Patriots set record with win over Texans, Falcons destroy Seahawks in NFL playoffs
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts - The New England Patriots are headed back to a familiar spot: the AFC championship game.
Dion Lewis had a 13-yard touchdown reception, a 98-yard kickoff return for a score, and a late 1-yard touchdown to help the Patriots hold off the Houston Texans 34-16 on Saturday night and advance to an NFL-record sixth straight conference title game.
New England will host the winner of Sunday night’s Pittsburgh-Kansas City matchup next Sunday for the right to play in the Super Bowl in Houston on Feb. 5.
“Whoever we play next week is going to be a great football team,” Tom Brady said. “We’re going to have to play better than we played tonight on offense.”
Lewis became the fifth Patriots player to score three touchdowns in a playoff game. He’s also the first player in the Super Bowl era to score on a rush, a catch and a kick return in a postseason game.
“I just approached it that I would be in there on every play. That’s just the way I prepare,” Lewis said. “So when it does happen, I won’t be surprised. I’ll always be ready.”
Bill Belichick’s Patriots survived a gritty effort by the Texans’ top-ranked defense, which intercepted Brady twice. Houston’s special teams also forced a third turnover.
But the Texans couldn’t find enough traction on offense to take full advantage of the Patriots’ mistakes, settling for field goals on both of Brady’s picks.
New England led just 17-13 at the half, but pushed its lead to 24-13 early in the third quarter on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Brady to James White.
Houston’s Brock Osweiler was intercepted three times after that, and the Texans managed only a field goal the rest of game.
It was the first breakout game of the season for Lewis, who spent the first eight games of the season on injured reserve recovering from offseason surgery on his left knee.
Brady finished 18 of 38 for 287 yards and two touchdowns and was showered with chants of “MVP! MVP!” and “Brady! Brady!” late in the game. Julian Edelman was Brady’s most dependable target, catching eight passes for 137 yards.
Osweiler was just 23 of 40 for 198 yards with the two turnovers.
“You need to capitalize on great opportunities against a football team like this,” Osweiler said. “That’s my fault, I’ll clean that up.”
When New England did have the ball in the first half, it gave Houston a steady diet of Lewis early with LeGarrette Blount coming off an illness that limited him during practice this week.
Without Blount to contend with, the Texans applied pressure to Brady.
A.J. Bouye intercepted a slightly overthrown ball by Brady late in the first quarter on a pass that bounced out of the hands of receiver Michael Floyd. That led to a 27-yard field goal that cut New England’s lead to 14-6.
On the ensuing kickoff, Lewis coughed up the ball on a hit from Akeem Dent. Eddie Pleasant fell on it at the Patriots 12, and two plays later, Brock Osweiler hit C.J. Fiedorowicz from 8 yards out to cut the deficit to 14-13.
Brady only threw two interceptions during the regular season. With his 28 touchdown passes, that was the lowest touchdown to interception ratio in NFL history.
ATLANTA FALCONS 36, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 20
ATLANTA - Matt Ryan hardly resembled a quarterback who can’t win the big games.
No, this looked more like an MVP.
Returning to the postseason for the first time in four years, Ryan threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Atlanta Falcons past the Seattle Seahawks 36-20 in the divisional round Saturday.
The Falcons are headed to the NFC championship game for only the fourth time in their 51-year history, and they’re on quite a roll with Matty Ice at the helm.
He finished up to chants of “MVP! MVP! MVP” from a raucous Georgia Dome crowd that gave the Seahawks a dose of what it’s like for opposing teams at CenturyLink Field.
“It was pretty cool considering the circumstances, too, with the game in hand,” Ryan said. “That’s got to be as loud as it’s ever been in here.”
Ryan turned in another dynamic performance in the best season of his career, shaking off a 1-4 record in his previous playoff appearances.
In an interesting twist, his lone postseason victory before Saturday was a 30-28 thriller over the Seahawks in the divisional round of the 2012 season.
Make it 2-0 over Seattle.
After the Seahawks zipped down the field for a touchdown on the opening possession, Atlanta’s young defense largely shut down Russell Wilson & Co. the rest of the way.
Ryan and the high-scoring Falcons took it from there - getting a huge boost from a holding penalty that wiped out an 80-yard punt return by Devin Hester.
Ryan hooked up with Julio Jones on a 7-yard touchdown and Tevin Coleman for a 14-yard score before finishing off the Seahawks with a 3-yard toss to Mohamed Sanu in the corner of the end zone with just under 4 minutes remaining.
Atlanta moves on to face either the Dallas Cowboys or the Green Bay Packers, who meet Sunday in the NFC’s other divisional-round game.
After a 26-24 loss at Seattle during the regular season, the Falcons showed off all their offensive weapons against the Legion of Boom.
Eight players caught passes from Ryan, including running back Devonta Freeman on a 53-yard play that included a dazzling fake on replacement free safety Steven Terrell right in the middle of the field.
The Seahawks sure missed Earl Thomas, out for the season with a broken leg.
“It’s just really hard to think it’s over,” said coach Pete Carroll, whose team couldn’t follow up a dominating win over Detroit in the opening round.
The game turned dramatically on a holding penalty in the second quarter that negated Hester’s return to the Atlanta 7.
Instead of having first-and-goal and a chance to extend a 10-7 lead, Seattle was backed up to its 7.
“Just a ridiculously large play in the game,” Carroll said.
Especially with what came next. After Thomas Rawls was thrown for a 3-yard loss, Wilson dropped back to pass. One problem: rookie right guard Rees Odhiambo, taking over after Germain Ifedi was injured, stepped back onto Wilson’s foot, sending the quarterback tumbling down in the end zone for a safety.
The Falcons did much better when backed up at their 1, closing out the first half by going 99 yards to make it 19-10. The drive was extended by Sanu’s brilliant, one-handed catch for 22 yards with Jeremy Lane grabbing at his arm.
“They’ve got a lot of momentum,” Carroll said of the Falcons. “This is what they looked like the last four weeks, and they carried that into this game against us.”