The New England Patriots delivered a convincing and dominant performance on Saturday night, blowing out the visiting Tennessee Titans 35-14 in the divisional playoff round. New England's dominant victory ends the Titans' season while simultaneously securing the reigning world champions a spot in the AFC Championship Game – yet again.
As has been the case for the last six years, the road to representing the AFC in the Super Bowl will lead through the Patriots: For an NFL-record seventh straight season, New England has reached the conference title game. The past six such games saw the Patriots advance to the Super Bowl three times, twice in front of a Gillette Stadium home crowd.
Let's take a look at the games:
2011 vs. Baltimore Ravens: W 23-20
2012 vs. Baltimore Ravens: L 13-28
2013 at Denver Broncos: L 16-26
2014 vs. Indianapolis Colts: W 45-7
2015 at Denver Broncos: L 18-20
2016 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: W 36-17
As the conference's number one playoff seed, New England will host the AFC Championship Game against either the Pittsburgh Steelers – a rematch of last year's title game – or the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, January 21 at 3:05 p.m. ET. When hosting the conference finals, the Patriots are 3-1 over the last seven years.