Pats smash Titans, move to AFC Final
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. First, the Patriots tuned out a week full of off-field drama. Then, they silenced the Titans to earn yet another trip to the AFC championship game.
Tom Brady passed for three touchdowns and 337 yards, and New England cruised past Tennessee 35-14 on Saturday night to advance to their seventh consecutive conference title game.
New England (14-3) will host the winner of Sunday's divisional matchup between Jacksonville and Pittsburgh.
It was Brady's 10th career post-season game with at least three TD tosses, moving him past Joe Montana for the most in NFL history. James White caught a touchdown pass and ran for another, and Danny Amendola had 11 catches for 112 yards. EAGLES 15, FALCONS 10 With Nick Foles engineering several long drives, Jake Elliott converting three field goals, and the defence getting stingy in the tightest spot, Philadelphia moved into the NFC championship game with a victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Foles directed brilliant marches of 74 and 80 yards in the second half - one into the whipping wind, the other with it - and Elliott atoned for missing an extra point by converting from 53 yards at the end of the second quarter, 37 and 21 in the second half. VIKINGS 29, SAINTS 24
As Case Keenum convened the Minnesota huddle with 10 seconds left, the situation staring down the Vikings was as simple as it was daunting.
With the go-ahead field goal by the New Orleans Saints that silenced this deafening stadium still fresh in the air, the Vikings were well beyond any moment of anxiety. All that was left for Keenum to do on that last snap was to throw the ball up
like he used to do in his Texas backyards and hope for the best.
Keenum completed his last-ditch heave near the sideline Sunday on the game's final play to Stefon Diggs, who slithered away from the Saints for a 61-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 29-24 victory and a spot in the NFC championship game at Philadelphia. JAGUARS 45, STEELERS 42
Rookie running back Leonard Fournette ran for 109 yards and three touchdowns, Blake Bortles added 214 yards passing and a vital fourthquarter score as the relentless Jacksonville Jaguars stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers 45-42 on Sunday.
The third-seeded Jaguars (12-6) will face top-seeded New England next week in Foxborough, Massachusetts after jumping on Pittsburgh early, then holding on late. Jacksonville raced to a 21point lead, fended off a Steelers rally and responded every time Pittsburgh (13-4) challenged.