FOXBOROUGH - The Patriots are still perfect and any team looking to change that will have to play perfectly to beat them.
That's the message New England sent to the rest of the NFL last night, as it moved to 1-0 in the playoffs with a 31-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium.
The Jaguars had the game plan and followed it with almost flawless precision. Jacksonville limited big plays, took Randy Moss out of the game, and put together long scoring drives.
But almost doesn't get it done against the Patriots because for the 17th straight time this season they found a way to win.
This time, it was a patient and precise Tom Brady picking Jacksonville apart, an inspired Laurence Maroney, who had the first 100-yard rushing game of his playoff career (22 carries, 122 yards), running through them, and a fired-up Patriots defense that contained Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor.
Entering last night, the Patriots had never lost at home in the playoffs with Bill Belichick on the sideline and Brady under center. New England was 6-0 at home during the postseason and 12-2 overall with the canonized coach and QB.
Based on that, the Patriots were 13 1/2-point favorites over Jacksonville, a team that had just one Pro Bowl selection to the Patriots' eight. The one, Taylor, only was tapped to head to Honolulu as an injury replacement.
Give the Jaguars credit, they made the Foxborough Faithful sweat for a bit, until Rodney Harrison wrapped up the game with another playoff interception with 4:08 left.
The Patriots led, 28-17, at the start of the fourth quarter after Benjamin Watson hauled in his second touchdown of the game with 49 seconds left in the third.
Watson atoned for causing Brady's only incompletion of the game to that point, which came with 10:27 left in the third quarter when a ball careened off Watson's hands. To that point, Brady had been like his team during the regular season, a perfect 16 for 16. He was 23 of 24 after three quarters, but with just one completion to Moss.
It didn't matter. Three plays later, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels dug into his bag of tricks and pulled out a fake direct snap to Kevin Faulk. Brady deftly hid the ball, jumping and turning his back for effect, before finding Wes Welker for a 6-yard touchdown.
The Jaguars responded with a 39-yard field goal from Josh Scobee that capped a nine-play drive, but 3-pointers are only a good thing against the Celtics. They don't faze the Patriots.
Jacksonville played a slow-down game early, like a basketball team trying to stall against a fast-breaking opponent. The Jaguars used time as an ally, shortening the game by not allowing the Patriots to score on big plays, forcing them to methodically move down the field.
It worked in the first half, as the teams were tied, 14-14.
The Patriots only got four first-half possessions, including a kneel-down with nine seconds left, and scored twice. It should have been thrice, but Stephen Gostkowski, who went 8 for 8 in the postseason as a rookie last season, missed a 35-yard field goal with 53 seconds left in the half.
That explained how the Patriots were locked in a tie despite the fact that Brady hadn't thrown an incompletion (12 of 12 for 120 yards and a touchdown).
The Jaguars wasted no time showing they weren't merely the warm-up act for another Patriots AFC Championship game by marching 80 yards on their opening possession for a 7-0 lead.
On third and goal from the 8, David Garrard, who had hit Marcedes Lewis for a 34-yard gain on fourth and 1 from the New England 43 to keep the drive alive, found Matt Jones in the end zone while being dragged to the ground by Mike Vrabel.
Replays showed Garrard's shin may have hit just before he released the ball. Belichick had the challenge flag in his hand and pump-faked, but elected not to throw it, cementing the first time in 15 playoff games under Belichick that the Patriots had allowed points on an opening drive.
The Patriots answered on their opening possession, marching 74 yards in 10 plays to tie the game on a 3-yard pass from Brady to Watson with 5:01 left in the quarter. New England also converted a fourth down before reaching the end zone, as Brady found Moss for 14 yards on fourth and 5 from the Jacksonville 40.
If you want to beat the Patriots in the playoffs you can't make mistakes and Garrard, who was 12 of 14 for 149 yards and two scores in the first half, made one big one before the break, fumbling on a sack by Ty Warren. Vrabel recovered at the Patriots' 29.
On the first play of the second quarter the Patriots cashed in to take a 14-7 lead, as Maroney plowed in from the 1.
It seemed as if the Jaguars might unravel when Jones-Drew boxed around the ensuing kickoff, diving on it at the 5. Instead, Jacksonville marched 95 yards in 11 plays in 7:11 to tie the score on Garrard's second touchdown pass, a 6-yarder to Ernest Wilford.
At that point, if the Patriots' game plan was to make Garrard beat them, it was having mixed results, as he was 11 for his first 12 for 141 yards and two scores. The Patriots were doing a solid job against Jacksonville's second-ranked rushing attack, holding the tandem of Jones-Drew and Taylor to 11 carries for 44 yards in the first half.
Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.
