“We have the heart of a lion,’’ said defensive lineman Willie McGinest. “We fight. We fight. We fight until our opponent is down and out. I’ve never seen this team so happy. We’ve achieved every goal we’ve set out to accomplish to this point. It hasn’t been easy. We give people heart attacks along the way, but we got what we wanted. We have two weeks to prepare. We’re in the playoffs, we’re the AFC East champions, we’re going to get a bye.’’
Parcells was choked up with the emotion of the comeback from a 22-0 halftime deficit.
“I didn’t think we could come back,’’ said the New England coach. “When we got the field goal I got a faint glimmer of hope just to get a score before the end of the third quarter. They’ve got champions’ hearts. We may not be the best team, but this is as happy as we’ve been in a long time.’’
The turning point is open to debate. Was it Meggett’s 60-yard punt return to make it 22-17? Or Brown’s 13-yard reception, on his back, on a third and 13 to the New York 29 with time running out? The clincher was easy. That was a fourth and 7, 13-yard touchdown pass from Bledsoe to Ben Coates with 1:23 remaining that provided the winning margin.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,’’ said Coates, who made an extra effort to get into the end zone and also got a shove from Meggett to push him over the goal line with three defenders trying to keep him out. ``Somebody needed to get it in at that point. It was our final play. I’m just happy we have a chance to go on and realize some more goals.’’
The Patriots had called time right before the play. Coates was not part of the formation that is normally used. In fact, Parcells said Brown was taken out of the game in favor of Coates.
``We didn’t improvise the play,’’ said Parcells. ``We just improvised the people.’’
