The Patriots have been in the playoffs every year of the past decade.
The Patriots have had a first-round bye in the playoffs for nine of the past 10 seasons, and they just snapped a streak of three straight Super Bowl appearances. There’s no doubt New England was the cream of the crop in the NFL this past decade, with three big game victories to their name.
But championships aside, a few memorable playoff games may have gotten lost in the shuffle, considering the Pats have been to too many to even count. Let’s take a look at the best non-Super Bowl playoff games for the team from 2010-2019.
3. 2018 AFC Championship vs Chiefs
The Patriots went into Arrowhead the underdog, but came out with the Lamar Hunt trophy.
You’d be lying if you said you weren’t nervous heading into Arrowhead to take on the Chiefs in January 2019. Yes, New England had beaten Kansas City in Foxborough earlier that season by a mark of 43-40, but the Patriots were hanging on for dear life. They were up 24-9 at the half, but found themselves down 33-30 halfway through the fourth quarter.
The Patriot killers, Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt, torched New England again just as they had done when the Pats had dropped their championship banner the year prior. The regular-season game was nerve-wracking, and a Stephen Gostkowski field goal was able to let 65,000 fans take a big sigh of relief.
In the AFC Championship Game, we got lightning striking twice.
New England shut out the Chiefs in the first half, leading 14-0, but in the second half, 41-year-old Tom Brady had to go blow for blow with young phenom Patrick Mahomes. Again, it felt as if the game was slipping out of the Patriots’ hands.
Speaking of hands, a Julian Edelman dropped pass led to an interception (two plays after he nearly muffed a punt), and the Chiefs capitalized with a Damien Williams touchdown. Then came overtime, after the Pats and Chiefs matched scores throughout a frenzied second half, nearly ended early by a Brady pick, which Dee Ford nullified. The game was tied 31-31.
Then, the real magic happened. Brady converted three third and longs to keep the Patriots’ drive alive, and Rex Burkhead was able to pound the ball into the end zone, capping off an improbable victory.
The Pats were underdogs, had an aging quarterback, and limped their way into the postseason after uncharacteristically losing two games in December. But they got the job done, and then defeated the Rams in the Super Bowl.
2. 2014 Divisional Round vs Ravens
The Patriots took down the Ravens in a shootout back in January of 2015.
Speaking of kryptonites, Baltimore was Brady’s. In the 2009 Wild Card Game, New England got crushed by Baltimore. Brady looked lost, the defense was helpless, and the box score showed it.
In the 2011 campaign, the two foes met again in the playoffs. Still, Brady looked terrible, but New England escaped with a win, thanks to a Lee Evans drop — or a Sterling Moore pass breakup, whichever you prefer.
In the 2015 matchup, New England fell behind 14-0 in the first half, and many fans found themselves saying, “Here we go again.”
Brady found Rob Gronkowski twice on their next drive, as the duo accounted for 62 yards to move the offense down the field. Tom Brady sparked the scoring for the Patriots with a four-yard scamper into the end zone, followed by a massive spike and a fist pump.
Danny Amendola furthered the Patriots’ momentum. Two drives later, he was on the receiving end of a Brady pass, and Amendola was able to break tackles, and leap into the end zone. The Patriots had tied the game at 14, but the momentum would shift again. They soon found themselves down once again by 14 points.
It was the second half, and the Patriots were trailing 28-14 against a team that always had their number.
However, on their next drive, the Patriots only used four linemen, and were able to confuse Baltimore enough to move the ball down the field. The formation was entirely unfamiliar to an angry John Harbaugh. A sight more commonly seen vision occurred next: a Gronkowski slant into the end zone, which capped off an 80-yard drive. The Brady to Gronk connection cut the lead in half, as the score was now 28-21.
New England got the ball back just 75 seconds later. They had Baltimore on the ropes, and took full advantage. New England entrusted Julian Edelman, the former Kent State quarterback, to throw a 51-yard touchdown pass. Brady tossed a lateral to Edelman, who then found a wide open Danny Amendola. He strutted his way into the end zone to tie the game at 28.
Baltimore once again took the lead, but only by a field goal, and it was time for the 37-year-old quarterback, who was pronounced dead during Week 4 of the same season, to lead a fourth quarter comeback.
Brady was masterful in the game-winning drive. The run game was non-existent, and the only rush of New England’s prior scoring drive was a Brady sneak. New England relied solely on the right arm of Tom Brady. Brady threw one of his best passes of his career to Brandon LaFell for a 23-yard touchdown, which gave New England the lead, and the win.
The ebbs and flows to this game could’ve made you go crazy, and this was one of the most challenging situations to overcome for the Patriots. They had defeated their kryptonite. When New England found themselves down by 14 points, twice, would it surprise anyone if they’d lost the game? No. But Brady had other plans. No Patriot fan will ever forget this game.
1. 2017 AFC Championship vs Jaguars
Danny Amendola was a hero for the Patriots in the 2017 AFC title game.
Amendola stole the show in this game, but let’s not forget about Brady’s hand. After a collision with Rex Burkhead in practice, Brady was left with a gash near his thumb with blood spilling out of it.
On Wednesday, Patriot fans were wondering if Brian Hoyer would be starting the AFC Championship game. Remember Brady’s press conference when he said “not talking about it” or “we’ll see” half a dozen times? He also toted two big red gloves during the presser, leaving Pats fans scared and confused.
Jacksonville had a team to be reckoned with that year, as they were the league’s top-ranked pass defense. As the game turned to the fourth quarter, the Patriots found themselves in a difficult situation. No Julian Edelman; his ACL was torn. No Rob Gronkowski; he suffered a concussion earlier in the game. With 10 stitches in his throwing hand, Brady found himself down by 10 points.
In the fourth, the Patriots were staring at a third and 18. Brady was able to fire a bullet over the middle of the field to Danny Amendola to convert the improbable third and long. Later in the drive, Brady leaned on Amendola once again, who was able to break free over the middle of the field on a crossing route, and scampered into the end zone to narrow the Jaguars’ lead to just three points.
New England’s defense forced the Jaguars to punt a few minutes later. Amendola had a massive punt return to the Jaguars’ 30-yard line. A few plays later, the Patriots once again turned to Amendola. Off of a play-action pass, Brady threw a ball to the back of the end zone to Amendola. The speedy threat leaped into the air, and then took the role of a ballet dancer to get his feet down and give New England the lead.
Bortles and the Jaguars had one more chance, but it was Stephon Gilmore who foiled Jacksonville’s plans of a Super Bowl with an incredible defensive play. On a fourth down, Gilmore left his feet to break up a pass, and fans in Foxborough stood on theirs as they saw the Patriots get the ball back with a chance to milk the clock, and win the game.
Not often do you see Belichick demonstrative with happiness, but a Dion Lewis run to seal a victory had Belichick clapping his hands and cheering. Lewis’ run on third down clinched a win for the Pats, one which was extremely unlikely, given the circumstances.
Sure, New England had a stomach-churning loss to the Eagles two weeks later, but this AFC Championship game was a classic, and the best playoff win of the decade for New England.