Explosive offence of Patriots faces NFL’s top defence
Matchup an ‘incredible challenge’
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. —Once Tom Brady gets their offence rolling, the New England Patriots are tough to stop.
Some of the NFL’s top teams — Denver, Detroit, Cincinnati and Indianapolis — all lost to the AFC champions by at least 22 points.
Now the Patriots are in the Super Bowl against defending champion Seattle, whose four losses were by a total of 22 points. “This is an incredible defensive unit,” Patriots offensive co-ordinator Josh McDaniels said. “They can take the ball away from you. They can get to the quarterback. They can stop the run. It will be an incredible challenge.”
The Seahawks, with the NFL’s best defence, could stage their second straight Super Bowl blowout, having beaten the Broncos 43-8 last year. Pretty close to the Patriots’ 45-7 pasting of the Colts in last Sunday’s AFC title game.
“The coaches prepare us for whatever we need to get the win,” said fullback James Develin. Even if it involves him catching a one-yard touchdown pass, his 11th reception in 37 NFL games, as he did Sunday.
Or offensive tackle Nate Solder being eligible in that game to catch a 16-yard scoring pass. Or having backup offensive lineman Cameron Fleming line up as an eligible receiver nearly 30 times against Indianapolis.
“I certainly think it’s been a staple of our team that when we need a play, different guys have stepped up all year long and we’ve been able to produce points to win games,” said special teams captain Matthew Slater. And they’ve had plenty.
In consecutive games, the Patriots beat Cincinnati 43-17 and Buffalo 37-22.
After a 27-25 squeaker over the New York Jets, the runaways resumed — 51-23 over Chicago, 43-21 over Denver, 42-20 over Indianapolis and 34-9 over Detroit.
In those 20-plus-point wins, the Patriots scored on their first six possessions against Chicago, three of their first four of the second half against Denver, all four of the second half against Indianapolis before running out the clock and four in a row to end the first half against Detroit.
In the next six games, there was just one trouncing, 41-13 over Miami. That was nearly the last one — until they overcame two 14-point deficits to beat Baltimore 35-31 in their AFC divisional playoff game. That narrow victory gave them a chance for a bigger one. The Colts were about to be crushed again.
Leading 17-7 at halftime, the Patriots scored touchdowns on their first four possessions of the second half.
The high-scoring roll began with a 43-17 win over Cincinnati the week after a 41-14 drubbing by Kansas City left the Patriots at 2-2. Beating the Bengals launched them on a 7-1 run with five of those games against playoff teams.
“It seemed like every team was at the top of their division and playing really well. In the end, it probably served us well,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “It was a very competitive schedule. Our guys had to prepare and work really hard every week to be ready for those challenges. They did that.”
Now there’s just one left.