DYNASTY DIES IN DENVER.Byline: BILLY WITZ The New England Patriots  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled until (UTC) due to vandalism. simply didn't look like two-time
defending Super Bowl champions <onlyinclude>This is a list of Super Bowl champions, that is, all the franchises that have won the championship game of the National Football League. Super Bowls are held in an American city that is chosen years in advance. .
They made four turnovers. A decision by coach Bill Belichick Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. backfired.
Adam Vinatieri missed a fourth-quarter field goal. Tom Brady made a big mistake. And the Patriots' reign was over, as they suffered a 27-13 defeat Saturday at Denver in the AFC's divisional playoffs. Brady's interception in the third quarter that Champ Bailey returned 100 yards to the New England 1-yard line spelled the end for the champs. It all went horribly wrong for the Patriots. It was Brady's first interception in the postseason since the Super Bowl two years ago against Carolina, a span of 148 consecutive passes. That was also the last time Vinatieri missed a field goal in the postseason. The two fumbles late in the second quarter put the Patriots behind at the half for the first time in the postseason since they trailed the St. Louis Rams Turnovers had had plagued the Patriots all season. Their turnover ratio was minus-6 and they were the only team that reached the playoffs that was in the red. In the past two seasons, they were a total of plus-23. The Patriots had been playing uphill since they reported to training camp without linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who suffered a stroke last February. In September, they lost safety Rodney Harrison and tackle Matt Light to injuries for the season. Their best defensive lineman, Richard Seymour, missed virtually all of October. Their best offensive lineman, center Dan Koppen, has been out since mid-November. Bruschi and Seymour returned, and the Patriots won six of seven down the stretch to conjure up or make visible, as a spirit, by magic arts; hence, to invent; as, to conjure up a story; to conjure up alarms s>. See also: Conjure memories of ghosts of playoff runs past - particularly for fans in Indianapolis. But even with a 28-3 win over Jacksonville last week in an AFC (1) (Application Foundation Classes) A class library from Microsoft that provides an application framework and graphics, graphical user interface (GUI) and multimedia routines for Java programmers. wild-card playoff, there remained the question: how good are they? The secondary, which sorely missed the hard-hitting Harrison, was 31st in the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga in passing yards allowed and had only 10 interceptions - or as many as Ty Law, their former All-Pro cornerback, had for the New York Jets The quarterbacks the Patriots beat down the stretch were Gus Frerotte, Aaron Brooks, Brooks Bollinger (twice), J.P. Losman, Chris Simms, who were ranked no higher than 19th in passing efficiency. Last week, they set their sights on Byron Leftwich, who hadn't played in a month. Yet no matter the length of their winning streak, the early season struggles put the Patriots in another position they hadn't been in any of their Super Bowl runs - not having a bye and then hitting the road for the divisional round. Now they're on the road home. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Denver's Al Wilson (56) celebrates the victory with teammate Trevor Pryce. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images (2) The Patriots' Ellis Hobbs fumbles the football in the second quarter. Jack Dempsy/Associated Press (3) ROETHLISBERGER (4) FOSTER Box: TODAY'S GAMES |
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