It’s another Super Bowl for Brady and the Patriots
Give them a hand: Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl.
Brady shook off a hand injury and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola with 2:48 remaining, rallying the Patriots to a 24-20 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC championship yesterday.
Brady, wearing a black bandage on his right hand after hurting it during practice last week, showed no signs of being hampered.
And, with the game and possibly the season on the line, the Patriots star came up big again.
‘‘I’ve had a lot worse,’' Brady said. ‘‘I didn’t know that on Wednesday. It was a crazy injury. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday was a little scary. Then I started getting some confidence and today we did just enough to win.’'
Brady finished 26 of 38 for 290 yards and two touchdowns for the Patriots (15-3), who’ll play NFC champions the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Minnesota Vikings 38-7 yesterday, Minneapolis on February 4.
It’s the eighth Super Bowl appearance for Brady and coach Bill Belichick, who have won five times, including last year’s 34-28 overtime rally against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Jaguars (12-7) led 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold against the defending champions. Jacksonville, looking to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, had one more shot, but Blake Bortles’ throw on fourth-and-15 to Dede Westbrook was knocked away by Stephon Gilmore. in
The Patriots then ran out the clock, with Dion Lewis’ 18-yard scamper with 90 seconds remaining sealing the victory. And they did it mostly without tight end Rob Gronkowski, who left the game late in the first half and didn’t return.
Brady was listed as questionable after he hurt his right hand during practice last week. He was limited on Thursday, sat out Friday and was limited again on Saturday because of the injury.
That caused some panic among the Patriots faithful.
Turns out, it was nothing to fret about.