Patriots to 5th straight AFC title game, beat Chiefs 27-20

Two days before the first anniversary of the game that spawned a polemic controversy over deflated footballs, the New England Patriots and their fans gathered for the first playoff game since that contretemps shrouded the franchise for almost nine months.

Counting the game in which he went down, the Patriots were 9-0 with Edelman in the lineup – then went 3-4 without him.

The victory sends Brady to his 10th AFC Championship Game next Sunday against either Denver or Pittsburgh.

Williams, who ran for 907 yards and 11 touchdowns on 200 carries this season and caught 40 passes for 367 yards, will be sidelined by a right foot injury. Brady capped the possession off by throwing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski. I think we had plenty of plays out there that we left on the field, things that we can definitely do better, and I think we can be sharper next week. But when they lost four of their final six games, with the pieces that surround Brady mostly on the bench, battered and bruised and desperately rehabbing, there seemed finally to be daylight in the AFC for another team to slip past the Patriots.

The Patriots offensive line has been beset by injuries all season, with 12 combinations of starters during the regular season.

Edelman took the blame for the drops.

“He’s younger and he’s faster”, she said. You could pull up nearly any game tape from the last 15 years and find some of the very same elements that were visited upon the Chiefs threaded throughout the rest of this remarkable era.

Arizona’s Patrick Peterson appeared to have returned an interception for a 100-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, but it was overturned due to a hands-to-the-face penalty on Cardinals defensive lineman Frostee Rucker. People were assuming (or wanting) this team for once NOT to go to the AFC Championship Game just to see something different.

“That guy has got the heart of a lion”, linebacker Rob Ninkovich said. When the job was finished, Brady jogged off the field without expression, heading toward the locker room looking like a man who had just won a fight.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid says his team experienced problems with their headsets during Saturday’s playoff loss in New England, though they worked fine in the crucial final minutes of the game. “So again, tons of respect for No. 11, and I’m happy that he was able to be out there doing his thing”. Jones apologized on Thursday, and coach Bill Belichick kept him in the starting lineup.

“It’s pretty cool, it’s hard to do”, Brady said.

Denver surrendered 339 yards passing to Roethlisberger, who entered the game with a sore shoulder. However, the impact made by wide receiver Julian Edelman in his first game back from injury was the overwhelming key. They’ll play at Denver next Sunday at 3:05 p.m.

The verdict after the first postseason game, a 27-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday at Gillette Stadium?

Belichick’s team turned the Chiefs’ only turnover into points after Knile Davis coughed it up on the first drive of the second half. Brady targeted him on the Patriots’ second play, although the ball was thrown behind him and fell incomplete.

Now it’s on to another conference title game with a trip to yet another Super Bowl at stake.

It’s been no secret that a New England offense that was essentially reduced to a skeleton crew by the end of the season struggled to sustain long drives and put up points. Then, with first-and-goal and 2 minutes 33 seconds left, the Chiefs allowed 25 seconds to expire before the two-minute warning, and several more seconds to lapse before scoring.

Kansas City made the game closer on a 1-yard touchdown run by Charcandrick West with 1:13 left. New England tight end Gronkowski recovered it, wrapping up the outcome. “That probably hurt us there”.