Sweet Seventeen

Brady was sacked on the Patriots' first offensive play. The Patriots, though, knocked the rust off their game soon thereafter. Brady took them down the field and zipped a three-yard touchdown pass to Watson to cap their opening drive, that after they converted a fourth-and-five gamble by Belichick along the way. Garrard lost a fumble on a sack by defensive end Ty Warren, and the Patriots cashed in with a one-yard touchdown run by Maroney on the first play of the second quarter. The Jaguars had an immediate reply, driving 95 yards for a tying touchdown. Wideout Ernest Wilford outmaneuvered Samuel to catch a six-yard touchdown pass from Garrard.

The Patriots moved back into scoring position but a chop-block personal foul pushed them backward and Stephen Gostkowski sent a 35-yard field goal try wide right. The Jaguars went nowhere and had the game's first punt, and one kneel-down by Brady ended a first half in which the quarterbacks combined for only two incompletions. Brady was 12 for 12 and Garrard was 12 for 14.

Brady also connected on his first four passes of the second half before having a throw go through Watson's hands for an incompletion. No matter. The Patriots' opening drive of the third quarter ended with a six-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Welker. Brady froze the Jacksonville defense on the play by leaping to pretend the ball had been snapped over his head in shotgun formation. Brady actually had caught the snap cleanly. But after landing he hid the ball by his right hip momentarily with his back to the defense, then turned and fired a pass to Welker in the back of the end zone.

Garrard continued doing his part in the quarterback duel, but a dropped pass by wide receiver Dennis Northcutt at the Patriots 2 left the Jaguars having to settle for a 39-yard field goal by kicker Josh Scobee. Against the Patriots, field goals aren't good enough. Brady's nine-yard touchdown pass to Watson upped the lead to 28-17.

"They were open every time," Brady said. "It's easy to play quarterback when you have receivers that are always open and an offensive line that never lets anyone hit you."

Brady's completion rate of 93 percent broke the NFL's single-game postseason record held by Phil Simms at 88 percent, with a 22-for-25 outing for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXI.

Another Scobee field goal got the Jaguars to within 28-20 early in the fourth quarter. But a 53-yard pass from Brady to wide receiver Donte' Stallworth set up a Gostkowski field goal, just after Welker's third-down drop, and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison intercepted a Garrard pass.