Jags thought they had it
Jacksonville free safety Tashaun Gipson thought the Jaguars’ 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter was more than Patriots quarterback Tom Brady could overcome.
Gipson’s misguided assumption ran counter to Patriots playoff history in the era of coach Bill Belichick and Brady, who teamed up with receiver Danny Amendola to dismember the Jaguars’ vaunted secondary with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns and claim a 24-20 win in yesterday’s AFC Championship Game.
“The biggest thing about our season was the AFC Championship Game and we wasn’t able to close it out,” Gipson said. “We are up 20-10 with 10 minutes left and I had confidence we would walk out with a victory.
“There are things you can learn from (this) and you just have to find a way to finish. We have always been a defense that has been able to finish. Unfortunately these weren’t normal circumstances and we were dealing with the best quarterback in NFL history.”
The defending champion Pats advanced to the Super Bowl for the 10th time in franchise history. Just a week ago, Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey boldly guaranteed it would be his team in that game.
“We did all right but we didn’t win, so that’s what matters at the end of the day and it is tough, dog,” Ramsey said. “We had bigger goals and bigger aspirations, but I mean we are all pretty pissed off about not winning.
“But at the end of the day we got to reflect on the season and be proud of ourselves to a point. We brought each other closer together and did our thing to get this far. But we’ve got to figure out a way to get back and do a little extra to make it to the next level.”
The Jaguars secondary kept Amendola under wraps throughout the first half, holding him to a pair of catches for 28 yards. Amendola became Brady’s target of choice after tight end Ron Gronkowski exited with a head injury late in the second quarter.
Amendola had five catches in the second half that included touchdown receptions of 9 and 4 yards in the fourth quarter. He also notched a key 21-yard catch on third-and-18 from the Pats’ 25-yard line that jump-started the first of those drives.
“We were in a zone and he found openings,” Ramsey said. “When we were in man-to-man he was pretty quiet. So in the zone he found (an) opening and he is good at that, and Tom did what he does.”