The New England Patriots look to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars and clinch another trip to the Super Bowl. The Patriots need quarterback Tom Brady to be as healthy as possible and overcome his hand injury, while the New England defense must be ready to stop the #1 rushing offense in the NFL.

Can the Patriots beat the Jaguars? Watch to find out.

Pregame Show

Game Details

Date: Sunday, January 21st, 2018

Location: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts

Kickoff: 3:05 PM ET

Line: Patriots -7.5

O/U: 46

SB Nation Affiliates: BigCatCountry.com

TV: CBS

Channels: Courtesy of the New England Patriots media guide.

Boston, Mass. WBZ-TV Channel 4

Online Streaming: NFL Game Pass for international viewers, 98.5 The Sports Hub Online Radio Stream. Yahoo! Sports is also providing streaming on their mobile app on all mobile providers.

Use this as the open thread for discussion.

First Quarter

• Tom Brady and the Patriots offense marched down the field to get a first and goal, but the Jaguars defense stepped up and a third down sack by Dante Fowler forced the Patriots to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
• The Jaguars responded with a lot of touch attempts for their running backs, but Kyle Van Noy and Malcolm Butler forced two incompletions to force a Jacksonville punt around midfield.
• The Patriots were unable to drive when they got the ball back and gave it back to the Jaguars, who made it to the Patriots 28-yard line by the end of the quarter.

Second Quarter

• The Patriots failed to cover Leonard Fournette out of the backfield, who ran to the goal line, and didn’t cover tight end Marcedes Lewis, who caught a touchdown to give the Jaguars a 7-3 lead.
• New England went three-and-out thanks to a missed defensive pass interference call and punted the ball back to the Jaguars.
• The Jaguars immediately drove down the field due to poor tackling by the Patriots on the edge with Leonard Fournette punching in a touchdown for a 14-3 lead.
• The Patriots offense stalled again and New England had to settle for another punt, setting up an opportunity for Jacksonville to score and get the ball back after the half.
• The New England defense finally forced a punt and got the ball back for the offense right before the two-minute warning.
• The New England offense received a few chunks of yards to get into the red zone and James White scampered in for a score to cut the deficit to 14-10.
• Rob Gronkowski went to the locker room with a head injury.

Third Quarter

• Jacksonville opened up the second half with an extended drive that ended with a 54-yard field goal by Josh Lambo for a 17-10 lead.
• The Patriots failed to respond after Cooks dropped a huge gain, forcing New England to punt at midfield. Gronkowski is still in the locker room.
• New England’s defense did an outstanding job forcing the Jaguars to lose yardage, forcing a punt and giving the ball back to Tom Brady and the offense at midfield.
• Unfortunately, the Patriots responded with an uninspired three-and-out.
• Jacksonville moved the ball down the field as Blake Bortles rolled out of the pocket and stressed the Patriots linebackers in coverage.

Fourth Quarter

• The Jaguars drive stalled with Bortles’ incomplete pass on third down and they settled for a field goal and a 20-10 lead that seems insurmountable for a Patriots offense that has failed to gain 30 yards on five of their past six drives.
• The Patriots offense had a fantastic trick play to Dion Lewis, but he was caught from behind by Myles Jack who ripped the ball free for a forced fumble and recovery.
• New England’s defense tightened up and forced a punt to give the Patriots another chance to pull within a score. An early sack by Marcell Dareus and a desperation second-and-18 deep pass to Chris Hogan looked like a drive-ender, but Brady found Amendola and Phillip Dorsett on consecutive plays to get into scoring position and Amendola did the rest to get into the end zone for a touchdown, closing the score to 20-17.
• The Patriots special teams stepped up on the return with Matthew Slater taking down the returnman and the defense did their job, getting the ball back to Brady and the offense with 6:21 left in the game.
• Brady immediately targeted Brandin Cooks, who drew a 36-yard defensive pass interference flag, but that was all the Patriots got after Brady threw three straight incomplete passes, punting the ball and giving it back to the Jaguars on their 10-yard line.
• The Patriots defense did an outstanding job of holding the Jaguars to -1 yards on a three-and-out and Danny Amendola returned the punt to the Jaguars 30-yard line, already in field goal range.
• Brady immediately connected with James White for a 15-yard gain and found Amendola for an 8-yard gain that involved a barrel roll for the final three yards and a quarterback sneak by Brady himself to set up a first-and-goal before finding Amendola for a touchdown and a huge 24-20 lead.
• The Jaguars went right back to work and moved into Patriots territory on just two plays, but great coverage by Marquis Flowers resulted in an incomplete pass and James Harrison and Kyle Van Noy combined for a strip sack to set up a third-and-19 at the two-minute warning, but Jacksonville only gained four yards on third down and Stephon Gilmore broke up the fourth down pass to force a turnover on downs.
• The Patriots were trying to run out the clock and force the Jaguars to use their timeouts and New England ran for almost no yards on their first two plays until Dion Lewis converted a huge third down run to move the chains and win the game for New England.
• The Patriots win 24-20 and will head to Super Bowl LII.