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Just how have the Patriots pulled this off?

Tony Massarotti

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 24, 2012|By Tony Massarotti

Former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe congratulated Tom Brady after… (Elsa/Getty Images )

All season long, the issues infiltrated the mind as if part of some impossible brain teaser. The Patriots often looked inept against the pass. They didn’t beat anybody. They don’t run consistently. They can’t throw outside the numbers.

And yet, Bill Belichick and his charges find themselves faced with a rather familiar predicament, only the New York Giants now standing between the Patriots and further immortality.

The imperfect season.

Flustered and confounded by a poised Baltimore Ravens defense that held Tom Brady without a touchdown pass in a postseason game for the first time since January 2002 - remember the time? - the Patriots pulled out a 23-20 victory in the AFC Championship yesterday in a game nothing short of thrilling. Maybe the Patriots got a little lucky. Maybe their defense is crystallizing at just the right time. Maybe they are destined to avenge the defeat that took place four years ago in the Arizona desert, where the Giants claimed a 17-14 victory in Super Bowl XLII that brought a devastating end to New England’s attempt at an unprecedented 19-0 season.

A victory in two weeks will not rewrite history, but it will at least change it a little.

“It wasn’t always perfect,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick fittingly told reporters following his team’s win over the Ravens. “But [Patriots players] fought to the final gun and we came out on top.”

Indeed, even now, it would be fair to ask the following question: just how have the Patriots pulled this off? During the regular season, the Patriots defense ranked 15th in the league in scoring, 31st in yardage and 28th on third down. The Patriots allowed 4.6 yards per rush (24th) and 13 rushing touchdowns (19th). And they did it all against a schedule stuffed with styrofoam peanuts, tissue paper and bubble wrap.

Until yesterday, in fact, the Patriots had not beaten a single team that finished the 2011 regular season with a winning record.

All together now: So what?

Of course, critics of the Giants would be wise to point out that New York finished the regular season at an astonishingly mediocre 9-7, though there is just one small problem: at the moment, head coach Tom Coughlin has his team playing better than just about anybody. In their last five games - all must-wins - the Giants have a claimed a 29-14 win over the New York Jets and a 31-14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys as well as postseason victories over the Atlanta Falcons (24-2), Green Bay Packers (37-20) and the San Francisco 49ers (20-17, in overtime, in last night’s NFC Championship game.) This season, the Giants have toppled the top two seeds in the NFC (the Packers and Niners) as well as the top seed in the AFC (the Patriots), winning all three games on the road.