Road to Super Bowl XLVI: Pats' offense made it look easy
Football Betting Lines
01/30/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - History will show that the New England Patriots did not beat a team with a winning record during the 2011 regular season. That perhaps made them their own worst enemy during their march to Super Bowl XLVI.
For the second straight season, the Patriots went into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the AFC. While last year's campaign ended with a disappointing loss to the New York Jets in the Divisional Round, New England used a customary explosive offense and some big-time rallies to earn a spot in this Super Bowl and a rematch with Gotham's other resident, the Giants, from the two clubs' memorable clash in the NFL's championship game four years ago.
It's the same Giants who also handed the Patriots one of their three regular- season losses in 2011. In fact, the Giants (9-7) and Pittsburgh (12-4) were the only teams that New England faced during the regular season that ended with a record above .500. Both games culminated in losses, as did a Week 3 affair with Buffalo that was part of the Bills' 3-0 start that ultimately ended with a 6-10 finish.
In total, seven of New England's 13 regular-season victories came against teams that ended with a mark of 8-8, so it at least won the games it was supposed to.
Regardless of who the Patriots lined up against, it was still a dominating effort by Tom Brady and the offense that carried the club all season long. While the defense ranked 31st in the league in yards allowed per game, the Brady-led offense set a new team record with 6,848 net yards and finished the season with 513 points. That marked New England's fifth straight year with 400 points or more and second in a row over the 500 mark.
New England showed right off the bat just how talented the offense was. The Pats set a new team record for total yards in a game with 622 in a 38-24 season-opening win over Miami, a contest that featured a 99-yard touchdown pass from Brady to wide receiver Wes Welker.
The duo didn't slow down all season, with Welker leading the AFC with 1,569 receiving yards. Brady's other favorite target, tight end Rob Gronkowski, finished second with 1,327 yards to go along with an incredible 17 touchdown catches. Gronkowski's yardage and touchdown totals both set NFL single-season records by a tight end.
Brady, meanwhile, set a new personal record with 5,235 passing yards, a number that broke Dan Marino's league single-season mark but was also eclipsed in 2011 by New Orleans' Drew Brees (5,476 yards).
New England would go on to post 1,621 yards of offense over its first three games, but was just 2-1 thanks to a 34-31 defeat in Buffalo on Sept. 25 in which Brady threw four interceptions and the defense allowed 448 yards.
The Patriots quickly rebounded with consecutive wins over Oakland, the New York Jets and Dallas prior to their bye week. They then came out of the break with two tough games -- at Pittsburgh and home versus the Giants -- and were held to just 213 yards of offense in a 25-17 defeat to the Steelers.
Seven days later, the Patriots led the Giants by three points following a 14- yard touchdown pass from Brady to Gronkowski with 1:36 remaining. However, Eli Manning took his offense 80 yards and hit tight end Jake Ballard for the game- winning score with 15 ticks left on the clock as New York pulled out a 24-20 win.
Not only did that result send the Patriots to a second straight loss, but it ended their 20-game home winning streak.
"We're not playing the way we're capable of playing - so try to figure out the reasons why." Brady said at the time. "We keep practicing. We keep battling out there. I'll say that there's a lot of fight in the guys."
The Giants' game was also a preview of something that would plague the Pats down the stretch: Slow starts.
Though New England hasn't lost since that setback to New York, it hasn't always been easy. The Patriots didn't score their first points versus the Giants until 5:29 left in the third quarter, but a solid defensive effort that featured a scoreless first half kept them in it.
Still, it was a sign of things to come. New England gave up 10 quick points in Philadelphia on Nov. 27 before settling down for a 38-20 win. The following week against 0-11 Indianapolis, the Pats allowed 21 fourth-quarter points before holding on for a 31-24 win. Not helping was the fact that New England was held to only three points by the then-winless team in the first quarter.
Consecutive road wins at Washington and Denver led to New England clinching the AFC East, filling in one check box for the Patriots.
"That's one of our goals at the start of the season: to meet the challenge of our division, and our players have done that," said head coach Bill Belichick following the division-clinching 41-23 win over Denver on Dec. 18. "We are 6-2 on the road. They've done a good job. They've met a lot of challenges and this was a big one."
Though New England won its final two home games of the season to lock up the AFC's top seed, the games were far from walkovers despite being against a pair of eventual 6-10 opponents. The Patriots trailed Miami 17-0 before rallying for a 27-24 victory, and an even bigger comeback was in the cards eight days later versus the Bills.
Buffalo scored the game's first 21 points in a Week 17 rematch on New Year's Day, but Brady and company responded with 480 yards of offense and 49 unanswered points for a 49-21 triumph.
"It's not planned that way," Brady said afterward. "There's no panic. I don't feel like the guys on the sidelines really panic. I just feel like it's really a matter of execution, and we started executing better and we put points on the board."
Still, the three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback knew that the Patriots might not be as lucky in the postseason, so they gave it all they had against visiting Denver in the Divisional Round. New England set single-game franchise playoff records for points and net yards (509), including 146 on the ground, in the 45-10 rout of the Broncos, with Brady matching an NFL playoff record with six touchdown passes in one game. Three of those, of course, went to Gronkowski, giving him a share of the postseason single-game record for that category.
Things were much tighter the following weekend in a 23-20 triumph over Baltimore, which outgained the AFC East champs by a 398-330 margin in total yards and nearly forced overtime before Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining.
In fact, it may have been Brady's worst performance of the season. While the former league MVP did put New England ahead for good with a one-yard touchdown dive with 11:29 to play, he was picked off twice and held without a touchdown pass for the first time in two years.
"I sucked pretty bad today," Brady said during the on-field ceremony that followed the AFC Championship, "but our defense saved us."
That was a pretty harsh assessment for a man who had just matched Joe Montana for the most career playoff wins (16) in a career. Brady, though, praised his teammates in the locker room afterwards.
"We won 10 straight games and they haven't all been pretty. We've started slow, we've started fast. The offense has played really well at times; the defense has played really well at times. It's a pretty mentally-tough team. There's really some resiliency, we've shown that all season. Even in the games we've lost, the three games we lost, we fought until the end."
The Pats will need to be prepared mentally for this game as well, given their recent history with the Giants. Not only does New York already own one victory over New England this season, but this second meeting also serves as a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, a contest in which the Pats were undone by Manning's incredible late-game pass to David Tyree, who cradled the ball against his headgear after his quarterback escaped pressure. Known as "The Helmet Catch," the play extended the drive and helped set up New York's go-ahead touchdown in a 17-14 win.
That loss ended New England's bid for a perfect season as well, but the good news for the Patriots is that all roads lead forward, not backwards.
"It's in the past. We can't do anything about our past," running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis said. "We have to do something about our future moving forward and how we prepare for those guys. We know they're a good team, so we have to be ready."
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Police report: Terrell Owens hospitalized after attempt
Terrell Owens will address the media at a 3:15 p.m. ET news conference outside the Cowboys' practice facility after an internal police report indicated he tried to kill himself by overdosing on prescription pain medication, even putting two more pills into his mouth after a friend intervened.
The Dallas police report said Owens was asked by rescue workers "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time [he] stated, 'Yes.'"
Owens left the hospital late Wednesday morning, giving reporters a "thumbs up" but making no comment as he was driven away in an SUV.
Michael Irvin said that Owens denied he attempted suicide and said he was rushed to the hospital as a result of an adverse reaction to medication. And a source close to Owens told Michael A. Smith that Owens wasn't attempting suicide.
NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders said he spoke with Owens shortly before his release from the hospital and that Owens was in good spirits.
"The fact that it has been reported a suicide attempt, he's laughed at that notion. It was a case that medication that was taken wasn't accepted well in his system with the other vitamins he's on," Sanders said.
The series of events began a little before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Owens' publicist, Kim Etheredge, said she was at Owens' home when he took pain medicine for his broken right hand. Concerned by how he began acting, Etheredge said in various interviews Wednesday with Dallas-area media that she called 911. Owens was taken to a hospital, with Etheredge saying it was an allergic reaction to the medicine.
But early Wednesday, several media outlets received a police report -- that had yet to be released by the authorities -- saying Owens had attempted suicide by overdosing on the painkillers, even putting two more pills into his mouth after an unidentified friend intervened.
The police document, first reported by WFAA-TV, said Owens was asked by rescue workers "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time [he] stated, 'Yes.'"
When officially released by police, about half the document was blacked out, including the phrases "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication" and "a drug overdose," as well as the details of Owens having two pills pried from his mouth and Owens saying "Yes" when asked if he intended to harm himself.
Etheredge, who said she was the friend cited in the police document, told Dallas-area media Wednesday that the police got the story wrong.
The tape of the 911 call could help clear things up. The Associated Press filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get its contents, but fire department officials said it would not be available before late Wednesday.
The police report said the 32-year-old Owens told his friend "that he was depressed." Details of the police report were first reported by WFAA-TV.
The friend, who is not identified in the report, "noticed that [his] prescription pain medication was empty and observed [Owens] putting two pills in his mouth," the police report said.
Using her fingers, the friend attempted to pry them out of Owens' mouth. Owens told police he had taken only five of the 40 pain pills in the bottle he'd emptied before the incident.
Etheredge told the Star-Telegram that Owens was "fine."
Etheredge said she called 911 because Owens was groggy and lethargic. After taking some supplements "it kicked in a reaction" with the painkillers, she told the Star-Telegram.
"Here's a person whose body is so clean, it really had a negative reaction to the medication and supplements he was taking," Etheridge told The Morning News. "Thank goodness someone was there to call an ambulance."
Police Lt. Rick Watson said he could only confirm that paramedics called police to say they were taking Owens to the hospital. He said no more details would come from the police because no laws were broken.
It is not a crime in Texas for a person to attempt suicide.
"This is a high-profile person. We looked into it and we determined it is not a criminal offense," Watson said. "This a medical type of situation that occurred."
Watson and fire department spokesman Joel Lavender cited privacy laws for the lack of information they could provide. Lavender said more details could come from the 911 call. The Associated Press filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get the contents of the call.
"Let's just look at the tape, review the tape," Lavender said. "I'll give you an honest answer once I know something."
At the police news conference, Watson released a version of the police narrative with certain sections blacked out. The full report was obtained by several news outlets and reported first by WFAA. The AP received the full version from WFAA.
According to the police report, Dallas Fire and Rescue was called regarding someone "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication." Officers arrived to find Owens being stabilized by ambulance workers, who then took him to Baylor University Medical Center.
Owens was hospitalized late Tuesday because of what his publicist said was an allergic reaction to pain medicine he was taking for a broken hand. Doctors reportedly tried to induce vomiting.
Owens, one of the league's top receivers during his 11-year NFL career, is best known for wild stunts on the field and other publicity-seeking antics off it.
When the Cowboys signed him to a $25 million, three-year deal in March, they said their background checks indicated no red flags. In fact, team consultant Calvin Hill -- who mostly deals with troubled players -- said during training camp that his department was not involved with Owens because he didn't have a history of those kinds of problems.
He missed most of training camp, and three of four preseason games, because of a hamstring injury. He was late for work during his recovery and was fined for it, but Owens laughed it off, saying he overslept. He said it had happened before, though not with Dallas, and would probably happen again.
Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger during a game a week ago Sunday. The next day, doctors screwed in a plate so the bone could heal without fear of further damage. Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said last week that the pain medicine made Owens ill.
Owens had not practiced since the injury, but because Dallas had a bye this past weekend he did not miss a game. He was expected to practice Wednesday, and Parcells had said there was a chance Owens could play Sunday against Tennessee.
Owens had been especially looking forward to the Cowboys' game after that -- Oct. 8, in Philadelphia, against the team that dumped him midway through last season only months after he helped them nearly win the Super Bowl.
Owens was seen laughing and joking on the practice field Tuesday morning. He chatted briefly with reporters in the locker room in the afternoon and seemed fine. A 2-inch scar on the top of his hand was puffy but not wrapped, and he said the swelling was doing down.
While in the locker room, he took a pill from a white paper bag and looked at another medicine bottle that was in the bag. He also called a business partner about a towel-wrap venture they're starting and joked to TV cameras that he wasn't talking until Wednesday and it was only Tuesday.
"My little boy knows better than that," he said, laughing, as he plopped onto a sofa in the middle of the locker room.
Also Tuesday, Owens was involved in launching a national campaign for the National Alliance to End Abuse, an organization aimed at helping at-risk youngsters. He appeared at a high school Tuesday morning and was scheduled to visit others but had to cancel because of changes in the team's practice schedule.
Owens has played two games for the Cowboys, catching nine passes for 99 yards and a touchdown. For updated football betting lines and Dallas Cowboy Superbowl odds visit online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
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