FOXBOROUGH - After Tom Brady's pass completion streak ended at 16 on the Patriots' first possession of the second half, the Jacksonville Jaguars might have thought they would remain in contention last night. But three plays later, the Patriots took a 21-14 lead, scoring what turned out to be the winning touchdown with 8:49 remaining in the third quarter.
The Jaguars cut the deficit, but they could not stop Brady, failing to score a touchdown after their first possession of the second quarter in a 31-20 playoff loss.
The outcome was not so much a result of Jacksonville's failings as the Patriots' superior play.
"The Patriots are a great team," said Jaguars wide receiver Matt Jones. "You don't see a team like that very often. Since the Cowboys in the early '90s, that's the next great team you see. They are a special team that only comes around every so often."
The Jaguars tied the game at 14 with 7:46 to play in the half. But they converted only two field goals the rest of the way.
"They have a good team and you can't have mistakes against a good team," Jacksonville defensive end Paul Spicer said. "And we made our share of mistakes. The Patriots were better than us [last night]."
The Jaguars seemed stunned by Brady, whose success came more from conservative, short passing plays than spectacular long gains.
"Brady is Brady, he's a good quarterback, bottom line," Spicer said. "He's one of the best in the business.
"He stayed in the pocket and caught us off-guard a couple times. It comes down to players executing and missing assignments. If they are getting the underneath stuff, you have to make the tackle, you have to make the play.
"But Brady is Brady, and it starts with him. You've got to put pressure on him, and we didn't generate as much pressure as we would have liked to have. You can't give him time, and he had five, six seconds, and if you give him that much time, believe me, he will find a receiver."
The Jaguars effectively limited the Patriots' big-play passing game, but surrendered yardage anyway. They pressured Brady successfully on the Patriots' first play of the game, a 4-yard loss on a John Henderson sack. But the next play would symbolize Brady's ability to surprise the Jaguars, as he threw a 33-yard screen pass to Laurence Maroney.
"Brady was very good, he was patient, but we made him be patient," said Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio. "We were not giving him anything over the top, and he was willing to take the short stuff."
The Jaguars surrendered ground, little by little. After Brady's 14-yard completion to Randy Moss on fourth and 5 on the opening drive, the Patriots didn't produce more than 10 yards on a play until late in the half. Yet they scored two touchdowns.
Jaguars quarterback David Garrard made some spectacular plays early: a 34-yard pass to Marcedes Lewis on fourth and 1, and an 8-yard scoring pass to Jones while being tackled by Mike Vrabel. But Garrard was stymied in critical situations in the second half.
"As I told the team, we came in here with the energy and the effort, and the plan we put together was good," said Del Rio. "We went toe to toe with them. But every time we were in the red zone, we had to score, and they held us to two field goals in the second half."
