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Bennett was out of sorts most of the game.. I agree with him that Ryan was simply getting the ball out of his hands quick and negating any rush from the Seahawks.. Still no reason to let what happened on the field carry over to the locker room. His team lost to the better team, happens all the time in the NFL.
So New England will play in its sixth-consecutive conference championship game, the all-time longest streak. Second is the five times in a row by the Raiders in the 1970s. It's also worth noting that the conference now has 16 teams - back then there was a little less competition, as the AFC only had 13 teams (well, 14 teams in the last two years of the Oakland streak, but the Buccaneers and Seahawks were expansion teams that posed no threat to make the playoffs, much less win a postseason game). No team has gone to the NFC Championship Game more than four years in a row.
Brady will start his 11th conference championship game, the most of any quarterback. Montana is second with seven starts - that's a pretty hefty separation between the two. The most by any other active player is, I believe, Ben Roethlisberger with four.
Belichick will coach his 11th conference championship game, breaking the record he currently shares with Tom Landry.
Brady has now won 23 postseason games as a starting QB. Again, his lead over the second-place player (Montana again, who has 16) is large. Roethlisberger is in 7th-place with 12 - with a win today he would tie Brett Favre for 6th-place. Brady also shares the record for the most conference championship game losses (at 4, with Ken Stabler and Donovan McNabb). An upset next week with give him a record he doesn't want all to himself.
And the stat that I really think is incredible is this:
In the Brady-Belichick era, the Patriots are 12-2 in their first playoff game. That's an 86% winning percentage against playoff teams that themselves collective finished their regular seasons with a 67% winning percentage. Even the fact that every one of those games has been in Foxborough (the Pats always kick off the playoffs with a home game because they always win their division, and only wild cards start on the road) doesn't change the fact that that stat is amazing.
Home teams are 6-0 so far. Since the merger (1970), the Divisional Round of the playoffs has never ended without at least one road team winning - even back before 1978, when there were no wild card games. The last time the NFL completed a postseason with no road teams winning (not counting the Super Bowl, of course, which is always played at a pre-determined site) was in 1967, when all 3 NFL playoff games (and the sole AFL playoff game) saw the hosts win. Of course, there are still four games to go - the odds say at least one road team will win.
So New England will play in its sixth-consecutive conference .
I wouldn't have guessed they had already played in 5 straight and now are playing in a sixth consecutive. I mean if you told me six years ago that the Pats were going to play in 5 straight AFC Championship games I would assume they would have won at least two super bowls and been to three at a minimum.
The Pats did nothing impressive yesterday. The Texans having one of the worst qb's in nfl history is why the Texans lost the game
I wouldn't say nothing impressive. Pats got quite a few big passing plays. A few of which seemed incredibly lucky, but when you have a history of making those plays over and over again (kind of like Rodgers and his hail Mary's) is it really luck? It's what really won the game for them. I think everyone is salivating for a Steelers vs. Pats AFC Championship game but we'll see what the Chiefs have to say about that tonight.
I wouldn't say nothing impressive. Pats got quite a few big passing plays. A few of which seemed incredibly lucky, but when you have a history of making those plays over and over again (kind of like Rodgers and his hail Mary's) is it really luck? It's what really won the game for them. I think everyone is salivating for a Steelers vs. Pats AFC Championship game but we'll see what the Chiefs have to say about that tonight.
Unfortunately the pats won't see any competition until February because both remaining AFC have weaknesses. The steelers have no defense and the Chiefs have a weak offense and a average qb
That is not the case with any of the NFC teams left when it comes to offense and their QB
The Pats did nothing impressive yesterday. The Texans having one of the worst qb's in nfl history is why the Texans lost the game
You know what was impressive? That they didn't play their best and still won by 18 against a top notch defense.
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