Jaguars vs. Patriots: AFC Championship Game preview Published: Jan 19, 2018 at 01:08 AM Around The NFL Podcast Co-Host The Backstory ! Just as surfers in Hawaii stand guard endle sly, month after month, for the definitive wave, football fanatics acro s the land lie in the lurch, awaiting a chink in the mighty ' seemingly impenetrable armor. The early-week storylines revolved around the underdogs, praising offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett's Divisional Round masterpiece in Pittsburgh, painting " " as New England's worst matchup nightmare and anointing executive vice president Tom Coughlin as a gridiron prophet po se sed of a secret epiphany that otherwise unstoppable quarterbacks don't appreciate unanticipated pre sure up the gut. By Thursday morning, those narratives had fallen by the wayside, victims of an on 's throwing hand. Once Brady was downgraded from Wednesday's limited practice to no participation on Thursday, " " took center stage. To what extent the midweek injury limits the quest for an eighth appearance looms as a mystery likely to remain unsolved until Brady lines up under center on Sunday. To this point, word around the Foxborough campfire is cautiously optimistic. Brady is Kolten Wong Jersey active and will play after being listed as . Better yet, tailback appeared on Thursday's edition of , dispensing an a surance that " " about Brady's thumb. "From when I talked to the other guys, I knew he would be OK," Lewis added. "You know it's Tom, so regardle s of any situation he's put in, he's going to be out there game day." Much to Doug Marrone's dismay, Vince Coleman Jersey Brady won't be forced to in his 12th AFC Championship Game. Players to Watch , QB, Jaguars Hackett's aforementioned game-planning brilliance is unrepeatable, exploiting as it did the National Knee-Jerk League's penchant for overreaction to the sweeping, of its weekly story arcs. When Bortles closed out the regular season and regre sed to his in a against the , the emerged from the tunnel utterly that Marrone's philosophy would set the tone. What quickly resulted was offensive football's " ," the rare play-action phenomenon in which the feign works better each time it's used. Over and over again, Hackett provided his embattled quarterback with reliable pa s protection, defined defensive reads and low-risk throws into gaping windows featuring open receivers. Of Bortles' 17 dropbacks (excluding the 13 snaps out of shotgun formation), 15 featured some form of play-action or boot-action -- the only exceptions being a screen pa s and a fumbled center exchange. Between the play design, strategic timing and execution, it might be a long time before we witne s a more impre sive job of hiding a remedial quarterback's obvious flaws while simultaneously building his confidence over the course of four quarters. While Bortles deserves credit for pulling the trigger on a handful of challenging throws as Jacksonville's commanding lead narrowed in the final frame, he's facing a more prepared opponent this time around. As talented as any team in the league, the were ultimately done in by failures in situational football -- the one area that perhaps most defines the . Expect Belichick and likely head coach Matt Patricia to employ a heavy dose of man-to-man coverage, challenging Jacksonville's young receivers to separate, spying Bortles' dangerous legs on third downs and forcing the scattershot signal-caller to make stick throws into tighter windows. , TE, Patriots For all of the hullabaloo over Brady's status, his All-Pro tight end is the engine that makes the 2017 attack go. As dominant as Gronkowski has been throughout his , he's never been more important to Brady than the past few months. The first NFL tight ends were offensive linemen sneaking outside for the occasional reception in football's dark ages before legend George Halas split Mike Ditka in 1961. As general manager Steve Keim a few years ago, today's tight ends tend to be limited players who fall into one of two categories: overgrown wide receivers struggling with blocking chores at the point of the attack or inline blocking specialists lacking the skill set to threaten defenses as effective pa s catchers. The exception to that modern dichotomy is Gronkowski, to stand as the evolutionary tight end capable of swinging the with an the likes of which the position has rarely -- if ever -- seen. Whereas Gronkowski broke the mould as a well-rounded behemoth with no weakne ses, natural selection on the other side of the ball has Marcell Ozuna Jersey yet to generate a monstrous safety-cornerback-linebacker hybrid capable of shutting down the freakishly athletic tight ends and elusive scat backs in man coverage. Jacksonville defensive coordinator Todd Wash happens to boast a pair of intriguing contenders, however. Speaking of Defensive Player of the Year candidate , special teams ace recently marveled, "The good Lord made that guy, and he said, ' .' And there he is." While Ramsey has in service of stopping Gronkowski, safety has offered an alternative solution. The will upset the if they shut down Gronkowski, Jefferson predicted on . "And I think the way they do that is ... great cover guy." A promising theory, but "even when Rob is covered, ," as normally taciturn Belichick is all too happy to acknowledge. If the are truly going to " Dexter Fowler Jersey shut down" the tight-end juggernaut, they will need an unholy mashup of Jack's physical strength, Ramsey's elite coverage ability as well as injured safety 's range and instincts. Key matchup vs. front seven How prescient does general manager Dave Caldwell look now in light of his post-draft pronouncement that the Fournette pick signals a move to " " for Jacksonville? An instant impact game-changer for Caldwell's outfit, the 2017 's No. 4 overall pick has exhibited a season-long trend of running like a chain-moving beast when healthy. Struggling through nagging lower-body injuries in the second half of the season, though, Fournette tends to gain hesitance and loses explosivene s when he's le s than 100 percent -- naturally. This presents a problem for Hackett's play-action attack at Gillette Stadium. Although Fournette is fully expected to for Sunday's tilt, he joins Brady as a mystery wrapped in a pregame riddle. Prior to aggravating his ankle injury at the six-minute mark of the second quarter last week, the former LSU star had rushed 12 times for 72 yards (6.0 yards per carry) with eight carries of five or more yards. After the injury, conversely, a le s fluid Fournette managed just 27 yards on 13 carries (2.08 YPC) with just one run of five yards. Already an extreme north-south runner, Keith Hernandez Jersey he seemed to lose all semblance of lateral agility as the game played out. The figure to and hammer their smashmouth rookie into the teeth of a defense that largely abandoned its "big nickel" pa s-defense package in favor of a 4-3 run-stuffing base against Tenne see last week. Will Fournette's ankle be up to the formidable task? Prediction As foolish as it would be to undersell a capable of destroying the pocket and wreaking havoc in the secondary, it's equally as short-sighted to overlook the most powerful head coach-quarterback-tight end triad in NFL history, bolstered by the over the past month. New England's hallmark under Belichick is the reliable ability to distill an intricate plan designed to exploit the specific strengths and weakne ses of that week's opponent. Jacksonville, on the other hand, is the quinte sential frontrunner, in dire need of an early lead to hide their quarterback, maximize their ground attack, pin their pa s rusher's ears back and unleash their ballhawking defensive backs. When the lights shine brightest in January and early February, I've learned not to doubt the lethal combination of Belichick's beautiful mind enhanced by Brady's cold-blooded a sa sin tendencies. 27, 16 This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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