Critical game of give and take

Turnover battle has added importance

With a bounce in his step Saturday night, Laurence Maroney (122 yards) had the Patriots' first 100-yard rushing game in the playoffs since Corey Dillon in 2005. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

The Patriots played a bend-but-don't-break brand of defense in a 31-20 AFC Divisional playoff win over the Jacksonville Jaguars Saturday night, but their ability to generate turnovers - and not turn the ball over on offense - turned out be the breaking point for the Jaguars.

Defensive end Ty Warren's first-quarter strip-sack of David Garrard gave the Patriots the ball at the Jacksonville 29 and led to a Laurence Maroney touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter, and safety Rodney Harrison sealed the game in the fourth quarter with his seventh career playoff interception.

"The one play by Ty was huge," said linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "He forced the fumble and [Mike ] Vrabel recovered it. It seems like they were having success vs. us early and for us to get that stop and put our offense on a short field, that was very important. Man, it was nice to see Ty make a play like that. It was probably one of the bigger plays of the game."

Meanwhile, quarterback Tom Brady and the offense protected the ball as they have all season, not turning it over. New England had an NFL-low 15 giveaways during the regular season.

"Turnovers were big in this game. We got two of them, and coach really stressed that all week," said Brady.

The turnover battle is always crucial, but it will be particularly important this Sunday in the AFC Championship game against the San Diego Chargers, who led the NFL with a plus-24 turnover differential and forced a league-high 48 turnovers.

The Chargers upended the Indianapolis Colts, 28-24, yesterday by forcing three turnovers, two interceptions of Peyton Manning and a Marvin Harrison fumble that turned the tide of the game.

Further review

After Saturday night's game, coach Bill Belichick explained what happened on the Jaguars' first touchdown, an 8-yard pass from Garrard to Matt Jones that looked reviewable because Garrard released the ball as he was being pulled to the ground. Replays were tough to judge, but it appeared Garrard's shin was in contact with the ground just before he released the ball.

Belichick had the red challenge flag in hand but didn't end up throwing it.

"It was just too late by the time we got a look at it," Belichick said. "I'm not sure if it was or it wasn't. I know it was a close play, but we just didn't really have enough time to see it."

Lauding Laurence

Maroney's 22-carry, 122-yard effort was the first 100-yard rushing game by a Patriot in the postseason since Corey Dillon had 144 on 23 carries in a 20-3 divisional round win over the Colts Jan. 16, 2005. It was Maroney's third 100-yard rushing effort in his last four games, as only the New York Giants, the Patriots' opponent in their regular-season finale, held him under 100 yards.

"It's always great to have a strong running game," said fullback Heath Evans. "For half the year, Tom Brady was doing it all by himself with the receivers. During the most important part of the year, Maroney stepped up. That's my praise for him. It's good coaching and listening on his part. He ran hard and he has a lot of talent. I'm proud of him."

Junior achievement

Junior Seau, the 38-year-old ageless wonder of the Patriots' linebacking corps, led the team with 10 tackles to help earn a return trip to the AFC Championship game after making his only previous appearance in 1994 with the Chargers, who advanced to the Super Bowl.

Seau will now face his former team Sunday.

"It hasn't sunk in yet, it really hasn't," he said. "Being a part of this journey is definitely something special. But we'll go back to work and keep plugging away."

Asked if he ever imagined his stint with the Patriots would go so well, Seau replied, "You never can dream this; this is beyond all that. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of perseverance, and a lot of prayers that went into it."

Time on their side

The Patriots won the time of possession battle against the Jaguars, 32 minutes 20 seconds to 27:40, but Jacksonville's four scoring drives were all at least nine plays, including a 13-play, 86-yard march. "That's probably one of the most effective things to our offense, to keep us off the field," said tight end Kyle Brady. "They had a 95-yard drive and that kept us off the field." . . . Patriots players were off yesterday. They'll start AFC title game preparations today . . . Belichick offered praise for Patriots director of college scouting Thomas Dimitroff, who was hired as the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons. "Tom has done a good job for us," said Belichick. "I've known him a long time since I was in Cleveland, but right now we're really focused on what our team needs to do going forward in the AFC Championship, and that's where our attention is going to be focused."

Michael Vega of the Globe staff contributed to this report.