Jacksonville Jaguars v New England Patriots: AFC championship game – live!

Jaguars 0-3 Patriots, 5:01, 1st quarter

They get to their own 49 and that’s as far as they will get as Malcolm Butler takes down lee. Jaguars end their first possession on a punt.

Jaguars 0-3 Patriots, 6:01, 1st quarter

The Jaguars keep handing going to Leonard Fournette, putting together drives. On 3rd an 2 he passes to Allen Hurns for 3 yards and a first down.

I think the majority of America agrees with you on this one. Also, unrelated, but “Desire” is absolutely brilliant.

Jaguars 0-3 Patriots, 9:21, 1st quarter

The Jaguars defense steps up and forces the Patriots to settle for a field goal. Stephen Gostkowski’s kick is good but that has to feel like a win for Jacksonville.

Jaguars 0-0 Patriots, 11:21, 1st quarter

They don’t quite get a first down in a 3rd & 4 situation They take a timeout to figure out what they’re doing here. It looks like they’re going for it here. It’s 4th and a yard and he hits Damon Amendola, who gets it to the Jacksonville 10. Not very conservative there.

Jaguars 0-0 Patriots, 13:47, 1st quarter

Dion Lewis gets 5 yards on 1st & 10. The next time Brady throws to Brandon Cook for a 31 yard gain. Looks like the hand is fine. They’re at the Jacksonville 39.

Jaguars 0-0 Patriots, 15:00, 1st quarter

It goes into the end zone for a touchback.

Jacksonville wins the coin toss and they will defer, the Patriots will start with possession. We’re almost off.

Meanwhile….

So, is anyone willing to take the Jaguars for this game? I think the only chance they have a chance is if Brady has a terrible game, which (of course) entirely possible if his hand injury is more significant than it seems.

In fact, there’s already chatter that this whole thing is being set up as an excuse if Brady looks terrible today, a line of thinking that would probably sound incredibly paranoid if it weren’t for the fact that this is the Patriots organization we’re talking about. I say that even if the hand is a factor, the Patriots will be able to figure out a way to end Jacksonville’s run. Jaguars 10-20 Patriots.

How they got here

In order to make it to this AFC Championship game, the Jaguars had to first beat the Buffalo Bills, which they did in relatively unexciting fashion: they won by the final score of 10-3 victory. Their wild win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was a lot more exciting. they held on to a 45-42 win after a last second Pittsburgh touchdown made it look like a tighter game than it actually was.

The Patriots, on the other hand, had a bye week and then easily defeated the Tennessee Titans 35-14. One of these teams is a tad more rested than the other, one would think.

BRADY HAND UPDATE. It is now covered in black wrapping of some sort.

There’s only one real story line for today’s AFC Championship Game: Can the Jacksonville Jaguars continue their unexpected playoff run by beating the New England Patriots? If they could pull it off, and it honestly feels like anything is possible at this particular point in history, it would amount to one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.

To make their first Super Bowl, all the Jaguars have to do is defeat the defending champions in the New England Patriots, who are seeking their 7th Super Bowl win/. The Patriots are led by Tom Brady, who is making a strong case for being the greatest quarterback of all time. The Jaguars have Blake Bortles, who is literally a sitcom punchline..

What’s a potential wild card? Well that would be this game’s biggest sublet: How injured is Tom Brady? Earlier this week he suffered some sort of hand injury that prevented him from practicing this week, giving al of New England a good scare. He will definitely be starting, the question is how close he is to 100% and how close to 100% does he need to be for his team to beat the Jaguars? Don’t expect to hear anything from Brady, he actually showed up at Gillette Stadium with his hands in his pockets.

As always we welcome your commentary throughout today’s NFL action. Send us your thoughts, questions, predictions, rants, jokes and what-have-you, either via email (to [email protected]) or Twitter (to @HunterFelt). It’s the AFC Divisional Game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The game starts at 3:05 EST, but we’ll be back well before then.

Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s the latest on the most-talked-about right hand in New England.