 22 yards. Only one man between him and the end zone, and the Unknown Defender made the play.
Sixteen straight completions before Brady misses. He’s being inducted into the Hall of Fame tomorrow. And Faulk starts a new streak with a leaning, one-handed grab. Over the middle to Gaffney – first down.
“Tom Brady, it’s not open, he gets a little nervous, but he waits.” – Phil Simms
LIAR!! Tom Brady does not get nervous.
Fake direct snap, Brady to Welker, touchdown!
“They faked it.” – Simms
Again, Phil, tremendous analysis. Nantz just told us this. The great thing about that play was that Brady did the horrible, “Oh no, the ball got away” fake that never works – only in this case, it sold the play because defenses always see it and know that it never works. That’s pretty great.
New England 21, Jacksonville 14
That the Patriots can score on Jacksonville’s defense is indisputable. The real question is how long can the Jaguars offense continue to answer back?
Here’s a stat I have not seen, and it would be tremendous…how many times did NE score with their first possession in each half this year? Now compare to others. Two TDs today. Incredible. – Ed
Ed, I just ran through the play-by-play for the first three games, and they scored touchdowns the first time they touched the ball in a half four times (including a kickoff return touchdown) and kicked one field goal. If nobody finds it before the game is over, I’ll figure it out and post at OMDQ later, hopefully.
The Jags are continuing to answer back: long completion, Garrard to Jones for 29 yards. A false start penalty slows the momentum and Taylor picks up four on first-and-fifteen.
CBS is flashing a quarterback comparison – if nothing else, this game has featured great play from that position on both sides.
Pizza. Baby needed a bottle. Wife not watching TV directly in front of her. No idea what just happened. Affirmed.
The magic of DVR tells me that Josh Scobee kicked a field goal for Jacksonville. Thank you, DVR.
New England 21, Jacksonville 17
Disclaimer: I just got this DVR, so if it ever appears that I’m a few minutes behind, just remind me to hit the “Live” button.
I almost included the “Randall Gay from behind” quote from earlier, then decided against it. Thanks to the three of you who mentioned it.
Earlier, I mocked someone who said that Laurence Maroney was the freshest back in football right now, implying that Belichick held him out on purpose to save him for the playoffs. I think I might owe that person an apology. Maroney is playing a beastly game tonight – 15 carries for about 110 yards.
My favorite part about doing these live-blogs is that my wife usually forgets by the second-half that I’ve committed to something, and she starts asking me to do stuff. In the last ten minutes, I’ve made the baby a bottle, answered the door for the pizza, grabbed a towel for the baby, handed her her pizza, grabbed her a drink, and put the baby in his chair. Somehow, somewhere, it became 28-17, New England. I’d try using the DVR to find out, but I’m not that confident, and would probably end up zapping myself into the TV or something.
Anyway, the third quarter is over, with the score
New England 28, Jacksonville 17
I think that the officials have decided that the Pats need to win. The worst official in the NFL is refereeing the game (James Booger) and on the last TD I saw 3 guys holding. – Rob
Hey, the first “The refs want the Patriots to win” comment of the night! Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you!
Really, no game is complete without a personal foul on Rodney Harrison. I love the guy to death, if only because he plays for my team. The best part was the play before, when he came close to a late hit and then decided to be the offensive player’s best friend so the referee wouldn’t throw the flag. “Here, let me help you up, brush your shirt off, there you go.”
“Youth is overrated.” – Rodney Harrison to Jim Nantz
Nantzy forgot the second half of the quote: “…unless you can use HGH to get it back.” I think I’ve taken more shots at New England than Jacksonville tonight.
Blogger sucks.
That pass to Stallworth looked very dangerous. Good thing he’s Tom Brady and doesn’t make mistakes.
I have just one thing to say to the people who think that the refs are skewing their calls against Jacksonville in this game: the reason I think it’s hilarious is because I know that if my father-in-law is watching this game, he’s swearing up and down that the announcers AND the officials are conspiring against New England.
They ought to give them the first down. Welker would have had it if he’d caught it. He meant to catch it so I say give it them. – Scott
Alright, that’s funny. I think we should allow the officials to use their personal opinions on all plays. “Jones-Drew would have scored if he hadn’t been gang tackled for a four-yard loss. Touchdown, Jacksonville.”
Back to reality: Gostkowski gets another try and hammers this one through.
New England 31, Jacksonville 20
And no, I’m not late on the DVR. I’m just slow in general.
Faced with a fourth-and-five that could determine its season, Jacksonville takes a timeout.
Tonight’s commenters deserve a special mention here. I’ve tried to highlight some of my favorites, but everyone is leaving good stuff tonight.
Great throw by Garrard, great catch and one-on-one move by Northcutt…not-so-great personal foul on Samuel. First down for the Jags. They’re still alive.
I miss Willie McGinest in games like this. He always seemed to be the guy to step up and make the big play when the team needed it. I can think of two separate occasions against Indianapolis where the Colts needed to make something happen and he just wouldn’t allow it.
Is it silly that I’m complaining about the good old days of defense with an eleven-point lead?
Fact: I’m a Patriots fan, and I didn’t even want to see Harrison get that interception. I said earlier that I loved him. I think I might’ve been lying a little bit.
“All the players know right now that the game is over.” – Simms
If the Patriots weren’t involved in this game, this is where I would start rooting for the trailing team to come from behind for the win. Nothing annoys me more than when an announcer gives a team the win with a significant amount of time on the clock. Somebody in particular is very bad at this. Maybe Mike Tirico.
Can somebody make the obvious Chris Hanson joke so I don’t have to?
And that’s gonna be all she wrote, folks. Your final is New England 31, Jacksonville 20. Thanks for joining me here tonight. Be sure to come back tomorrow, when Signal to Noise brings you the epic Cowboys-Giants matchup.
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